No tax returns on salaried Income up to Rs 5 Lakh

Employees who earn up to 5 lakh need not file income tax returns from assessment year 2011-12, an official statement said Thursday.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the scheme. Returns for assessment year 2011-12 are due July 31.

Individuals having total income up to 5 lakh for fiscal 2010-11, after allowable deductions, consisting of salary from a single employer and interest income from deposits in a savings bank account up to 10,000, are not required to file their income tax returns. 

"Such individuals must report their Permanent Account Number (PAN) and the entire income from bank interest to their employer, pay the entire tax by way of deduction of tax at source, and obtain a certificate of tax deduction in Form No.16," the statement said.

People receiving salary from more than one employer, having income from sources other than salary and interest income from a savings bank account, or having refund claims shall not be covered under the scheme.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had in his budget proposed to exempt salaried employees from filing tax returns.

The reason behind the move is that if a person has no other source of income, filing tax return is just a duplication of existing information.

The move would give relief to millions of salaried employees working in both the government and private sectors. 

The Top 17 Investing Quotes of All Time

When it comes to the world of investing, three words come to mind: overwhelming, intimidating, and scary. For us "regular Joes," the questions seem never-ending. On that note, let's revisit what experts have said over the years on the topic of investing. The quotes date back to Ben Franklin, and some are from modern pundits like Dave Ramsey and Warren Buffett. Though markets may change, good investing advice is timeless. (For more information, see This Is Your Brain On Stocks)

1. "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin
When it comes to investing, nothing will pay off more than educating yourself. Do the necessary research, study and analysis before making any investment decisions.

2. "Bottoms in the investment world don't end with four-year lows; they end with 10- or 15-year lows." - Jim Rogers
While 10-15 year lows are not common, they do happen. During these down times, don't be shy about going against the trend and investing; you could make a fortune by making a bold move - or lose your shirt. Remember quote #1 and invest in an industry you've researched thoroughly. Then, be prepared to see your investment sink lower before it turns around and starts to pay off.

3. "I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." - Warren Buffett
Be prepared to invest in a down market and to "get out" in a soaring market. (For more, read Think Like Warren Buffett.)

4. "The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing." - Phillip Fisher
Another testament to the fact that investing without an education and research will ultimately lead to regrettable investment decisions. Research is much more than just listening to popular opinion.

5. "In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." - Robert Arnott
At times, you will have to step out of your comfort zone to realize significant gains. Know the boundaries of your comfort zone and practice stepping out of it in small doses. As much as you need to know the market, you need to know yourself too. Can you handle staying in when everyone else is jumping ship? Or getting out during the biggest rally of the century? There's no room for pride in this kind of self-analysis. The best investment strategy can turn into the worst if you don't have the stomach to see it through.

6. "How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case." - Robert G. Allen
Though investing in a savings account is a sure bet, your gains will be minimal given the extremely low interest rates. But don't forgo one completely. A savings account is a reliable place for an emergency fund, whereas a market investment is not. (To learn more, see Savings Accounts Not Always The Best Place For Cash Assets.)

7. "Invest in yourself. Your career is the engine of your wealth." - Paul Clitheroe
We all want wealth, but how do we achieve it? It starts with a successful career which relies on your skills and talents. Invest in yourself through school, books, or a quality job where you can acquire a quality skill set. Identify your talents and find a way to turn them into an income-generating vehicle. In doing so, you can truly leverage your career into an "engine of your wealth."

8. "Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away." - Jim Cramer
There are no sure bets in the world of investing; there is risk in everything. Be prepared for the ups and downs. (To read more on how Cramer makes his pick, see Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Tools of the Trade.) 

9. "The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator." - Ben Graham
You are an investor, not someone who can predict the future. Base your decisions on real facts and analysis rather than risky, speculative forecasts.

10. "It's not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for." - Robert Kiyosaki
If you're a millionaire by the time you're 30, but blow it all by age 40, you've gained nothing. Grow and protect your investment portfolio by carefully diversifying it, and you may find yourself funding many generations to come.

11. "Know what you own, and know why you own it." - Peter Lynch
Do your homework before making a decision. And once you've made a decision, make sure to re-evaluate your portfolio on a timely basis. A wise holding today may not be a wise holding in the future.

