In the instance of death or bodily injury to a third party or any damage to its car, a car insurance policy provides compensation of up to Rs 1 lakh. Such type of vehicle insurance is known as the third party insurance and it protects not only you but also other people or family members who may be riding / driving your car.

These are some important benefits of car insurance:

· Benefits to survivors when an accident results in death

· Covers lawsuits, including legal fees brought against you as the result of an accident

· Covers vehicle repairs bills due to damages

· Covers damage caused by other than an accident (theft, fire, etc)

· Additional discounts: These policies allow premium discounts for theft or for owning more than one policy with the same insurer.

· No Claim Bonus: If you do not make a claim during the policy period, a No Claim Bonus is offered on renewals provided you fulfill certain terms and conditions.

Interestingly, car insurance also serves as a good tax saving vehicle. A lot of people think that only health insurance come under the 80D save tax section. Motor insurance premium can save certain amount of your taxes too. It depends on the premium amount you pay. If your car has coverage against a lot of instances then the insurance premium would be high too, while filing your returns you can get some relief.

Tax benefits on car insurance include vehicle depreciation deduction, coverage against a lot of instances and so on. However, the only amount that is deductible is the percentage of the time the car is used for business purposes, medical purposes, moving & recollecting and charitable services.

There are different types of policies such as comprehensive policy, third party insurance, third party insurance plus theft. You can purchase any of the policies depending on what amount of coverage you want. Your insurance broker can help you choose the right policy that meets your needs and your budget. The premium amount that you will have to pay entirely depends on what you drive. If you drive a luxury sports car, then you can expect to pay a higher premium than someone driving a lower cost vehicle.

This is the fastest growing segment in the insurance sector in India over the past few years as car insurance is mandatory while buying a new car. This has resulted in major car manufacturers tying up with leading insurance companies to provide quick insurance to its customers.

Therefore, it becomes very important that you get best insurance rates for your car. With a range of suitable and affordable policies available, to have car insurance policy is as important as having any other insurance product for an individual. Car insurance acts like a great friend at the time of crisis. It covers the losses made in an accident and thus saves you from paying out the huge sum from your pocket.

Investment especially in the yellow metal has always remained strong all through the years, I mean even during recessionary times the value of gold still remained constant as it was purchased for personal consumption. Now with gold and silver being traded in stock market through the commodities exchange it has only made both gold and silver even more precious than before.

Today more than ever before there are multiple ways and manners of gold investment. Let's examine the most prevailing ones. Physical Investment (Gold Jewelry, Coins, and Bars): When one talks about physical investment of gold, the most common and popular method of investment is through jewelry, investments in gold for jewelry has a few advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage being that gold jewelry is an integral part of Indian customs, and personal use so here the investment is also consumed for family activities. This is the most common and popular form of investment and is traditional done in almost all Indian households. However gold jewelry has its own disadvantages namely that of risk of theft, fraud and purity of jewelry which investors should keep that in mind while investing in the same. After gold jewelry there are investments in gold bars and coins which are more practical from an investment perspective compared to gold jewelry.

When the Commodities market opened up, amongst the most hotly traded commodities was gold, and today there are numerous ways in which one can invest in this metal which is being traded in the commodities market. Gold ETF and e-series methods of investments have really picked up in India, especially during the festive seasons of Navratri and Diwali.

Today the investor has more choices than ever before as he has the option of investing in physical gold as well as investing in exchange traded commodity products. Gold still has a long way to go, as the commodity markets have only recently opened up in India, in the coming years the value of this metal will only shine better.

Disclaimer:

1. Views as are mentioned in the article are personal views of Author and nothing to link with Co., its Director and Employees.

2. All investments are subject to market risk and you need to consult your financial advisor/consultant before investment.

I am sure this would have got you interested into knowing more about Securities Lending & Borrowing Schemes (SLBS). It was started by the NSE in April 2008 however received very dismal response due to the due lack of awareness and bottlenecks in implementation for the Indian investors.

