October 13, 2024

Which Is The Better Safest Option For Investment, Gold Or Mutual Fund?

10:52 am

The investment choices of Indians are very varied. According to a report from August 2020, Indians own about 25,000 tonnes of gold, the biggest private ownership in India. But India’s love story with gold investments is not new. Gold’s tangibility is one of the top reasons for the same.

At the same time, we now have grown an aptitude for options like mutual funds as well. Several data show the increasing number of mutual fund subscriptions among Indians. But there still exists confusion among the common in choosing between gold and mutual funds. Let us learn more about both and compare them to see which option is better for you. 

Mutual funds

Mutual funds are an investment option where the money you invest is put in a portfolio designed by a fund manager according to the theme of the fund. Different mutual funds will have different focuses. For instance, an aggressive mutual fund may invest more in equities, while a conservative fund may have more debt presence in its portfolio. The choice here should be based on your risk appetite and investment goals. 

Gold investments

As said above, gold is one of the most preferred investment options in India, thanks to its tangibility. Since gold doubles as jewelry and is a part of the culture in many places, it holds sentimental value as well.

As an investment option, too, gold has proved its worth with how its value has increased over the years. But when kept as jewelry, other charges, including charges, could also offset the overall profit. Virtual gold can be a solution to this. 

Mutual funds vs Gold – which is better? 

Let us compare different factors associated with gold and mutual funds as an investment to help you make the choice easier. 

Returns

The returns you get from gold investments depend on the price increase of gold as a commodity. This is dependent on different factors, including supply and demand. If history is taken as a reference, you can see that gold rates have grown between 10 to 13 % annually most of the time.

On the other hand, returns from mutual funds are dependent on the type of fund you invest in. Equity-focused funds normally can give up to 18% returns on average, while for debt funds, the returns are comparable to that of gold investments. Here, it is important to understand that risk increases as the potential increases for mutual funds. 

Gold

The risk associated with investing in gold is considered to be among the lowest. Gold has a proven track record of safeguarding wealth even at times of economic tensions. This is another reason why a lot of people still favour gold investments.

On the other hand, the risk associated with mutual fund investments depends on the type of fund you invest in. For instance, equity funds tend to have a higher risk (and return potential), while debt funds tend to have a comparatively lower risk (comparatively lower return potential). The choices are plenty, and chances are, you will be able to find a fund that is perfectly matching your risk tolerance. 

Liquidity

Gold is considered to be one of the most liquid assets. Due to higher demand, you can easily sell gold. Even digital gold shares the same attributes.

The liquidity of mutual funds often depends on the type of fund. But since most mutual funds are open-ended, they can be sold in stock markets as well.

Both mutual funds and gold investments are beneficial investment options. But the choice between them should be based on your investment goals and risk tolerance. Hence, it is wise to talk to your investment advisor before investing.

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Here Are 5 Budget-Friendly Airtel Prepaid Recharge Plans With A One Month Validity

5:22 am

In terms of benefits and pricing, Airtel provides the most economical, and effective prepaid recharge packs. Some of the more affordable plans have limits in terms of advantages that other long-term plans or even one-month validity plans provide. Here’s  a list of the best Airtel prepaid recharge plans that are easy on the pocket. Let’s have a look at their features.

  • Rs 109 recharge plan

The Airtel Rs 109 plan has a validity period of 30 days and includes 200MB of mobile data and Rs 99 in talk time. For local, STD, and landline calls, it will cost you just Rs 2.5 paise each second. Local SMS costs Re 1 and STD SMS is priced Rs 1.44.

  • Rs 111 recharge plan

The Airtel Rs 111 smart recharge provides one month of validity. The Rs 111 plan includes Rs 99 in talk time and 200MB of mobile data. Local SMS costs Re 1, STD and SMS cost Rs 1.5, while calling charges are Rs 2.5/second for all local, STD, and landline calls.

  • Rs 128 recharge plan

The Airtel plan of Rs 128 is valid for 30 days and includes no additional features. Local and STD call charges are Rs 2.5 per second, while video calls cost Rs 5 per second. Mobile data is priced at Rs 0.50 per MB used. Local SMS costs Rs 1, and STD and ISD SMS costs Rs 1.5.

