Elevate Your Life: December 2014

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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Life lessons from a dying pet

HE teaches us something in every interaction, every failure and every disappointment. But if we do not learn our lesson, HE, like any good teacher, will continue to teach us, create more situations for us so that we can learn and become a better person. How fast we learn from our disappointments, is all up to us. God is in no hurry.

2015 Goals : 6 Best Practices that help you achieve more

It is the time of the year, when we have another opportunity to change the way we are going to live our life in 2015. As the saying goes, "Today is the first day for the rest of your life."

I present my report card for the goals I set out for 2014, and also what i am targeting for 2015. I also present six (6) best practices that help you achieve more of your goals, year after year.

Goal setting is critical and important for us to grow. It is one of our vital signs. We do not believe in any gyan unless we have experienced it ourselves. So, here is my report card of 2014.
Not that I achieved all I set out for, but it was good to have goals that I set out for myself last year, so that I could stretch, come out of my comfort zone and expand myself. And so I did.

A summary of what I planned at the beginning of 2014 is shown below:

The report card for 2014 and the goal setting for 2015 is as below:

When you set out your goals for 2015, some of the things that might help you to achieve your goals are as follows:

Make sure you write your goals down or take a print out. Written goals channelize your mind and allows your mind to generate enough ideas to find innovative solutions to achieve those goals.
Paste out the goals on a visible location in your home, car or office. Regular viewing helps your mind continue to stay focused and continue to generate new ideas to achieve them. Once the goals are out on your almirah, your family also gets involved in your goals, and that's a very healthy sign. Your children will learn goal setting, real time practically happening in front of them, rather than theoretically in a management school.
Declare your goals to everyone. Do not be afraid of failing. Wear failure as a badge of honor. Remember that just by creating written goals, you have dared to attempt something that hardly 5% in the world do.
Keep tracking your goals at a regular frequency every month. Life will never go as planned, and you would need to keep intervening and self correcting the path. Goal setting is just the first step. If you fail to track your goals, you are unlikely to achieve them.
Publish the results from your tracking. Dont be afraid if you are under achieving. 95% of the people are not even tracking it.
Prioritize your daily "To Do List" as per the goals you are targeting for the year. Achieving yearly goals is a daily thing. If your daily actions are not aligned to your goals, there are every chances of not meeting your goal.

Get started. Today is the first day for the rest of your life. It is never ever too late. Wish you all a happy goal setting for 2015. Goals should always be aligned to your dreams, which in turn is aligned to the mission of your life. If you need any help in setting up your mission, dreams or goals, you can connect with us.

Related Posts:

Cheers

Manoj Arora

Freedom can buy you.... what money cannot !!

More on "From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom"

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Goals Setting for 2015 : 6 Practices that help you achieve more.

It is the time of the year, when we have another opportunity to change the way we live our life in 2015. As the saying goes, "Today is the first day for the rest of your life."

I present my report card for the goals I set out for 2014, and my goals for 2015. I also present six (6) best practices that help you achieve more of your goals, yer after year.

Mutual Fund SIPs and their Capital Gains Taxation

Systematic Investment Plans Or SIPs is a very convenient and most commonly used method for most investors to enter the equity market via Mutual Funds. By understanding the tax implications of SIP transactions, you can time your withdrawals accurately and save on taxes.

Happiness Unlimited features in CWB magazine - Another bestseller on the way !!

Since the launch of the book Happiness Unlimited, it has been getting rave reviews. You can read some of them by clicking here. The book also recently featured in the "Complete Well Being" magazine.

It has been 3 months now, and the book has received some rave reviews since its launch. Click here to read some of those comments. You can read some of the comments from its happy readers on Flipkart by clicking here.

Not only that, the book has now stabilized into the Top 40 books on Happiness (current Rank # 35) among the 3,500+ books available on Happiness. It also enjoys a rating of 4.9 on Flipkart and 4.7 on Amazon.

Recently, the book also got featured in the leading well being magazine in India - "Complete Well Being" and again got some awesome response.

You can read the featured section of the magazine in the page below

The Happiness blog hits has been going up every month.

The blog now has 4,500+ hits and is becoming popular every day. Some of the most popular posts on the blog has been attracting beautiful questions and clarifications. You can also subscribe to the blog by clicking here.

The You Tube videos have been increasingly becoming popular. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel by clicking here.

We also recently introduced the Whats-App Service to answer your questions real time. We want you to elevate your life. We want our society to be elevated.

It is a slow and steady uptrend. It is not a race, but a marathon, where mouth publicity has been the prime driver for an author like me, who comes with no clout, marketing or celebrity status. It happened exactly the same way with my first title "From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom".

People have been connecting with us to increase the happiness content in their lives. So can you, for whatever you are doing today makes no sense if there are unhappy moments in your life. Each unhappy moment is a life not fully lived.

Cheers

Manoj Arora

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

What is Capitalised Ground Rent?

If you are liable to pay Ground Rent for your plot or flat, understanding the Capitalized Scheme can potentially help you save tons of money...read on...

What is Ground Rent?

As the name suggests, Ground rent is the rent paid for taking the ground on lease from the land owner. Typically, in case where you leasehold a land or a property from government authorities like DDA (Delhi Development Authority), you ought to pay a fixed ground rent annually.

Who is liable to pay ground rent?

