Top trading tips by Sanjeev Bhasin

Markets are clearly exhibiting strong bullishness on the back of return of conviction, future expectations and fund flows by the foreign investors. Investors are buying cyclicals like banks and capital goods and are selling defensives like, FMCG, pharma & IT With rupee clearly showing strength, exporters would continue to be under pressure.
On Tuesday, we saw continued ETF buying, which countered the weak global cues. The trend may continue today. Also, market grapevine has it that a large & influential foreign broking house that was negative in banks has turned very strong buyer. As a result, banks led from the front & may continue to do so. The weakness in China can only spell good news for India as commodity weakness helps lower inflation.
The trade for today would be buying banks & capital goods, with counter selling in IT, pharma & FMCG. However, buying is in blue chip names & not high beta as markets could surprise with a mild correction as consensus bullishness rules the street.

Tax planning tips for different age groups and various income slabs

 
Tax planning is one of the most important aspects of personal finance. People often fail to look at tax planning objectively and straight away start making investments related to tax saving. Also they often tend to mix tax planning and investment planning, which are totally different and are made with varying objective.
Insurance for long has been the front-runner whenever investments regarding tax savings are considered. Life insurance is not an investment option but a financial tool, which protects from any unforeseen eventualities. Buying excessive insurance however leads to holding unnecessary products.
Savings under section 80C can be broadly classified as investment based and non-investment based.
Provident Fund (PF), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), National Savings Certificates (NSC), National Pension System (NPS), Fixed deposit (FD) and Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS)come are investment based savings; while principal repayment of home loan, tuition fee are non-investment based.
Before making investments related to tax saving it is always important that the individuals must analyse their risk appetite, and determine the percentage of debt and equity exposure they are comfortable with. Then they can match these percentages of debt and equity while investing in the available tax saving investments.
Since the risk appetite, liquidity needs and current portfolio of every individual are different, making investments based on just returns is not advisable.
TAX PLANNING AGE-WISE
23-30
This is generally starting phase of the career for most of the professionals, and therefore is the right time to start saving for the future. The investments made during this phase should have a long-term investment horizon. Starting to save and investing for retirement will give an edge if started at early age because of power of compounding.
Investing in a mix of ELSS and pension-related schemes like EPF, NPS or EPF is a good option for professionals of this age group. By doing so, they ensure that they plan for their retirement from an early age. It also provides the advantage of providing equity exposure to their retirement fund.
It is also advisable for the professionals of this age group to get required life insurance cover and health insurance cover. They can take the advantage of low premium rates if they start during this age. Avoid falling in the trap of endowment plans and unit linked insurance plans.

13 investment tips for 2013

Let us all welcome the year 2013 with varied ideas to bring home tax planning for you and your family and also take you through Investment Strategies for investing your money. The following thirteen important Investment Tips for the year 2013 will surely help you to achieve your desired results :-

 1. Income-tax file for one and all: In whose name to make the investment yes, this should be the first point in the back of your mind before planning investment strategies for 2013, it is time now for every tax payer of the country to make a resolution to have a separate independent Income-tax File for every member in the family. The objective of this is to achieve tax planning and cut down on your income-tax payments. Firstly think of your wife and if she does not have till now a separate independent Income-tax File, then start of having such independent Income-tax File for your wife. The concept of gift and loans in the name of your wife will help you to achieve this. However, do remember that your wife can receive gift from any relative other than her husband, her father in law and her mother in law. However, wife is free to take loan with reasonable interest from anyone including the husband. Similarly adopt the concept of gifting your major children and start having separate independent Income-tax File for your major children.

 2. Investments for Hindu Undivided Family tax file in your kitty Investments made by your Hindu Undivided Family can bring rich dividends for you in the year 2013. If you are a Hindu, then it is time now to find out whether you have a separate independent Income-tax File of your Hindu Undivided Family. If still now you have not been instrumental in opening a separate Income-tax File for your Hindu Undivided Family, then right now is the time when you should start such separate Income-tax File in your family so that it helps you in the process of tax planning. The HUF file apart from enjoying the basic income-tax exemption of Rs. 2,00,000 will also continue to enjoy tax deduction in terms of section 80C as well as deduction for interest on housing loans. Also do remember that your HUF file can come into existence whether you have a son or just a daughter and even if you do not have any children, still your HUF file can come into existence right now.

