How India Earns, Spends and Saves

I found many interesting points in this article ..

Few like -

• India saves but does not invest
• India saves for long-term goals such as emergencies, education and old age.
• The average household savings are Rs. 16,139 (is that true?? show me the moneyyyy)

And few scary one's...

• Financial vulnerability is not limited to poor households; even prosperous households are financially vulnerable.
• Wise savers but unwise investors
• The study found 96 per cent of the households cannot survive beyond a year on their current savings in case of loss of income due to some eventuality such as death or disability of the chief earner.

Read the full survey here.

Your kids don't need life insurance

Amazed by the heading of the article itself ??!!
Someone might be thinking .. so why so many insurance pushing for it ?!!
Well, I would say, our judgement should be based on what we need rather than what they want to sell ...
humm.. now it makes sense!!!
Don't be misled by advertisements promising a high cash value for a small premium. There are better steps you can take to secure your child's future says Money Magazine's Walter Updegrave.
Read on..

SBI Life Insurance posts record profit of Rs 37.74cr

SBI Life Insurance Company Limited, the first private sector life insurance company in India to make profit, today announced an impressive 101% growth in total premium collections to Rs 2748.28 crore during the first nine months of FY 2007-2008 and posted a Net profit of Rs 37.74 crore for the quarter ended December, 07.
Read on...

Life insurance grows 47 % in FY07

While LIC observed around 47% of decline in there first year premium, overall Life Insurance sector in India is in full swing ...check this out ... so the interesting question would be who ate LICs first year premium ??

The article goes...
The life insurance industry, which consists of Life Insurance Corporation of India and 15 private players, has grown by 47.38 per cent in total premium, including group business for FY07.

The total industry had a total premium including group business ( addition of regular premium, single premium and renewal premium) of Rs 156001 crore upto 31st March 2007 as against a total premium of Rs 105841 crore for FY06.

LIC premium declines by 47%

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has registered a decline in first year premium by 47 per cent in September this year compared to a year earlier, albeit on larger base.

According to the data released by Irda, the public sector behemoth mopped up a first year premium of Rs 2,554.84 crore in September this year compared with Rs 4,853.87 crore in September 2006.

AAA for New York Life Insurance Co. and New York Life Insurance & Annuity Corp.

Standard & Poor's (NYSE:MHP) Ratings Services on Thursday raised its credit and financial strength ratings for New York Life Insurance Co. and New York Life Insurance & Annuity Corp.
The credit rating agency said the upgrade reflects the companies' top position in the market for life insurance, high earnings and measured risk management.
S&P raised its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings for both companies to 'AAA' from 'AA+.' Companies rated 'AAA' have the highest levels of reliability and stability. The outlook for the insurance companies is 'stable,' according to S&P.
More on cnnmoney.com.

Google goes desi, starts online Hindi software

Now it's time for some non-insurance stuff .. check this out .. looks interesting to me! ... These products comes from namma Bangaluru ;-) ..

The world’s hottest search engine has gone desi. Now you can type in English and get the script in Hindi on Google. You can also search for local content in Hindi and 13 other Indic languages. Engineers at Google have developed software that helps online usage of "Indic" language scripts.

Term Insurance vs. Whole life or Permanent Insurance - A Car Analogy

Interesting article ....
Think of a term life insurance policy as leasing a car. When you lease a car you get the benefits of using the car, but when you stop paying you don't have a car anymore. As with term insurance as long as you pay your premiums you get the benefit of the term life insurance policy, but when you stop paying, you no longer have any coverage.

10 Key Reasons Why A Person Needs Life Insurance

Here is again some basics -
Insurance is designed to protect a person and the family from disasters and financial burdens. There are many kinds of insurance of which, the basic and most important is considered to be life insurance. It provides for the dependants after your death.

Investing with insurance: a bad risk

Is it a good idea to attach an investment account to your life insurance policy?
See what experts says on this.
Walter Updegrave has a simple answer: Don't do it.
..and I do agree with Walter .. keep investments separate from life insurance... you bet you will get more returns.