Clear your debts by part payments

Every one of us, most likely has one or the other type of loan. Those who dont, I must say that, they are indeed blessed
Loan is not a bad thing to have. It gives one the ability to buy something(preferably an asset), at a earlier time, and slowly pay over a period of time.
Though it's a good thing, but at the same time, you need to understand that, it's from  the interest which you pay, which gives banks all the profits and also manage to pay the salaries of all their employees. Not a small amount eh ?

So the earlier you reduce you loan amount, the better for you, from your savings point of view.

Let me give you an example, which will tell you, how much you can save by doing a early part payment.
Assume you have taken a housing loan of 20 lakhs and your monthly EMI is roughly 20,000/-. An EMI will have a principal component as well as an interest component. In the initial years your principal component will be very less, while your interest part very high, and this will change over the years.

So, if you happen to make a part payment of say 25,000/- or 50,000/- it will make a big impact on the number of EMI's which you have to pay, if done in the early years. While the same amounts will not have the same impact in the later years. Nevertheless, its always beneficial, whenever you do the payments, it always helps to reduce to total out go from your accounts

Here is the table below, which shows the EMI for 20 Lakhs for 20 years at 11.75% Interest.

S.No	Monthly Installment	Interest	Principal	Balance
0				2000000
1	21674	19583	2091	1997909
2	21674	19563	2111	1995798
3	21674	19542	2132	1993666
4	21674	19521	2153	1991513
5	21674	19500	2174	1989339
6	21674	19479	2195	1987144
7	21674	19457	2217	1984927
8	21674	19436	2238	1982689
9	21674	19414	2260	1980429
10	21674	19392	2282	1978146

Only the first 10 Installments are shown above. But you an see, that even though in the Initial months, you are paying 21674/- as EMI only 2091/- is used to pay up the Principal amount, and a huge amount of 19583/- is used up for the Interest.

So, practically, close to the end of 1st year, if you pay up 25000/- as part payment, close to 10 EMI's worth of Principal, you would be paying in a single transaction. (its an approximation as 10th months principal is 2282/-. and 25000 divided by 2300 will be approx 10.

So technically, the effort required by the next 10 EMI to pay up that 25,000/- has been taken care.
Which means, by paying 25,000/- you have saved up paying 25000 x 10 = 250,000/- ie Two Lakh Fifty thousand. Thats quite a saving and you also end up completing the EMI's earlier :)

So whatever be the case, always try and pay up as much as possible. Try for 25000/- per quarter to pay up and it will help you a lot.

Money saved is also money earned.

If you like this article kindly share with others.

Read More

Tax Planning for New Financial year

April, this is the time, when we need to declare the Tax Declarations which we would be doing in the coming year. Some of us declare few investments and only hope to do them sometime in the year. But not all are able to meet that commitment. Here are a few advices, which I would suggest to use as a guiding tool, rather than for planning.

Lets look at the Simple Tax Investments which we can use.

80ccc

1. Upto 2 Lakhs under Section 80 ccc.  In this 2 Lakhs, 50,000/- is only meant to be invested in NPS(National Pension Scheme). 
2. The Remaining 150,000/- can be invested in Insurance Plans, Mutual Funds , NSC.
3. From this 150,000, since you would also have been paying PF from the company itself, it would be also considered as an investment. You will need to do it and you dont have a choice. 
4. If you have a home loan, the Principal from the home loan, will also be considered as a contribution towards the 1.5 Lakhs. 
5. After subtracting the PF amount which you are paying and the House Loan Principal component, the remaining amount will need to be invested, in other instruments like Term Insurance, ULIP Policies, Tax Savings Mutual Funds, NSC etc.
6. If you dont have any Insurance Policies, its a good time to start. Maybe smaller amounts is a good start. 
7. If you dont want to invest in a hurry, then plan to invest in Mutual Funds. So that, that commitment doesnt become a recurring one every year. But make sure, you dont leave any room for saving taxes.

80D

The other Tax Savings, which most of the folks dont do, is the Medical Insurance. You get deduction upto 25,000/- per year under section 80D. Its always good to have your Medical Insurance plan of your own, even if your company provides you with one.

NPS is something, one should start investing, as those in the private sector will not get any pension during their retirement life. Its only your own investments and the PF's which will come to your rescue during your retirement life. 

Out of the 2Lakhs under 80ccc, 50,000/- should be from NPS only. Though you can and should try to invest more. 

House Loan Interest

The principal component of the house loan, will be considered as an investment under section 80ccc, while the Interest  component will be getting full tax exemption upto 2 Lakhs.

Also, those having second homes and given on rent, from April 2017 onwards, the maximum loss one can claim from the house loan interest is also limited to 2 Lakhs, which didnt have any limits until the last year. 

Another exercise one needs to do, at this time of the year is also to get the Home Loan Interest Certificates from your respective banks, as you might need to submit them , while filing your returns, if there is a difference in the amounts, in the Provisional Tax Document and the Tax Certificate. 

If you have any queries, kindly put them in the comments section below.

Read More