Best app for financial management and budget

As I was thinking how do I make sure that my expenses are tracked and I do not go through any hassle. Came across this nice little app on android's Google play store which eases the hassle and tussle of managing your expenses by the minute on-the-go.

The app is T2money.You can not only track all your expenses but also track your loans or borrows as well. The app is state-of-the art as it also provides you an option of taking a picture of the invoice as and when you make a purchase so that you never have to remember what did you purchase on any specific date.

The app provides you an option to choose the mode of payment, going all the way till recording which of you credit/debit card was used to make the transaction (given that you have saved few basic details with regards to the card that you are using to make the purchase).

You  can set recurring expenses so that you do not need to plan the entire budget every month from scratch. Additional tools have also been provided like interest calculator for deposits and income tax calculator.

In the management panel you have a pool of settings to have multi-user/multi-accounts in a single device.



The app also has password feature to secure your expense track information.

Below is the official description of the application from the publisher on Google Play.

Description

T2Expense is a professional money manager, a perfect combination of elegant interface and powerful features. Will certainly satisfy your needs of tracking money.
• Take a tour before download: http://www.appsurfer.com/apps/16714-t2expense-money-manager
Main features:
• Accounts with multiple currency
• Convenience Expense Book
• Advanced Search function, search history supported
• Transaction tags supported
• Loans/Borrow management
• Expense Reports in HTML & Excel (with format)
• Multiple Users
• Very flexible Recur Transactions
• Budgets
• Batch update transactions with dynamic amount calculates
• Take Receipt photo, Barcode scanning, Voice input
• Export/Import to Excel (CSV format)
• Backup/Restore Database from SD Card
• Editable, Sortable categories
• Wallpaper supported
• Beautiful Widgets
• Graphical Charts
• Integrated tools: Currency Converter, Sales & Tax Calculator, Tip Calculator, Note.

Traditional and ULIP insurance plans

I did speak to couple of insurance providers and by the looks of it all the Insurance providers provide good plans with regards to the child plans. ICICI prudential pro and HDFC life both have bank sponsered premium payment in case of death of the parent. ICICI smart kid premier seems to offer a slightly better like you would also have your life insured along with investing in you child's future.

Liquidity or withdrawal of funds invested can be done only after of five years.

Death benefit is available in both the insurers as mentioned above.

Tax benefit (by default)

Bonus distribution is slightly different

ICICI smart kid - Bonus is disbursed from the 10th year of investment and then every 5th year after that a sum of 2% of the fund value is released as bonus.

HDFC life - Bonus is issued at maturity. However, HDFC provides life insurance

HDFC Life - Health Insurance - has good coverage of ailments (ICU, CT Scan charges etc with OPD, Pre and post treatment are also covered in certain cases).

The sales reps always suggested to go to either a tradtitional insurance plan where the interest rate would be typically 3% (no risk) or with moderate risk rated ULIP so that the returns are much higher (12 to 15%) if you are ok with investing in market.

To get an estimate how much you would require to spend at the end of 15 or 20 years from now for your child's education, do visit the the college plan page of Max life insurance. It would give you a better picture, also even there child policies are good.

Start early and have a safe and worry-free future!

Investing for yourself and your child's future

When are you planning to invest for your child. General parent sentiment is to start investment for there child very early, probably before their child is born. Along side you need to also look at saving some money for the life after work.

Start early..

Its always a good plan to start in life to invest in insurance policies, mutual funds and health funds so that you do not find yourself in a helpless situation later in life.

Go for atleast 2 investment options one for yourself and one for your child before you reach 27. This would ensure you have sufficient time and life before you to grow your investment exponentially at the end of say 20 years.

1. Set yourself the priorities.

     - Marriage cost of your children

     - Education

     - Income after retirement

     - Health emergencies

     - Travel funds

2. Determine the approximate inflated cost that for each of your priorities.

3. Calculate the affordability and time factor as well so that you can put your money in a strategic manner on various investment products on a consistent basis so that none of your priorities are compromised.

4. Some best practice examples that you can take a look at and hopefully will help.

-Always calculate the total returns that you would see at the maturity versus the sum that need's to be invested every month/quarter/half-yearly or annually.

E.g. Policy A would give me 15 lakhs return and needs 5000 per month for 15 years
My total earning per month is 50000 (say)

Policy B would give me 12.5 lakhs and needs 50000 annually (equates to approximately 4200 per month) for 15 years

I would receive 17.5 lakhs on maturity at the end of 15 years term given that I commit 20% of my monthly take home on today's date. This sum if invested when your child is at 5 years would give a good sum of money for any of the priorities mentioned above.

All above figures are indicative only.

You could also do a similar math and start planning for a long term. Happy investing!

5 ways to stay away from redundent debt!

Often one thinks that debt in itself is not a good to have in one's life. But I would like you to think a little differently. Try to see it this way. Some debts add value to your life while some do not. Always think twice and proceed before committing yourself to another hole in your pocket on a monthly basis.