In SLB Segment borrowers use the stocks for a variety of reasons like short selling or meeting any particular short falls in trades. In practice this is done by borrowing the stock through the clearing corporation of the exchange which has to be a registered intermediary. This can be done by retail as well as Institutional investors. Lending via SLB is entirely safe since counter party risk is handled by NSCCL. Also, stocks are "transferred" to borrower; however lender is entitled to all corporate actions expected from the given stock.

SLBS is a really good option especially for lenders who are having idle stocks with them, with proper planning and guidance this scheme can used very well for investors who would be having idle F&O stocks. They can lend through the SLB scheme to willing traders and earn good money.

Disclaimer:

1. Views as are mentioned in the article are personal views of Author and nothing to link with Co., its Director and Employees.

2. All investments are subject to market risk and you need to consult your financial advisor/consultant before investment.

One of the biggest advantages of investing through MF's is that it allows retail investors to actively invest their hard earned money in the financial markets through a medium which is less risky when compared to direct investment in stocks. Earlier the retail investors were tentative from directly investing in stocks because it was considered a risky terrain and most of them lacked the requisite financial know-how for investing in these volatile markets.

Thus, like-minded investors who wanted to invest but lacked the financial know-how, decided to pool in their money into a fund, whose investment decisions would be taken by an experienced fund manager to get the best out of their invested capital.

The fund manager would then have the responsibility of taking investment decisions on behalf of the investors. This investment instrument has really grown popular amongst retail investor's as when they invest in a mutual fund, their risk is disturbed amongst the other investors who also pool money in the same fund. The biggest advantage of such as investment is the decisions are taken by a seasoned investor who is well versed of the tricks of smart investing while keeping the market gyrations in mind.

The fund manager using his expertise would invest wisely in different funds, thus spreading the investment risks among the portfolios assigned to him. MF's in my opinion are also among the few financial instruments that always seem to have organically grown to have modified itself to suit the needs of investors.

To mitigate the risk of investing a large amount of capital income at one time, investment in MF's also allow you to invest smaller amounts regularly in a systematic manner. This method of organized, systematic, monthly investments is called SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). Thus one can invest in mutual funds even with a monthly investment of Rs 1000, and reap good returns when the fund matures.

Recently MF investment - has taken a leap with the issuance of Online Mutual Funds. Online Mf's popularly known as 'Paperless Mutual Funds' allow investors to apply for MF's directly online, the entire process can be done in a paperless and effective manner. MF's like any other investment product also carry with it a certain amount of risk; thus investors should always make sure to purchase them from brokerage houses that are empaneled with the requisite regulatory bodies.

It is mandatory for all investors to read the terms and conditions carefully - before investing in any mutual fund. Also it is imperative that investors invest only after carefully studying and doing adequate research on the fund's fundamentals before investing in it. Thus with the coming of mutual funds, the once forgotten layman can now reap the benefits of smart investing if he does so wisely.

I am a financial enthusiast keen on sharing knowledge on stock market and mutual funds related content to readers. I am passionate about mutual funds hence write passionately on the subject.

The concept of fixed deposits grew also out of the need of the corporate sector's requirements for raising short term finance, and this was well accepted by the retail investors who were looking out for alternate investing vehicles where there could get superior returns on their investment and also better security for their hard earned money. Thus there was the inception of a symbiotic relationship between the promoters of large corporates who needed capital funding and retail investors who wanted an alternate investment avenue to invest their capital.

Bajaj Capital was the first corporate to bring about the concept of company fixed deposit way back in 1964, when it launched the first ever Company

fixed deposit, that being of the Oberoi Group :- East India Hotels Limited . The overwhelming success and acceptance of this company's fixed deposit scheme amongst investors lead to other companies falling in Line and soon we had a plethora of private and public companies accepting

deposits from the public in the form of Company Fixed deposits.

It was then the first time when general public took interest in the growth of large corporates and vice versa. Fixed Deposits would grow in the following decades in a far more comprehensive and organized form by issuing of share certificates and other investment products whereby the public would be termed as shareholders, and would play a very significant part in the growth of any corporate.