  • Rs 131 recharge plan

The Rs 131 Airtel pack has a validity period of 12 months. The Rs 131 plan,  like the Rs 128 plan, has no additional perks. Local SMS costs Rs 1, and STD and ISD SMS costs Rs 1.5. Mobile data costs Rs 0.50 per MB. Local and STD calls cost Rs 2.5 per second, while video call charges are Rs 5 per second.

  • Rs 319 recharge plan

The Rs 319 Airtel recharge provides 2GB of data every day for one month of validity, with a total of 56GB/60GB/62GB of available data depending on the month’s days. Following the daily limit, the internet speed is 64Kbps. The recharge includes 100 SMS per day and unlimited calling. After you’ve used up your free 100 SMS, you’ll be charged Re 1 for each local SMS and Rs 1.5 for STD SMS. The Rs 319 Airtel plan includes a free membership to Airtel Wynk music, Rs 100 cashback on FASTag, Hello songs, and three months of Apollo 24/7 circle.

How to make an Airtel Prepaid Recharge Online? 

You can easily make an online prepaid recharge via the Airtel Payments Bank. The steps to make a quick mobile recharge is mentioned below:

Prepaid Recharge through the website:

Step1: Login to the website.

Step2: Choose “Prepaid” and enter your mobile number.

Step3: Enter Airtel as your operator.

Step4: Mention which area/circle you live in and the mobile prepaid recharge amount.

Step5: Now, click Proceed to finish the payment.

Prepaid Recharge through the App:

Step1: Register for the Airtel Thanks App.

Step2: Select ‘Mobile Recharge’ from the ‘Recharge’ menu.

Step3: Enter your mobile phone number.

Step4: Choose Airtel as your operator.

Step5: To complete the transaction, click ‘Pay Now.’

Step6: Now, choose a payment method.

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11 Things to Remember When You’re Ready to Buy a House

8:58 am

How to buy a house

Remember a few things when you’re ready to buy a house. The first is your credit score. Your credit score will determine the interest rate you get on your mortgage, so it’s essential to ensure it’s as high as possible before you start shopping for a home. You can get your credit score for free from AnnualCreditReport.com.

Once you know your credit score, you’ll need to save for a down payment. The size of your down payment will affect the type of mortgage you can get, so it’s essential to save up as much as possible. A good rule of thumb is to aim for 20% of the home’s purchase price.

The next step is to get pre-approved for a mortgage. This will give you an idea of how much house you can afford and help you narrow your search. Once you’ve found a few homes that meet your criteria, it’s time to start negotiating with the sellers. So, look for We Buy Houses Montgomery County.

If you’re ready to buy a house, following these simple steps will help ensure that the process goes smoothly. You’ll be in your new house before you know it if you plan carefully!

Pros and Cons of Buying a House

There are many things to consider before buying a house. The following list provides some pros and cons of homeownership to help you decide if it’s the right choice.

Pros:

-You build equity in your home as you make mortgage payments.

-Your monthly mortgage payments may be lower than rent payments, giving you more money to save or spend as you choose.

-Owning a home can be a good investment, as property values typically increase over time.

-You have the freedom to make changes to your home without needing approval from a landlord.

-A fixed-rate mortgage protects you from future interest rate hikes.

Cons:

-It can be challenging to qualify for a mortgage if you have bad credit or a limited income.

-You’ll be responsible for all repairs and maintenance on your home.

-Your monthly mortgage payments may go up if interest rates rise.

-If you need to move, selling your home quickly or for the price you want may be difficult.

-You may have difficulty qualifying for a second mortgage or home equity line of credit because your home serves as collateral for your loan.

Now that you know some of the pros and cons of buying a house, you can decide if it’s the right choice. If you’re ready to take the plunge, remember to get pre-approved for a mortgage and save up for a down payment before you start your search. With some preparation, you’ll be in your new home before you know it!

Thanks for reading!

