India's first online weekly on Personal Finance

Welcome to Personal Finance 2.01

I've tried to run away from finance. Maybe because I was not able to understand the jargons and the maths. But I guess ignoring personal finance worsens the situation. And the only way to get maximum out of your personal finance is to look it into its eye and grapple with it. You will come out stronger.

I have realised that my friendly neighbourhood finance advisor does not have the knowledge of all financial products and at best he gets work done in his/her area of insurance, mutual funds, stocks or some other financial product. And the knowledgeable financial planner tells me to take my own decisions based on my own risk appetite and financial goals. So the ball is back in my court.

And there are over 700 mutual funds, 5000 stocks, 300 insurance policies and hundreds of other financial products to choose from in India. Internet enables information sharing in a powerful manner and is a medium where we can help each other in matters of personal finance.

I bring with me a work experience of 17 years in the Insurance, Housing Finance and Investment industry after graduating with top honours in Physics. In trying to learn more about personal finance, the following works as my e-scratch pad!

Personal Finance 2.01: Feedback will be of immense help.

Discussion Forum: It's a forum where you can discuss all your doubts and questions about personal finance, planning and various products like insurance, stocks, mutual funds, etc.

Weblinks: I am regularly out on the web. When I find a great site I list it here for you to enjoy. From the list choose one of my weblink topics, then select a URL to visit.

NewsFeeds: We have some great news feeds to take a look at. Suggestions are welcome.

Financial Advisors Directory: We invite professional and net savvy advisors to register and provide the information needs. This one is a first in India to the best of my knowledge.

Tools & Calculators help you to analyse your own situation.

Contents at a Glance

Happy Diwali
India's first online weekly on personal finance
Link Love

Ranjan's Blog
Blog Posts on personal finance
Reader Feedback

more...

Happy Diwali

Making New Beginnings

While Deepavali is popularly known as the "festival of lights" and "triumph of good over evil", a more appropriate significance is "the new year of luck and wealth". At least for me!

Especially since there are a lot of ideas that needs to be implemented in the coming year. For example, we have started building/designing modules for personal finance education. We are also building a Personal Finance Discussion Forum & a Financial Products Database

Personal Finance education is a relatively untouched area. And let me give you some dope why it's a bad idea to ignore it. Personal Finance looks at how an individual's money and future is managed.It involves analyzing their current financial position, predicting short-term and long-term needs, and recommending a financial strategy. This may involve advice on retirement planning or pensions, wealth creation through stocks and mutual funds, children's education, home loans, life insurance, and other investment.

So, don't you think it's a good idea to start building those modules for personal finance.

Wikis provide the tools for online collaboration and so we set up a wiki on this Diwali day to help us collaborate on this project.

We welcome your feedback, articles and suggestions to build the modules on personal finance. If you want to contribute by writing articles on a relevant subject, you are more than welcome.

Happy Diwali!