Redefine Finance !!!

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday surged to a new 17-month high by adding over 204 points on buying support particularly in banking and metal stocks amid strong cues from Asian markets.

The Sensex, which had closed with a hefty gain in previous session on Monday, added 204.44 points at 17,231.11, a level last seen on May 20, 2008. The benchmark touched the day`s high of 17,274.59 led by stocks in metal, banks and drugmaker companies.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 63.95 points at 5,118.20.

Investors were also upbeat after a top policy adviser said the central bank was likely to hold interest rates at a near decade-low when it reviews policy on Oct. 27, reinforcing expectations the government's priority was to boost growth.

The 30-share BSE index closed up 1.2 percent, or 204.44 points, at 17,231.11, with 25 of its components advancing. It rose to 17,274.59 during trade, its highest since May 21, 2008.

"We may rise another 500-600 points from here but we should correct after that, as we have risen too fast," said Amitabh Chakraborty, president of equities at Religare Capital.

He said profit-taking was imminent.

The market has gained almost 79 percent so far this year, and the benchmark has more than doubled from 8,047.17 points struck in early March.

Brokers said markets were catching up with gains across the region on Tuesday when the domestic market was close due to state elections in Maharashtra.

They added that Asian shares were mostly firmer and the market was also underpinned by rising foreign portfolio flows.

The traders said the Sensex had gained almost 79 per cent this year as foreign funds stepped up purchases on the back of a recovering economy.

The FIIs pumped in nearly USD 13 billion into Indian stocks this year, almost putting back what they had pulled out in 2008 when the index slumped to more than half.

The market also got partial boost after HDFC Ltd reported a higher-than-expected 24 per cent rise in its second quarter net profit. The state-run lender, State Bank of India rose 4.46 per cent to Rs 2,269.45.

Healthcare sector index was an important participant in today`s rally as drugmakers`s price estimates were raised at Goldman, Sachs. Ranbaxy Laboratories, a third-biggest drugmaker by market value, advanced 1.17 per cent after Goldman Sachs increased share-price estimate by 23 per cent.

The metal, capital goods, auto and banking stocks lended maximum support to the market recording handsome gains. Metal index rose the most by 5.27 per cent to 15,587.83 followed by capital goods index up by 2.38 per cent to 14,185.34.

Telecom companies bucked the trend and dropped after slower subscriber additions at leading GSM mobile operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar in September amid intense price competition.

Bharti dropped 3.25 percent to 339.40 rupees and Reliance Communications fell 6.5 percent to 231.60 rupees.

Around 507 million shares changed hands on the Bombay Stock Exchange, with advancing shares outnumbering declining ones in the ratio of 1.6:1.

The 50-share NSE index closed 1.3 percent higher at 5,118.20.

Creating a budget may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world to do, but it is vital in keeping your financial house in order. Before you begin to create your budget it is important to realize that in order to be successful you have to provide as much detailed information as possible. Ultimately, the end result will be able to show where your money is coming from, how much is there and where it is all going.

Financial confident people work with a budget. A good budget ensures you live within your means hence avoid unnecessary spending. It also helps you save part of your income. In order for your budget to work for you then it should meet some standards. But one of the most crucial elements of a good financial plan is that it should always be based on your financial goals.

Budgeting is not just about keeping track of your expenditure but it also includes helping you meet your personal financial targets in life. This is because, without financial goals in life you will never be in control of your money. To improve your financial status, start planning your finances carefully.