Below are 5 ways to stay away from debt or "Debt consolidation care"

• Planning:

There should be a solid plan and reserve cash worth to survive for at-least next six months with you. Make sure you follow this as rule of thumb so that this sum can also be used any other emergencies as well. It also relieves you from have constant thoughts running to arrange for funds when in (very bad) need.

Do not take any earnings that are not realized for your planning. Always plan with what you have in your hand at the current moment. An unrealized but already planned amount might through into a risky situation anytime.

• Keep luxury expenses at bay

Are you really in need of that asset that you are about to purchase? Ask yourself this question three times before making a purchase. This method has seen decisive results where people have made a wiser choice instead of spending there valuable hard earned money on a unreasonable luxury which is not required at that moment in their life. Control your urge to but the expensive gadget for 10 seconds and you are good to go. ;)

• Thoughtful investments

Always invest in commodities or products that would give you good returns in short term as well as long term. Assess the product which you are investing in and take decision. Investing would help you at times of real money needs in future. It is suggested that ULIP policies and mutual funds are great for investing given that the risk factor is safely balanced. Try to directly invest in stock market through broker, use third party means like the Mutual funds and the ULIP policies to have your money into various verticals so that when there is a worst financial crisis your money in still safe.

• When you really want the additional money. What to do?

First look at your priorities in using the emergency fund that you have hopefully saved for yourself. If things look green for near future and you do not require to use the fund for any other purpose, then take the help of this cash to overcome the requirement that you are facing. If you do not have emergency fund saved for yourself or if you cannot use the fund for various reasons, research the market for the lowest interest finance product. Gold loans are the most cheapest and less additional burden followed by a personal loan (though I would discourage going for a personal loan, go for a lowest tenure max EMI plan so that you are paying less interest).

• Strategic Debt or Debt Management Plans

What is this strategic debt? Sound ridiculous? Well, this only means that you need to have controlled money borrowing plan as against going haywire borrowing money from all possible sources just to make sure your are fulfilling the immediate financial requirements of yours. Never commit yourself for more than 15-18% of debt out of your total income. That would mean that your have enough breathing space for other stuff in life. Also set a rule for yourself when it comes to taking a cash assistance that you would not borrow more than once at a time ensuring you do not have multiple EMIs running.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this article and would apply some best practices in handling your existing debt and staying away from the upcoming debt monster! :) 

Oh my God! I cannot handle this growing debt - Help eliminate debt!

What is debt?

Debt is a financial term of meaning owing money to someone.

Debt Crisis? Are you under a shadow of very bad debt. If yes, then you would need to take a serious look at financial(also debt management) management loopholes. There are many ways to curb the deep-holes a bad debt could create or has already created. Yes, of course there are good debts as well as bad debts. Wondering?

Say for example you have purchased a home loan. It's a good debt as it would allow you to save some of your taxes(under 80C section you can claim till rupees 1.5 lakhs) apart from earning you a property.

Here are some steps you should take a look at before considering that you have lost the battle and which might give you insights to help eliminate debt.

• Prioritization while paying off your debts.

When you have abundant sum of money at any point then you should first make list of all you debts and prioritize debts which have the highest interest rate and pay those first as those are eating away a lot of your hard earned money. Once those loans/debts are cleared focus of the one's which are not beneficial like the personal loan, which can neither save you tax nor help you build asset.

• Balance transfers

Choose your new banker wisely before you balance transfer your credit card dues to a new banker. Consider things like:

• What is rate of interest applied on the transferred amount?
• Do not fall prey to the short term benefits like initial interest free timeframe, as there might be long term huge interest charges from the banker.
• Term of the re-payment offered along with the pre-payment charges are very important aspects to look at as these would also impact if you are actually less or more compared to the earlier credit card issuer.
 
• Luxury versus need

Do not get tempted to go for that spanking new gadget or the new budget car that is recently launched an X company as soon as you have received any excess cash in your hand. Think on how to route the sum into a meaningful channel.

• Invest in high yielding funds versus clearing of your loan.
• E.g. Home loan - 14% interest rate versus mutual fund yielding 18% returns. In this case obvious decision is to go for mutual fund rather than clearing the home loan as that would be profitable.
 
• Keep a check on expenses

Once you have reached a stage where you have just cleared some of your debts. Make sure you are not repeating your mistake and weed out any unnecessary purchase temptations. Plan wisely and always have a 6 to 8 months of reserves to at least run your basic household and bills. This emergency fund can also be helpful if you are in a crisis situation as well.

Debt consolidation is a major step in reducing the monthly financial commitment. You can opt for a personal loan to clear off your credit card debts saving lot of money in interest payments. 

Debt reduction loan:

Some good options to choose personal loan from

So friends. Make decisions wisely and have a prosperous finances in your life. Always give importance to savings that cannot be easily withdrawn making it difficult for you to waste your hard earned income.

Happy Debt Management!

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