All allottees on "Hire Purchase Basis" are liable to pay Ground Rent till the execution of conveyance or Capitalized Value under the special scheme is paid to DDA. Once the capitalized value of Ground Rent is paid to DDA, all previous dues of Ground Rent and/or interest thereon, if any, are not required to be paid.

How much is the Ground Rent?

Ground rent is payable annually in advance @ 2.5% of the cost of land as given in the Allotment cum Demand Letter in respect of all allotment on lease hold basis.

What if you default paying the ground rent?

In case of default in making the payment of Ground Rent by the stipulated date, the allottee is liable to pay interest at the rate of 10% per annum.

How long do you need to pay ground rent?

The Ground Rent is payable till such time the property remains on lease hold basis. Once the property is converted into free hold, the Ground Rent is not payable.

Do people default on ground rent?

Almost 60% of the population never bother to pay ground rent for years together. This lapse is either because either they are not aware of it, or they simply ignore it. The government also does not have any strict followup on this rent collection. Whatever be the reason, the ground rent keeps accumulating with late fees and interest charges, and the lease holder will be required to pay the entire accumulated amount whenever he or she plans to sell the house or convert it into free hold.

Liberalized Scheme for payment of Ground Rent

As a simple and easy system to clear the dues of ground rent, a one time payment has been introduced under the scheme "Capitalized Ground Rent". Under this scheme, allottee is required to pay only 7.5% of the cost of land as indicated in the allotment cum demand letter on account of capitalized value of Service Charges in respect of new allotment and 5% in respect of old allotments in respect of unpaid & future dues. Thereafter allottee is exempted from paying Service Charges in future.

Remember that the ground rent under this scheme is 7.5% + 5% of the "cost" of land, and not the "price" of the land. In most cases, the "cost" turns out to be drastically low, thus making this a very efficient mechanism for one time settlement of ground rent.

Is the scheme optional?

Yes, this scheme is 100% optional. The allottee who does not opt for the "Capitalized Ground Rent" would continue to pay the ground rent as per original terms and conditions of the allotment cum demand letter.

If you are owning a leasehold property, make sure you find out whether this scheme can help you save tons of money, before you decide to pay the next ground rent.

Related Posts:

Cheers

Manoj Arora

Freedom can buy you.... what money cannot !!

More on "From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom"

Monday, December 08, 2014

Getting started is critical

How critical is starting something new, even if there is not enough clarity on the way forward? Extremely critical. In fact, in most cases, getting started is the only way successful people get going....Read on..

New Kisan Vikas Patra KVP 2014 Vs other Debt based investments

Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) has been in news off late considering that it has been revamped and relaunched by the government with some seemingly attractive features...but is it good enough? Have a look at the comparison between the revamped KVP and other commonly available investment tools...

Interest Rate

KVP offers 8.7% taxable returns. If you compare this with any commonly available Fixed Deposit, it will be anywhere in the range of 8.75 to 10% (also taxable). So, if you have a bank account and can get a Fixed Deposit (FD) done, there is no attraction of KVP as far as interest rate is concerned. Post Tax Returns from other Debt based instruments like PPF, EPF and MFs are far higher.

Taxability

Interest earned via KVP is fully taxable. This is the biggest drawback of the KVP on date. On the other hand, interest earned through other debt based instruments like Debt MFs are either very low or EPF/PPF where the interest is completely tax free.

Liquidity

Minimum lock in period is 2 years 6 months, while there is no such restriction on Fixed Deposits. Other debt instruments like PPF or EPF have lesser liquidity but offer tax free returns. Debt based MFs are much more liquid. So, it is better to put your money in other debt instruments than KVP

Minimum Investment

Rs. 1000/- is the minimum investment required to purchase a KVP. Here is where it scores. You might find it difficult to open a FD with small amounts as Rs. 1000, though regular SIPs in debt based mutual funds might be a much better idea. So, it is often useful for very small investors like farmers who do not have access to SIP mutual fund investments. The name, Kisan Vikas Patra, is hence justified.

Maximum Investment

There is no limit to the maximum investment. Though PPF has an upper limit of investment, FDs and EPFs and Debt based Mutual Funds do not have any such limits.

Availability

Currently, it is available only at Post Offices, but the government has plans to make it available at PSU banks. The idea was to encourage the rural population who may not have a bank account to get connected to their post offices for these KVPs

Summary

Considering all the above factors, KVPs are designed to enable the rural population into a habit of regular savings and hardly offer anything attractive for the urban population who already have a bank account and can go and open a Fixed Deposit at any stage. So, if you have a bank account, you can safely stay away from KVP 2014 as of now, and ignore all the hype surrounding it.

Related Posts:

Cheers

Manoj Arora

Freedom can buy you.... what money cannot !!

More on "From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom"

Elevate Your Life

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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Life lessons from a dying pet

Friday, December 26, 2014

2015 Goals : 6 Best Practices that help you achieve more

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Goals Setting for 2015 : 6 Practices that help you achieve more.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Mutual Fund SIPs and their Capital Gains Taxation

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Happiness Unlimited features in CWB magazine - Another bestseller on the way !!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

What is Capitalised Ground Rent?

Monday, December 08, 2014

Getting started is critical

Thursday, December 04, 2014

New Kisan Vikas Patra KVP 2014 Vs other Debt based investments