• Gather every financial statement you can. Includes bank statements, investment accounts, recent utility bills and any information regarding a source of income or expense. The key for this process is to create a monthly average.
• Create a list of monthly expenses. Write down a list of all the expected expenses you plan on incurring over the course of a month. Includes a mortgage payment, car payments, auto insurance, groceries, utilities, entertainment, dry cleaning, auto insurance, retirement or college savings and essentially everything you spend money on.
• Record all of your sources of income. No matter If you are self-employed or have any outside sources of income or If your income is in the form of a regular paycheck where taxes are automatically deducted. Record this total income as a monthly amount.
• Break expenses into two categories: fixed and variable. Fixed expenses are those that stay relatively the same each month and are required parts of your way of living. Variable expenses are the type that will change from month to month and this category will be important while making adjustments.
• Total your monthly income and monthly expenses. If your end result shows more income than expenses you are off to a good start. If you are showing a higher expense column than income it means some changes will have to be made.
• Make adjustments to expenses. If you have accurately identified and listed all of your expenses the ultimate goal would be to have your income and expense columns to be equal. This means all of your income is accounted for and budgeted for a specific expense. If you are in a situation where expenses are higher than income you should look at your variable expenses to find areas to cut.
• Review your budget monthly. It is important to review your budget on a regular basis to make sure you are staying on track. After the first month take a minute to sit down and compare the actual expenses versus what you had created in the budget.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel met Air India Unions and the management in Mumbai on Wednesday to review its rationalisation and turnaround plan.

The government is likely to infuse additional equity into ailing Air India, which has evolved a major revamp plan to cut costs by Rs 3,000 crore and increasing revenue by Rs 2,000 crore every year.

Addressing the media after the meeting, the minister said, "We have reviewed the functioning of Air India; we met unions and explained government plans to turn the airline around."

"One step would be induction of equity and the other restructuring high cost debt to low cost debt," he told reporters here after holding separate meetings with Air India employees unions and the management.

He assured that the government will infuse equity, but only if there is cost cutting in the airline.

"Air India employees have shown a lot of understanding. It seems management and unions can forge an understand of way forward," he said.

A draft note on equity infusion in Air India, prepared by the civil aviation ministry, is being sent to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Patel said.

He said a series of measures to cut costs and enhance revenues would include returning leased planes and leasing out some new ones.

Air India, which is faced with losses estimated at over Rs 7,200 crore, has undertaken a major revamp plan parts of which have already come into effect, Patel said.

Patel's announcement comes just two weeks after executive pilots of Air India had struck work and gone on mass sick leave protesting cuts in their productivity linked allowances.

Caught on the backfoot , the management had deferred the cut and the government had formed a sub committee of the Air India board to examine the issue. There are 14 unions of pilots, cabin crew, engineers, officers and other employees in the airline.

"Air traffic has improved over the last six months and overall market scenario has definitely witnessed a slight improvement in the last month or two and that does send out a signal of cautious optimism that aviation industry would lead to a road to recovery though it may not be as thick as we witnessed a few years ago," he said.

Don’t ignore Second Income if it is coming in your hands
 Many people just ignore income sources which are very little according to them but they never know how valuable it can be.
 

Let’s see how….

After making a discussion with many people who are currently involved in extra income sources we found that here are a couple of different ways to look at an extra income. For example suppose you are earning $1,500 per month, then here are the following ways to look at benefits:
 

1. Savings account: To earn $1,500 a month that is $18,000 per year in a savings account at 4%, you would need to save $450,000!
2. Investment account: To earn $18,000 per year from investments at 10%, you would need to invest $180,000.
3. Employment: For many, to get $18,000 per year in raises could take several years of dedicated service to your employer.
4. Financial Freedom: Extra income of $1,500 per month could cover car payments, help pay down credit card debt, or cover some or even all of a mortgage payment.
    

What brings a rich source of Extra Incomes????