Sensex dips 60 points, consumer durables stocks fall

The Sensex on Monday was trading 60.16 points or 0.24 per cent down as capital goods and consumer durables stocks dipped.
Selling pressure was seen in capital goods, consumer durables and healthcare sectors, while marginal good buying was seen in auto stocks.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,093.16 points, was trading at 24,964.19 points (at 09.19 am) in the early session, down 60.16 points or 0.24 per cent from the previous day's close at 25,024.35 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 25,095.76 points and a low of 24,955.56 points in the trade so far.
The S&P BSE capital goods index dipped by 130.14 points, consumer durables index slipped by 130.73 points and healthcare index fell by 79.61 points. However, auto stocks went up by 53.63 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 28.15 points or 0.38 per cent lower at 7,431.45 points.

Inflation eases to 4-month low of 5.43 per cent in June

After rising to a five-month high in May, inflation dipped to 5.43 per cent in June mainly on account of a decline in the prices of food items and vegetables with the exception of potato and onion.
It was at 5.16 per cent a year ago in June 2013.
As per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation, prices of vegetables as a category declined by 5.89 per cent during the month, while that of potato and onion soared by 42.51 per cent and 10.70 per cent, respectively in the wholesale market.
Inflation had soared to a five-month high of 6.01 per cent in May 2014.
Among other important items, the prices of sugar and edible oils fell by 2.09 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively during June.
The food items that became expensive during the month include fruits (up 21.40 per cent), followed by milk (10.82 per cent), egg, meat and fish (10.27 per cent) and rice (10.24 per cent).
The inflation of food items as a category, however, continued to remain high at 8.14 per cent during the month and will continue to be a cause for concern for the Government which is gearing up to meet the impact of poor monsoon on the price situation.

3 reasons why sun is good for you

A little sunshine can boost your mood and help prevent serious illnesses, says Averil Nunes.
Outwit Osteoporosis: Given that one in three women will break a bone or two at the hands of osteoporosis and the bone-building Vitamin D is best synthesized in the presence of the sun, it's advisable to get your daily dose of sunlight. It's even more important to get these doses of sunlight in your pre-30 years when your body is building bone faster then it is losing it. The bigger your bone density bank, the longer it will take for menopause to bankrupt it. Dr Ambrish Mithal, of Medanta Hospital, New Delhi, who is board member and lead author of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Asia-Audit, 2013, tells us, "The sun remains the single largest source of Vitamin D, and contrary to popular belief, catching some sun between the hours of 11 am and 3 pm is highly recommended". Yes, you read right! The noon time sun is good for you.
Beat the Blues: Sting has sung about the healing power of the lithium in sunlight. Now, while sunlight may contain too little lithium—known to be effective at treating depression—to have the same effect as the physician-prescribed version of it; sunlight does release good doses of the feel-good hormone serotonin into your blood, making you feel happy. Perhaps even happy enough to sing, dance and clap along to Pharrell's Happy, like half the world seems intent on doing at present. With one in four women thought to be afflicted by depression, it seems wise to get some light before you become a statistic.

94% of Indian dermatologists recommend sunscreen to prevent skin problems: Study

New Delhi: Skin problems are one of the most common issues that many people face during the hot summer season. But, the good thing is that most of these problems can be dealt with a good sunscreen and a good cleansing routine.
According to a press release by L’Oréal India, based on their study, 94% of Indian dermatologists recommend use of sunscreen as the first line of defense against skin problems.
To better understand Indian skin concerns and the importance of sun protection, the survey was conducted amongst 900 leading Indian dermatologists.
The survey concluded that 94% of them recommend regular use of sun protection as an essential skin care regime to protect against skin ageing and pigmentation.
While sunscreens were the most popular skin care product recommended by dermatologists, 72% of them recommended broad spectrum sun protection against both UVA - Ultraviolet A (long-wave) and UVB -UltravioletB (shortwave) rays.
The study also found that 91% of skin experts felt Sun Protection helped in preventing skin aging. 75% of dermatologists recommended SPF 30+ to their patients and 72% of them also suggested application of sunscreen 2-3 times a day.
According to Francois Pradier, Director, Research and Innovation, L’Oreal India, “L’Oréal has been involved in photo protection research for over thirty years. Our study, 'New insights into skin pigmentation - an Indian