Following the first CFD launch there was a steep growth in the Company Fixed deposit market with the capital invested being over Rs 25000 crore in the following years. Some basic advantages that make CFD'S really popular amongst investors are listed below.

There is a significant amount of security offered by its non-transferable nature. Thus in case the CFD certificates are stolen, no one can utilize the same and the holder can always procure a copy by applying for the same with the concerned company.

An investor can and always should screen companies regarding their credentials and thereby he can choose to invest in the company seeing past performance history and perceivable growth opportunity in future.

There is also an option to nominate, which during the time when it was launched made it very popular amongst the conservative and traditional minded Indian investors.

In spite of company fixed deposits being popular because of the reasons listed above, one must make sure that he/she follows basic guidelines before investing in the same. These include screening companies before investing; and even after investing he/she should continuously keep a tab of the company's growth parameters. To aid this decision making by the investor, one may take the guidance of rating reports provided by reputed Credit rating agencies like ICRA, CRISIL & CARE which regularly analyze company fundamentals and balance sheets.

One should always invest in reputable and acknowledged companies which have a repute of regularly paying shareholder's dividends. Such companies generally have a strong liquidity and the risk of them defrauding with invested capital is minimal. Thus the inception of company fixed deposits heralded the beginning of a new era which would see retail Investor and corporate partnership growing together like never before in India.

Disclaimer:

1. Views as are mentioned in the article are personal views of Author and nothing to link with Co., its Director and Employees.

2. All investments are subject to market risk and you need to consult your financial advisor/consultant before investment.

Future contracts are suitably standardized according to the quality, quantity, delivery time and location with respect to dealing with commodity derivatives. In a Futures contract, both agreeing parties are obligated to perform their agreed responsibilities, and the guardian here is the exchange, who takes responsibility to ensure that the agreed trade is done justly.

To further elaborate on the same lets analyze it with an example; suppose you are a fruit merchant selling mangoes and are in trade talks with a prosperous farmer who is the owner of many mango trees. The farmer before the onset of the mango season agrees to sell his produce of one year for a predetermined fixed price to you. A similar type of trade involving Futures takes place but through the exchange; where exchange actually plays the role of a respected arbitrary functionary to ensure that the trade is carried out in a fair manner as pre-decided.

Some inherent advantages of trading with Futures contract include:

It is a contract between two parties through an exchange.

Exchange is the legal counterparty to both parties.

Quantity and Quality both are decided on the same day as per standard denominations as specified by the exchange.

Futures in a certain sense can be said to be a further specialized system of forwards which is supported by our stock exchange. The biggest advantage of trading through futures options is that the buyer or seller can enjoy a fair play as the trade is routed through the exchange. Hence here the exchange or its clearing department obligates the concerned party to buy or sell the specified quantity of the underlying product for a specific price on a specific date.

The underlying assets could be commodity, stock index, security, or currency. Here the biggest advantage is that since all the terms of a listed futures contract are structured by the exchange, you cannot offset your contract and get out of your obligation by buying or selling an opposing contract before the settlement date.

This is surely a blessing for some investors called hedgers as this scheme offered a sense of protection from the volatility of markets. For e.g. rice farmers can protect themselves against a bad season when yield is less by buying a futures contract at a lower price similarly the farmers can protect themselves to ensure a minimum sale price by buying contracts which are higher to shield against a bumper harvest. Thus they are making sure that even if there is a bumper crop, they will still get the price as decided while purchasing of contract.

For both Futures and Options, I believe it still early days in the Indian markets and with the number of investors increasing every year, people participating to use this product as a good tool of investments is only on its ascendance and the best is yet to come in the coming years.

Disclaimer:

1. Views as are mentioned in the article are personal views of Author and nothing to link with Co., its Director and Employees.

2. All investments are subject to market risk and you need to consult your financial advisor/consultant before investment.