Let’s populate 10 Extra Income Ideas:
 

• Real estate investing: Real Estate investment is one of the best way to make and extra income however it requires expense and enormous potential. The current down turn in the market is an ideal time to buy a property.
• Ebay Store: you can run an ebay store which is an online store in which you can market products and earn commission generated by the sales. Running an ebay store is now easier than ever before.
• Realtor: This may seem like a crazy time to start selling real estate, but in a slow market a lot of the competition runs away. You'll need an initial investment to obtain your real estate license, but over the long term have the potential to make substantial income.
• Website Design: Website design has become a growing industry with the continued growth of the Internet. And it is now-a-days a very good source to make online income as there are many online resources available that can easily master in website designing.
• Graphic Artist: There are a lot of ways to generate money through graphics. Just the logo business alone could keep you busy if you have the artistic skills necessary to develop cool graphics.
• Virtual Assistant: Now-a-days its trend of Virtual assistances. Virtual assistants don’t require their physical presence in the companies. Many virtual assistants from places like India are working full time for people in the U.S. Best VA’s can earn $30 to $50 per hour.
• Freelance writer: If you have a good writing skill then you can earn great money by writing for others. If you don’t know how to start then you may Contact bloggers who are always looking for great writing. As blogs grow, they can afford to pay freelancers good money for quality articles. Websites looking to build links also hire freelancers to write guest posts to be published on blogs and websites.
• Home business: The ideas and potential for a home business are limitless. One of the great benefits about running a home business is that it greatly reduces your initial investment.
• Sell a product: you can sell different products which you can manufacture on your own or you can sell products of another company by the process of producing and marketing it.
• Blogging: Making money online requires very little cash investment and can be done on your schedule from home.

We should not make any mistakes in our financial plans as recession is here. While we do not know how long or painful it will be….The stock market has lost more than 20% in the last 10 trading days.


But, there are steps which we can take to make us better prepare for difficult financial times ahead. There are some basic things we can do. We need to plan following things:

(1) Income (2) Expenses (3) Savings and (4) Investment.

Protect Your Income during a Recession

1. Protect Your Job: Protecting your job should be the number one priority by putting in a few extra hours, working a little harder, and improving your skill set. Those who stay employed during a recession generally ride out the storm just fine.

2. Be Ready For Layoffs: While we should do everything what we can to keep our jobs but some layoffs are unexpected. This means having your resume updated and knowing where you could apply for a job.

3. Earn Extra Money: Make extra money blogging, but that's just one of many, many ways. The beauty of extra income is that it goes right to the bottom line. It could make a huge difference if you ever lose your job.

Reduce Your Expenses during a Recession

1. Evaluate Your Mortgage: One of the positive elements of our current financial crisis is that interest rates are low. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, it's time to see if you can refinance to a fixed rate loan. Notwithstanding what we all hear on TV or read in the papers, those with good credit can still get mortgages.

2. Refinance high interest credit cards: If you are paying high interest rates on credit cards then consider to move balances over to a 0% APR balance transfer card or a low interest credit card. When considering this option, keep in mind three things:

• The interest rate after the introductory offer: Zero percent introductory rates do not last forever, so make sure you know what the interest rate will be once the 0% expires.

• Balance transfer fees: Today, virtually all balance transfer credit card offers charge a fee for the transfer. Make sure to avoid unlimited fees if at all possible.

• Don't use the card for anything else: One of the big gotchas of credit card balance transfers is that if you use the card for purchases in addition to the balance transfer, your purchases usually get charged interest.

3. Reduce Spending: This is obvious, but it is important to recognize that there are many ways to cut spending. There are literally thousands of ways to save money. Pick those that work for you, and start saving now. As part of this, seriously consider a cash back credit card. If you pay off your balance every month.

Saving and Investing During a Recession

1. Don't stop saving for retirement: Do not sell any of your investments. As Warren Buffett would say, I'm trying to be "greedy when others are fearful”. Be persuaded that what we do with our investments now and in the immediate future will dictate more than anything.

2. Rethink your emergency fund: It is more important now than ever to have an emergency fund.

3. Don't rely on a home equity line of credit: This point is critical. You may have available credit on your home equity, but did you know the bank can eliminate that credit? Go find your home equity line agreement, and you will see that if the value of your home falls or your financial situation changes, the bank can reduce the amount of your available credit.