Comments for MUSINGS ET AL

Comment on O’PALESTINE,MY HEART BLEEDS FOR THEE…. by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:16:09 +0000

dear ron,
your’s is a compelling argument.Ofcoures we canot dwell in history and try to rectify all historical wrongs,especially when the perpetrator of the wrongs are more powerful then the victims.
Ofcourse we cannot disband your cities and pack up especially since there are no other promised lands.
But what we can do is stop continuing to do mistakes.For instance we can stop building new settlements especially in disputed land. the population of jews in west bank grew from nil in sixties to 1 lakh in 90’s to more then 2.5 lakh now.Atleast some of this land were privately held by the palestenians.
The govt gave initiatives for people to settle there.Outrageous law’s like the asdentee property law only add fuel to the fire.
A number of attack on the palestenians by the settlers with the tactic support of the security personel have not gone unnoticed.
Despite the promises the settlements continue to happen to this day.

I can argue for the palsetenians and you can argue for the jews and it can go on and on.But thats not the point.The point is the solution.What kind of isreal do you want your grandchildren to inherit?.A one which is in perpetual war or a one which is in peace with the world?

Comment on O’PALESTINE,MY HEART BLEEDS FOR THEE…. by Ron

Ron — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:21:33 +0000

Blather and blabber.
And India has been ruled by invader after invader since Vedic times. Does that mean Hindus don’t have a right to this land?
How many times has Poland been ruled by foreign powers? Does that mean Poles don’t have a right to their land too?
You are also factually wrong – the Maccabees (Hasmonean dynasty) ruled over Israel for 100 years, not 60.
Pompey conquered Judea in 63 BC, but even as a vassal state, the puppet king of Judea was still a Jew (Herod the Great).
The kingdom of Judea was always Jewish (read the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius), till the time of Bar Kokhba’s rebellion in 132 AD.
Whether the modern state of Israel should have been formed in 1948 are moronic: I might as well ask: should India have been divided? Should Lahore have gone to Pakistan or remained with India?
Sure, I can ask these questions as an academic exercise, but only a fool would think of undoing historical mistakes.
Unfortunately, Hamas and the people who elected them to power don’t think that way.
I have only one question to all Israel-baiters: take a breather from all that drooling on ‘historical wrongs’ and tell the world what you would WANT Israel to do – empty its cities, disband the country, and ship out its people to other parts of the world so that the poor innocent suicide bombers of Palestine feel nice?
When random rockets are fired on Israeli settlements, those very same bleeding hearts start cackling and frothing about historical wrongs on Palestinians, almost as if to justify the killing of innocent Jews. Then when Israel retaliates, they start screaming about how Israel is such a bad boy and why the conflict must end.

Comment on The day Mangalore was shamed….. by prem

prem — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:46:45 +0000

as expected the culprits are out on bail.Media will forget……….until the next attack.

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by Pam

Pam — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:00:11 +0000

Hi Nikin
I certainly agree with ur view that this scheme should not be projected for the rural masses as they will be easily mistake.
With respect to your dilema of 1010D my comments are

As per sec 10(10(d)), to get tax exemption the premium should not exceed 20% of capital sum assured. To understand what is meant by Sum assured one should look at the various insurance documents.One such document is the premium receipt wherein LIC clearly states the sum assured, which is 6 times(approx)of the single premium.The next thing is the policy document. As per the law each insurer has to affix stamps based on the sum assured of policy. Here again LIC instruction says that stamp is based on the basic sum assured.(first year sum assured). Therefore it can be concluded that the sum assured under this policy is the sum assured at the time of signing of contract.Accordingly jeevan aastha policies will get the benifit of sec 10(10(d)).It may be noted that there are many life insurance policies currently in the market with variable sum assured during the term.

Dhiraj ur comments pls

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:37:14 +0000

dear dhiraj
you still fail to understand my post.
1.What i am trying to do tell here is the unsculprous way the LIC with the help of its agents is trying to mislead people in towns and small villages.
2.Even if the returns is exempt from tax,this policy is suitable only for people in high tax bracket.
3.I am still not convinced about the tax free status as sec 10(D) says “any sum received under an insurance policy issued on or after the 1st day of April, 2003 in respect of which the premium payable for any of the years during the term of the policy exceeds twenty per cent of the actual capital sum assured”.
if i invested 48975,then my coverage after 1st year is 1,10,000.So the premium payed ceases to be les then 20% of sum assured.So how can the returns be tax free?

ps-i have now also put a disclaimer

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by Dhiraj

Dhiraj — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:18:35 +0000

Hi Nikin

As you wrote ‘ you live in a small town and the LIC agent is the only financial advisor’.
1. You maynot be having access to any income tax advisor too…who could have clarified the tax status to you. Besides being a ‘Certified Financial Planner’ and a ‘Chartered Accountant’ too, therefore I know the tax status. It is exempt as the single premium is less than 20% of the ‘Sum Assured’. In this policy, in case of death after the first year, one gets 1/3rd of the sum assured…the sum assured doesn’t change.
2. You may also not be tracking the interest rate movements in India and the world. Across the world the interest rates are at all time lows and in India they are at the 2002-2003 lows. The yields on a 10 year Government Security gives indication of the trend for the interest rates going forward, its at 5.50% as of now. In india the few debt investments that come with a sovereign guarantee are: LIC(tax free returns)- Post Office(taxable returns) -Government Securites(taxable return)

Dhiraj

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:27:03 +0000

dear dhiraj,
thanks for replying.If you had read my post carefully,you would understand a few things.