12. "Financial peace isn't the acquisition of stuff. It's learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can't win until you do this." - Dave Ramsey
By being modest in your spending, you can ensure you will have enough for retirement and can give back to the community as well.

13. "Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas." - Paul Samuelson
If you think investing is gambling, you're doing it wrong. The work involved requires planning and patience. However, the gains you see over time are indeed exciting! (For more reasons to be patient, check out Patience Is A Trader's Virtue.)

14. "I would not pre-pay. I would invest instead and let the investments cover it." - Dave Ramsey
A perfect answer to the question: "Should I pay off my _____(fill in the blank) or invest for retirement?" That said, a credit card balance ringing up 30% can turn into a black hole if not paid off quickly. Basically, pay off debt at high interest rates and keep debt at low ones.

15. "The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'" - Sir John Templeton
Follow market trends and history. Don't speculate that this particular time will be any different. For example, a major key to investing in a particular stock or bond fund is its performance over five years. Nothing shorter.

16. "Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing." - Warren Buffett
In the beginning, diversification is relevant. Once you've gotten your feet wet and have confidence in your investments, you can adjust your portfolio accordingly and make bigger bets. (For more reason to reduce your diversification, read The Dangers Of Over-Diversifying Your Portfolio.)

17. "You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets." - Peter Lynch
When hit with recessions or declines, you must stay the course. Economies are cyclical, and the markets have shown that they will recover. Make sure you are a part of those recoveries!

The Bottom Line
The world of investing can be cold and hard. But if you do thorough research and keep your head on straight, your chances of long-term success are good. Refer back to these quotes when you're feeling shaky or are confused about investing. How are they relevant to your experience? Do you have any favorite quotes to add? (To learn more from great investors, read Greatest Investors.)

 Sources:- Investopedia

Indian Railway Budget Highlights 2011

Yesterday (25th Feb 2011) Railway minister of India Ms Mamta Banergee Presented Railway Budget in Indian Parliament House for the Year 2011. Railway Declared 2011-12 as a "Year Of Green Energy".Some of the Highlights are:-

COMMON PEOPLE

# No increase in passenger fares and freight rates in FY 2011/12.

# New Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.

# AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.

# New Super AC Class to be introduced.

# A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly.

# Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs 10 for AC classes and Rs 5 for others.

# Pan-India multi-purpose smart card 'Go India' to be introduced.

# 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.

# 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.

# Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.

# Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.

# A special package of two new trains and two projects for the states managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.

# Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.

# GPS Based 'Fog Safe' Device to be deployed.

# All unmanned level crossing up to 3000 to be eliminated.

# All India Security Help line on a single number set up.

NEW TRAINS

#New Janambhoomi trains Between Ahmedabad and Udhampur

# Krambhoomi Train for working class specially for Migrents.

# Bharat thirth train to be launched on Rabindranath Tagore's 150th Birth day Anniversary 

# Matribhumi Special Trains for Women

SOCIAL INITIATIVE

# A scheme for socially desirable projects, 'Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana' with non-lapsable fund proposed.

# 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.

# Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

# Concession of 50 per cent to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.

# Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

# Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.

# Scholarship for girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs 1200 per month.

# 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.

# Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group 'C' and 'D' including to fill up backlog of SC/ST initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.

# Free Journey for cancer patient in Sleeper and 3rd a/c & 75% concession for companion.

FACTS & FIGURE

# Gross traffic receipts estimated at 1.06 trillion rupees ($23.4 billion) in FY 2011/12

# Passenger numbers estimated to grow by 6.4 percent in coming financial year.

# Freight traffic estimated at 993 million tonnes in the coming financial year.

# Fresh investment of 576.3 billion rupees ($12.68 billion) into Indian Railways in the FY 2011/12.

INVESTMENT

# The government to provide 200 billion rupees ($4.4 billion) to Indian Railways in coming FY.

# Total amount of borrowing by Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) estimated at 204.54 billion rupees ($4.5 billion) in FY 2011/12

# Tax-free bonds totalling 100 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) to be issued by IRFC in the coming financial year.

#Railways development bank Rail Vikas Nigam Limited to borrow 1.4 billion rupees ($30.9 million) in coming financial year.

#Total public-private partnership investments estimated at 15.26 billion rupees ($336.5 million) in FY 2011/12.

