Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

The Rule of 5 What are the winning traits that helps an succeed? Here are the Entrepreneurs’ Dos and the Don’ts and what to look out for. Do's Ø Always be positive Ø Search for a silver lining even in the most adverse scenario Ø Keep the big picture in mind but retain a sense of humility Ø Always be open to learn, unlearn and relearn Don't Ø Don't blame. As an entrepreneur you can't blame anyone or any situation. Ø Don't be afraid of making mistakes but learn from them Ø Don't complicate matters; the most successful businesses were kept simple Ø Don't depend on numbers alone. Intuition and creativity can play a major role Ø Don't search for perfection, search for excellence Ø Believe in yourself and your colleagues

Fall In Interest Rates, Property Prices Makes It Tempting To Invest In A House, But Do A Reality Check WITH interest rates on a downward spiral and prospects of getting a good deal on a house, the real estate sector could witness some buying in the coming months. Though property consultants recommend waiting for a few months for the right price, some home seekers may be tempted to kick off their house hunting expedition soon. Time for short listing While there is no need to rush into a decision, you can start looking out for a house right away. Once the market bottoms out, home-seekers will start making a beeline for properties and loans. If you have identified your ideal home beforehand, you will be a step ahead. You can jump at the earliest opportunity available — in terms of price and interest rate. Lack of buying activity means that the market is skewed towards the buyer at the moment. You can start quoting a price that seems reasonable to you. Try quoting a price that ...

1. Create an affiliate program. A good affiliate network allows you to grow your e-business efficiently and affordably, channeling additional traffic to your site without the expense of pay-per-click advertising. Provide your affiliates with links and ads that carry your branding message. 2. Start or contribute to a blog. Look for a highly trafficked and searched blog in your industry, then write and post relevant articles about your business. Let your personality shine through in the tone of your writing. 3. Print your logo on labels or stickers and place them on all communication with customers. Stickers appeal to our tactile nature and add interest to just about anything. They don't need to be fancy, but they should feature your logo and colors. 4. Attach your tagline to your e-mail signature. If you don't already have a tagline or motto that communicates a key difference between you and your competition, create one and consider trade marking it. 5. Print your logo on an...

Trade shows can be a tremendously powerful marketing tool or a tremendous drain on your time and resources. There are many excellent reasons to exhibit at trade shows. They're great way to connect with customers and prospects, launch new products and catch up on the industry buzz. But never attend a trade show "because we go every year," or just because you think it's expected. Always have a specific goal in mind and prepare a strategy for achieving it. After all, exhibiting at a trade show represents a large investment for a small business. It entails all kind of expenses, from preparing and shipping your booth and materials to travel and entertainment costs, not to mention your lost work time. To get something out of a trade show, put something into it. Plan your trade show activities from start to finish, before, during and after the event. Before the Show Before you even register, identify your trade show goals. This makes all your future decision-making easier; a...

If you suspect you’re not using your small business data to the utmost, here are seven steps to get you on track. UNDERSTAND WHY DATA MATTERS On the surface, information about your customers and market is certainly useful. But it goes much deeper: careful analysis of data can be invaluable in identifying broad based, reliable trends central to your business’ success particularly for small businesses. You need to understand and analyze data to keep your customers. YOU HAVE UNEXAMINED, USEFUL DATA There are scads of proactive ways to gather data, such as customer surveys and other forms of feedback. That’s helpful, but don’t overlook information that you may already have at the ready. Customer purchase records, demographic data left by website traffic — these and other sources provide insightful material. WHAT TO LOOK FOR Start with your existing customer base. Chances are good that you have extensive customer information. Find out what they’re buying, how often and even where they’re co...

How losses from residential property can be adjusted against other incomes to reduce tax liability… Here is how… The interest paid on a home loan taken to buy a house is a common loss under the head 'income from house property' . This can be set off against other incomes of an assessee, thereby reducing his tax liability, and can as such act as a measure of tax planning. Under the Income Tax Act 1961, 'income from house property' is a separate and distinct head of income. Accordingly, such income is taxed separately. Under the Act, apart from the income actually received, even the deemed or notional income is taxable. Deemed income is the 'income' that is not actually received by an assessee, but is liable to tax. This happens in cases where the assessee owns more than one self-occupied houses. Only one such property is exempt from tax. Deemed income from all other houses is taxable, although it is not actually earned by the assessee. At the same time, some spec...

If you have lost money, then have a hard look at your holdings. It is time to be patient ULTIMATELY, you cannot really lose money in the stock market! If you have, then either you have not been in the stock market long enough or you are in the process of getting the most expensive education. In the last 15 years, I have portfolios earning about Rs 5 lakh from share dividends alone against others who started with Rs 5 lakh and today owe the broker about Rs 3 lakh. When the markets, Sensex moved from 4,000 to 7,000 points, people thought it was a bubble and many sold out by the time it reached 12,000 points. A huge majority lost the run from 9k to 16k. Seeing their folly, many entered around 17-18k levels and in two months, saw their portfolios doubling. Greed peaked, speculation peaked and the fall shattered millions of dreams. Is there someone sitting on profits today? The answer is a resounding yes! Here are examples. HDFC was quoting at Rs 300 in 1999 and touched about Rs 3,000 earl...

