Gold is old, but still Gold is Gold!

Gold is old, but still, Gold is Gold

Apparently, our grandparents knew a thing or two about managing finances! In these times of recession, a lot of you might have thought of taking loans, often by way of personal loans.

While I'm personally against taking loans of any kind, if you have to take any loans of any kind whatsoever, look at Gold Loans - To know why, read on:

• http://money.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?sid=1&cid=98&articleid=8071

Regards,

N

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Times of Panic - Reason to smile!

Times of Panic - Reason to smile!

This link is hilarious, despite being entirely official & serious:

• http://www.nseindia.com/marketinfo/companyinfo/online/corp_announce.jsp?symbol=GAIL&desc=Disclosure+of+Pledge+of+Shares&tstamp=040220091152

Regards,

N

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Views on Satyam

Views on Satyam

Am sure that all of you would have heard tons of stuff on Satyam.

Let me add my two-bit to the boring stuff on Satyam:

• If L & T has been claiming in the media that it knows more than "ordinary investors", SEBI ought to take a look at the same from an insider trading angle
• All this talk about open offer at revised (read, lower) price is just humbug - Most takeover vultures are looking for immunity from class action suits. The only reason why the price of Satyam is at current levels is due to the threat of class action suits. Please tell the vultures that they can't have their carcass and eat it too!
• Employee strength - It is amusing to note that all employees have supposedly been sent emails asking them to confirm their identity. A simpler task in this day and age will be to send communication to all the bankers where the salaries are being sent to re-check the KYC norms and confirm the identity of the Satyam employee before sending the salary for January 2009 to those individual accounts. Independent verification can also be done by a simple process of each boss at every level all across Satyam giving a list of his/her direct reports along with name, designation, employment numbers, etc. and do a quick cross-check. A third checking mechanism could be to get a list of persons working on each project with each client directly from the client, to which the bench strength can be added. People on the bench can be asked to assemble in person to their respective offices on a pre-determined date and time to do a physical check.
• What's preventing the authorities from seeking immediate punishments for those offences to which Raju has already admitted in his now infamous letter, while retaining the right to take the investigation process to its logical conclusion?
• Why can't the authorities be asked to "break the corporate veil" under the Companies Act so as to ring-fence the liabilities by making the promoters personally liable while allowing the rest of the company to continue to operate under the directions of the new board?

More of it from time to time, if time permits!

Regards,

N

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Advice or Satire???

Advice or Satire???

We've all received tons of advice from financial experts at different points of time. Our bank statements (for those of us who still have a bank account) tell us the truth about how valuable the advice was.

Considering all this, one more round of advice on financial matters (though from a guy without a financial background) can't do much more to impoverish you.

If nothing else, at least you can have a hearty laugh!

Listen to Suhel Seth, the ad man:

• http://money.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?sid=10&cid=94&articleid=8016

Regards,

N

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Layman's guide to Personal Finance

Layman's guide to Personal Finance

It is that time of the year when we start making New Year resolutions.

At this juncture, considering the gloomy mood (at least financially) - the world over - it makes sense to think of fiscal prudence and financial planning. Hence, I was on the lookout for an article that will make things somewhat easy for a layman to understand.

Someone pointed out this one as being apt for the purpose:

• http://wealth.moneycontrol.com/printpage.php?id=11781

Read, plan and execute!

Regards,

N

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