INFRASTRUCTURE

# 1,300 kilometres (808 miles) of new rail lines to be added in FY 2011/12.

# 18,000 new wagons to be purchased.

# Two wagon units to be set up in conjunction with private partners.

# 700 megawatt gas-based captive power plant to be set up.

# A Bridge Factory in Jammu and Kashmir and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.

# A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.

#A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.

# Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.

# Additional mechanised laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal.

Gold prices to increase 19 percent in 2011

Although gold prices fell on Friday, leading towards the biggest weekly loss since July last year, partly due to the recovering U.S. economy and its slipping demand, however, the commodity prices in 2011 are expected to be 19 per cent higher than last year.

According to experts, surveyed by the London Bullion Metals Association (LBMA), the average gold price forecast was $1,457 per ounce.

2 year gold silver ration history chart     Source :- gold price. org

Analysts surveyed by the group predicted that silver prices will average $29.88 per ounce, which would represent a 48 per cent increase on the average price in 2010.

The average platinum price in 2011 was forecast to rise 12.6 per cent from the average 2010 price, to $1,813 per ounce.

"And palladium shows no sign of slowing down with an average 2011 price prediction of $814,65, a 54. 

Credit Card- A Plastic Money

Credit Card is a plastic card that is issued by financial company to the holders to borrow instant funds at the point of sale. It denoted the good credit ranking of the person and also is a promise that the borrower will repay the money within due date. It has become a lifestyle asset for the third generation people. But it can become liability to you if you do not have control on your spending. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of credit card payment.

Advantage of Credit Card Payment: 

• People can purchase items even they do not have money. The can take instant fund and can shop the items. 

• People are not required to carry cash to do shopping. 

• You can take the loan and at the same time have a reputation of good credit history. 

• People can do shopping anywhere. It helps you buy products online. Wireless Credit Card helps you make the payment online. Electronic payment system is really good and convenient mode to shop items. 

• It gives you reward points that you can redeem and enjoy the benefit.

Disadvantages of Credit Card Payment: 

• You are required to pay some extra amount for the product in the form of tax. Different companies levy different tax amount on Credit Card Processing. 

• You are levied heavy tax than that of normal loan if you cross the due date of payment. It also damages your credit rating. 

• It allows you to take more debt than that you can handle. It sometime makes you uncontrolled and you can buy unnecessary items at high cost.

Some Hidden Charges:

Nowadays most of the banks not informing the customers about the fees change and there is no clear intimation. It will affect your expenses and have to handle this clearly.

1. Avoid late payment fees

It is always keep in mind that the due date for all your Credit Cards. If you are missing the due, it will end up paying the late payment fees. Also periodically check for the due date, if there is any change by the bank.

2. Annual Fees

It is another expenses happening in the every year. If you taken the card with the life time free, then there should not be any fees for using the credit card. You have the rights to ask the company and they are responsible to provide the explanation.

3. Interest Rates

Learn about the Interest Rates of credit cards. There is lot of trick in explaining the interest rates by the banks. They will not tell you the annual rate for the credit cards. Because, it is higher than the other form of loans like Personal Loans, etc. It is always good to avoid taking the huge amount from the credit cards.

These are the advantages and disadvantages of credit card payment. Having a credit card is not bad rather it is an asset for you if you utilize it properly. You should try to make use of credit card only when you need urgently. It is for emergency and not for fun and entertainment. Understand the value of money and make its proper use. You will then find it to be an angel in distress.

Most of the people have a question in their mind that who give the instant loan to make the payment and how is credit card payment settled? The answer is – through merchant account. Merchant Accounts are special bank accounts that deal with credit card payment and settlement. These accounts are agreement between the credit card companies and the retailers to settle the payment.

Health Insurance :- Key Features & Benefits

The basic benefit of health insurance (also called mediclaim) i.e. covering the unforeseen medical expenses, there are few other features and benefits in most of the products offered in the market. Some of them are listed below:

Family Floater Policies: Most health insurance plans give the flexibility of covering up to 4 members of the family under the same plan with a slightly higher premium than an individual health insurance policy. It gives the flexibility of choosing say 4 or 5 lakhs of cover for the entire family. If one member in the family is hospitalized and uses about Rs. 2 lakhs for his treatment, then the rest 3 lakhs can be availed by others. It is very unlikely that more than 1 or 2 members would require hospitalization in the same year. Hence the family floater serves the purpose whoever in the family falls ill.