Inflation , is an economic concept. If you really thing about it, inflation makes the worth of money reduce. the prices of everything goes up over time and this phenomenon is called inflation. The question is: By how much do the prices go up? At what rate do the prices do up? The rate at which the prices of everything go up is called the " rate of inflation ". My family's monthly expense is Rs 50,000. At an inflation rate of 5 per cent, how much will I need 20 years hence with the same expenses? The required amount can be calculated using the standard future value formula. Inflation means that over a period of time, you need more money to fund the same expense. Formula : Required amt.=Present amt. *(1+inflation) ^no. of years Type in: =50000*(1+5% or .05)^20 and hit enter. You will get Rs 1,32,664 as the answer, which is the required amount. Also used for: Calculating maturity value on an investment.

Staying invested may not be the best option if you have chosen wrong funds or poor script If you were to take a look at the performance report of the mutual fund industry, you won't find too many impressive performers in the last couple of quarters. While the stock market in general has lost over 30-35 percent in the last two quarters, the scenario is even more ghastly in the case of mutual funds. Many aggressive funds have lost as much as 40 percent and most new funds are sitting on a loss of nearly 50 percent. The current scenario is bound to make the investor worry. For those who made an entry into equity a few years, ago, the current scene is bound to be more painful as they are faced with negative returns for the first time. The uninterrupted Bull Run from 2004-08 had made many forget the realities of risk associated with equity . In fact, many dabbled in mutual funds too like stocks . Some even thought that with mutual funds, there was no risk as the fund manager was expecte...

MARKETING isn’t just an expense; it's an investment. The key is to market smarter and fully utilize your marketing budget. Here are 7 ways to stretch your marketing rupees and increase your bottom-line profits: Use free publicity: It costs you nothing and builds credibility and awareness. So look for opportunities to be involved with community activities. Speak at local organizations: Every organization is looking for speakers for their monthly meetings, so offer to share your knowledge with them. You'll get exposure to groups as an expert and meet lots of new people who might be potential clients. Write articles: Contribute to newsletters, newspapers, industry journals and your own Web site. Sharing information builds name recognition, which helps bring in clients. Create a Web site: Websites are a must. You're missing a great opportunity if your business doesn't have a presence on the web. It’s a very cost-effective way of letting people know about you and your produ...

With India being one of the most promising emerging markets, non-resident Indians ( NRIs ) have a keen interest in being part of the Indian growth story. Here are five questions that NRIs tend to grapple with. Can NRIs invest in mutual funds? Yes. NRIs can invest in mutual funds in India. But they must do so in Indian currency. The money should be channelised from an account specially designed for NRIs. But all investors, including NRIs, need to have a permanent account number ( PAN ). How must one invest so that the money can be taken out of the country? Payments can be made by inward remittance through funds held in the Non-Resident (External) Rupee Account (NRE) and the Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account (FCNR). Indian rupee drafts can also be purchased from these two accounts and submitted with an account debit certificate from the bank . NRE accounts must be maintained in Indian rupees but must be opened with funds remitted from abroad. The account can be in the form of a savi...

DON’T give out your credit card number(s) online unless the site is a secure and reputable site. Sometimes a tiny icon of a padlock appears to symbolise a higher level of security to transmit data. This icon is not a guarantee of a secure site, but might provide you some assurance. Don’t trust a site just because it claims to be secure. Make sure you are purchasing merchandise from a reputable source. Make sure the transaction is secure when you electronically send your credit card number. Do your homework on the individual or company to ensure that they are genuine. If you are making online purchase from a previously unknown seller, try to obtain the physical address rather than a post office box and a phone number. Call the seller to see if the number is correct and working. Do not buy from sellers who won’t provide you with this type of information. Don’t judge a person/company by their website. Be cautious when responding to special offers (especially through unsolicited e-mail). B...

If you want to maintain a simple portfolio and yet have the benefits of diversification, a systematic investment in balanced funds is a great option AS AN investor, if you are saving regularly for the long-term and want a low-involvement, hassle-free instrument, then balanced funds is the right choice. Balanced (mutual) funds have been around for over a decade — and manage assets of over Rs 16,000 crore between them. They, by mandate, invest at least 65% of their portfolio in equities, and up to 35% in debt and related instruments. In practice, the equity component of most balanced funds varies between 65% and 80%, depending on the fund manager’s outlook of the markets. Long-term and discerning investors would no doubt have heard of the UTI Balanced Fund, Magnum Balanced Fund and HDFC Prudence Fund. Of course, today, there are over 15 balanced funds offered by different fund houses. They have systematic investment plans (SIP), growth/dividend options, and all the other investor-friendl...