The 3-2-1 Rule Nobody Tells You Before Taking a Home Loan
Vikram had done his homework, or so he thought. He’d compared interest rates across two banks, picked the lower one, and signed the loan papers within a week of getting his offer letter accepted at a new job. Three months later, he was staring at a…
How to Read a Stock’s Balance Sheet Without an MBA
Arjun had been investing in stocks for almost a year, mostly on tips from a WhatsApp group and the occasional YouTube video. It worked out fine until one of his picks dropped 40% in three months, right after the company’s quarterly results came…
When, How, and Why to Start a Mutual Fund for Your Child’s Education and Future
Ramesh’s daughter was born in March, and by June, his mother-in-law had already asked whether he’d opened a Sukanya Samriddhi account. What she hadn’t asked, because most people don’t think to, was whether he’d started a…
7 Online Companies Fined for Hidden Charges: The Full List of What They Did and How Much They Paid
Sunita ordered groceries on a quick commerce app last month, and the price on her cart looked fine right up until the payment screen, where a handling charge and a membership fee she never agreed to suddenly appeared. She paid it anyway, mostly out of…
How to Choose a Mutual Fund: A Beginner’s Guide to Reading Performance and Picking the Right One
A cousin once asked me to just tell her “the best mutual fund” so she could start investing that weekend. When I asked what she was investing for and for how long, she paused. She didn’t actually know. She’d seen a fund mentioned…
Large Cap vs Mid Cap vs Small Cap Funds: Which Risk Level Actually Fits You
A colleague once told me his small cap fund had given him 40 percent returns in a year, and he said it like it was a permanent feature of the fund rather than a particularly good year in a particularly good market cycle. Two years later, the same fund…
Mutual Fund Taxation Explained: LTCG, STCG, and the Rules Everyone Gets Wrong
A friend called me in a bit of a panic last year, right after filing her taxes. She’d redeemed a debt mutual fund she’d held for four years, expecting some kind of long-term tax benefit like she’d gotten on an equity fund before.…
RBI Just Held Rates Again — Here’s What It Actually Means for Your EMI
Ramesh had his banking app open before the second cup of tea was even ready. It was Wednesday morning, August 5, and he’d read a WhatsApp forward the night before claiming the RBI was “definitely” going to cut rates this time. He has a…
Your Rs 10 and 20 Note Might Turn to Plastic Next Year. Here’s the Real Timeline
Every few years, a message does the rounds on family WhatsApp groups claiming paper currency is about to be scrapped, or that some note is being “banned” from a specific date. This week’s actual RBI news around plastic currency notes is…
Is UPI About to Stop Being Free? What the Government’s New Rs 2,000 Charge Proposal Really Means
A shopkeeper near my house has a laminated UPI QR code taped to his counter that’s been there for years, and it’s genuinely changed how he runs his shop. No cash drawer to reconcile, no card machine rental, payments settle instantly. When…