Hospitalization Cash Benefits: This benefit entitles the customer to cash benefits for every completed day of hospitalization, which helps him to take care of the increased financial burden incurred at the time of hospitalization, such as loss of earnings away from work and other expenses.

Cashless facility: There is a network of hospitals tied up with each insurance company which accepts the insured’s medical identity card (issued by the insurance company) for providing cashless facility to the insured. Hence either part or entire expenses are covered by the policy and the individual doesn’t need to spend from his pocket.

Pre-hospitalization and Post-hospitalization benefits Some mediclaim policies provide for up to 60 to 90 days of pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization benefits, i.e. the cost of medical tests, medicines, scans, etc. This is usually provided under maternity benefits and treatments which do not require hospitalization.

Ambulance Charges In most cases the ambulance charges are taken up by the policy and the policy holder usually doesn’t have to bear the burden of the same.

Health check up Some health insurance policies have a facility of free health check-up for the well being of the individual if there is no claim made for certain number of years.

Cover for Pre-existing Diseases Some health insurance policies have a facility of covering pre-existing diseases after 3 or 4 years of continuously renewing the policy, i.e. if someone has diabetes, then after completion of 3 or 4 years of continuous renewal with the same insurer (depending on the plan offered and his age), any hospitalization due to diabetes will also be covered.

No-Claim Bonus Some health insurance policies provide a no-claim bonus. If there has been no claim in the previous year, i.e. if the person covered has not availed any hospitalization benefit, then a bonus is declared; either by reducing the premium or by increasing the sum assured by a certain percentage of the existing premium.

Tax Benefits of taking a Health Insurance Policy Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, income tax benefit is provided to the customer for the premium amount till a maximum of Rs. 15,000 for regular and Rs. 20,000 for senior citizen respectively.

Take Advantage of Nomination Facilities

Registering a nomination facilitates easy transfer of funds to the nominee on the demise of the investor.

What is a Nomination?

An investor can nominate a person(s) called nominee(s) to whom his/her Mutual Fund Units will be transferred on his / her demise.

Mutual Fund units get transferred to the nominee registered in the folio on the demise of the Investor.

What are the benefits of registering a nomination?

Registering a nomination facilitates easy transfer of funds to the nominee(s) on the demise of the investor. In the absence of the nominee, a claimant would have to produce a host of documents like a Will, Legal Heir-ship Certificate, No-objection Certificate from other legal heirs etc. to get the units transferred. The process is simple if a nominee is registered in the folio.

How can an investor make a nomination?

Nomination can be registered at the time of purchasing the units. While filling in the application form, there is a provision to fill in the nomination details.

Alternatively, an investor may register a nomination later through a form which may be submitted with relevant particulars of the nominee.

The forms are available on the mutual fund websites.

Investors may also request the registrar and transfer agent to send a form.

Can an investor make multiple nominations?

Yes! An investor may make up to three nominations and even specify the percentage of the amounts that will go to each nominee.

If the percentage is not specified, equal shares will go to the nominees.

Can a minor be a nominee?

Yes! A minor can be a nominee. However the guardian will have to be specified in the nomination form.

Can a nomination be changed?

A nomination can be changed and even cancelled. The relevant form should be filled and submitted to the Registrar or Mutual Fund Office.

If an investor has different schemes in a folio, will all units of all schemes be transferred to the nominee?

A nomination is at folio level and all units in the folio will be transferred to the nominee(s).

If an investor makes a further investment in the same folio, the nomination is applicable to the new units also.

Who can nominate and who is eligible to be a nominee?

Nominations can be made only by individuals applying for / holding units on their own behalf, singly or jointly.

Non-individuals, including societies, trusts, body corporates, partnership firms, the karta of an HUF, and the holder of a power of attorney (POA) cannot nominate.

Nomination can be in favour of individuals, including minors, the Central Government, State Government, a local authority, any person designated by virtue of his office or a religious or charitable trust.

A non-resident Indian can be a nominee, subject to the exchange control regulations in force from time to time.

Source:- The Hindu