1.I know money plus and jeevan aastha are as diffrent as chalk and cheese but i was talking about them in the same breath only to show how LIC agents are misleading the gullible.
2.I live in a small town LIC agent is the only financial advisor present and they invariably mislead people.As you have rightly pointed out this may be suitable for high tax bracket indivisuals(even then only if the returns is tax free as is being claimed) but there are very few such people in small towns and villages.
Infact i know housewives with no known source of income being entraped to take this policy.This they are doing by giving false information that this instrument gives 10% returns while banks give less.You as a financial expert must know that this is a blatant lie.
3.As far as my knowledge goes the returns is tax free only if the premium payed is less then 20% of the maturity amount.You being a financial expert can throw some light into this.
4.You say “YOU MAY NOT SEE SIMILAR SCHEMES IN THE NEAR FUTURE”.Do you mean to say that LIC is doing us a favour by giving us this plan.Ha Ha ,i think it’s you who is being a little naive here.

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by Dhiraj

Dhiraj — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 07:43:59 +0000

Hi Nikin

Let me update on on a few facts:
1. Investors get duped due to misselling beacuse they choose to deal with unqualified advisors.
2. Money plus was an equity based unit linked insurance plan where the jeevan astha is a pure debt based investment plan. Comparing the two is like comparing apples with oranges.
3. Jeevan Astha comes with a sovereign guarantee which the bank deposits don’t have (bank deposits are secured upto Rs lac only). Also, the returns in jeevan astha are tax free, which is not the case with bank deposits. The Jeevan astha is meant for people in the higher tax brackets. It is one of the best debt investment available for people in higher tax bracket and you one may not see similar scheme in the near future.
4. Jeevan astha is a pure investment plan with insurance thrown in to make the return tax free under the Indian income tax.
5. It would be a good idea to take the advice of seasoned professionals like me (dhiraj.cfp@gmail.com) before such naive analysis of an investment product.

dhiraj

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:56:22 +0000

dear prakash jha,
insuranse and investing are two diffrent things.As you have rightly pointed out our formost concern is our loved ones.
here’s a plan which is better then investing 1,00,000 in jeevan aastha without any resk.
take a term assurance plan for 5,00,000 for 10 years.You will have to pay 1282/year as premium.The total for 10 years is 12820
rest 98718 you invest in tax saving fixed deposit.you will get 2,28,918 at the end of 10 years.

So you get a coverage of 5 lac for all 10 years and return of 128918.If on the othe hand you invest in jeevan aastha,then you get assured return of only 1,00,000 and coverage of only 2,00,000 from 2nd year.

note-
1.the above example assumes that jeevan aastha is taxable BECAUSE HERE THE PREMIUM PAYED WILL BE MORE 20% of maturity amount.
2.The above calculation is taken for a 30 year old.

Comment on LIC – CONNING THE GULLIBLE by prakash jha

prakash jha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:26:01 +0000

dear sir, mai 100% aap ki bato se sahmat hu.lekin kiaya hume kahi v invest nahi karna chahiye ya fir hame famli protection ki koyee jarurat hi nahi. jiske liye hum din rat ek kar ke kamate hai.fir hame tax benefit v chayiye. mujhe viswas hai ki aap ne jo v likha hai wo pad kar kuch log jarur soch samjh ke kadam uthaenge.wish u all the best for those who has invested in jeen aastha u hv a free look period of 15 days ===========================

Comment on TAKE THAT !!!!! AUSSIES by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:49:22 +0000

You can. But you dont seem the abusive kind.
Or are you?

Comment on TAKE THAT !!!!! AUSSIES by Neha

Neha — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:53:24 +0000

so I can abuse u now :p.

You’re funny

Comment on TAKE THAT !!!!! AUSSIES by nikin shetty

nikin shetty — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:29:02 +0000

dear neha,
when someone posts a comment for the first time it has to be approved by the moderator.Only then it can be seen by others.This is to prevent abusive and obscene messages.
However once a message is approved,subsequent messages need no moderating.They will be posted directly.Hence if anyone is planning to be abusive,they can do it the second time around.

Comment on TAKE THAT !!!!! AUSSIES by Neha

Neha — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:22:58 +0000

what does comment being moderated mean?

Comment on us varisity insults iranian president by nikin

nikin — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:37:12 +0000

bob,
i think, i was expressing the opinion of the majority of the world in that post.No i am not a iranian nor a muslim.