FD Investments: It’s decision time

My previous post revolved around the Auto Sweep functionality which deals with creation of FDs which can be easily converted into cash to cater your liquidity requirements and concurrently earns you higher interest in the process.

I have continued to stick with the FD theme in this post and focused on exploring the conventional form of Fixed Deposits, which we are more familiar with.

Full Article @  http://www.finalaya.com/1_632_article_FD_Investments_Its_decision_.aspx?pno=1

Auto Sweep: Make more money with your money

Auto Sweep, a feature offered by lot of banks to automatically move money from one’s savings account to a fixed deposit if the balance exceeds a certain threshold limit. This is popularly known as the auto sweep facility. Banks have different nomenclatures assigned to this facility.

Modus-Operandi

Banks define a “base limit”, and money up to that limit resides in the form of cash in one’s savings account. Any amount exceeding the base limit will be converted into a Fixed Deposit. The amount upto the base limit will earn normal interest rate applicable for savings account. The amount exceeding the base limit will earn FD returns on that part of the money.

In case money is needed, the money residing in the Fixed Deposits is transferred back into the savings account and one can withdraw the amount accordingly.

Full article @

http://www.finalaya.com/1_629_article_Auto_Sweep_Make_more_money_w.aspx?pno=1

International Diversification: Another facet of Investing

Mutual Fund investors based on domestic equities have faced topsy-turvy times in the last year or so. The Indian benchmarks have been in a range bound journey and are clueless amidst the economic slowdown and carnage happening on INR arena.

In response to all this, the market pundits are re-emphasizing on the diversification term. Diversification aims to invest in different variants of assets such as real estate, gold, debt, equity to reduce the overall risk of one’s portfolio. This is on a premise that when one type of asset is doing poorly, another will make up for it.

Another variant of this diversification theme is “International diversification”. It aims to invest in a number of countries around the world. Different countries have their inherent risks. If one has investments across different countries then the exposure to such country-specific risks is then considerably lower.

The Indian investor has a way out to achieve this diversification by investing in foreign assets through domestic mutual funds. A lot of international equity funds are available through Indian AMCs with varied geographical biases. The recent offering on this line was ICICI Prudential U.S Bluechip Equity Fund for which the subscription closed on 2nd July 2012.

Full article @ http://www.finalaya.com/1_628_article_International_Diversificatio.aspx?pno=1