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Handy Considers If Pour-Over Coffee Is Better Than French Press

9:07 am

Introduction

According to Handy, every coffee lover — from college students to work-from-home professionals — has their preferred coffee brewing method that delivers heaven to their taste buds. The French press and pour-over are two of the most popular coffee brewing tools utilized by people at home. If you are just getting started exploring the world of coffee brewing, it can be difficult to make a choice between these two methods.

The Factors

Here are a few factors that will help you decide whether pour-over coffee or French press would be better for you:

  1. How it works and the brewing method – The French press was first designed in the 1920s and it is also known as a cafetière or coffee press. It is essentially composed of three components — the carafe (an open-topped cylindrical glass), a filter, and the plunger. It uses a brewing method known as immersion.

To use the French press, you just have to fill the carafe with some coffee grounds, add some hot water to it, allow the coffee grounds to soak for the required time, and then push the plunger down to separate the grounds from the coffee.

Pour over coffee is also known as filter coffee or drip coffee. This elegant brewing method requires you to saturate the coffee grounds with new, fresh water and thus, it is different from immersion brewing.

First, you have to place the filter in the cylindrical component and add the coffee ground over it. Next, you have to pour hot water in a circular motion to allow the coffee grounds to get wet. Ultimately, the hot water will pass through the filter and settle down at the bottom.

  1. Control of the brew – A French press can hold up to 48 oz and serve up to 6 people. However, you can also produce only a single or two cups of coffee since you can vary the amount of water and coffee grounds you put in.

On the other hand, pour overs are suitable for making a single cup of coffee since it is time-consuming to create multiple cups of coffee using that method.

  1. The brewing time – Generally, the total time it takes to make a great cup of coffee with a French press can take anywhere from 3-8 minutes. So, about 1 minute to measure, 4-5 minutes to steep the mixture, and the remaining time to press.

Pour overs take longer to prepare coffee since they utilize the drip method. Usually, it takes between 8-15 minutes to make a great cup of coffee with pour overs.

  1. The taste and flavor – The flavor of coffee made using French press is affected by the extraction time. Generally, a brewing time of 3 minutes is enough to offer a strong, bold, and rich taste but you can increase the brewing time by up to eight minutes to increase the bitterness and the boldness of the taste. Pour over coffee tastes smooth and is free of grit. It is noticeable but not overpowering.

Conclusion

Handy suggests you start making coffee at home using a French press since it is easier to use and offers a lot more convenience in terms of brewing time and coffee quantity. However, you can use pour overs if you like to enjoy a smooth and light coffee.

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Time-Saving Tricks and Tips When it comes to shopping for Forbrukslån

4:15 am

People want to get the lowest available housing loan rate. But investigating and shipping around all of the available options in search of the best possible deal can be pretty time-consuming. And time itself is considered by most people as money. The good news is that there are ways to look for a home loan more effectively and efficiently while doing a thorough job of it.

And when differences of one-eighth of one percent on the housing loan rate can add up to at least a thousand dollars over the life of the debenture, being very thorough is very important. In this article, we will cover some tips that will help individuals with their mortgage shopping and make sure it goes smoothly while allowing them to confidently and quickly find the best possible deal on home loans.

People should know what they can afford

It is where individuals need to start. They should not waste a lot of time looking for debentures they will not be able to qualify for or shopping for a house that is beyond their means. A lot of borrowers make a huge mistake of failing to take into consideration the full cost of the monthly housing loan payments when estimating what they can get approved for.

But homeowner’s insurance, loan insurance, and real estate taxes – usually included with the loan statement – can easily make up as much as one-fourth of the monthly bill. How much can the individual qualify for? Their total monthly amortizations – including car payments, mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and other debts usually cannot exceed 41% of their gross monthly income.

Borrowers can sometimes go higher by increasing their down payment (DP). People must remember that monthly debts do not include bills for current expenses that are incurred every month, like internet services, utilities, cable television, etc.

Click this site for details about current expenses and capital expenses.

Individuals should know their credit score

People can usually qualify for a home loan with a credit score from FICO as low as 620, provided they meet other qualifications and guidelines for things like debt load, down payment, and monthly income. But the person’s credit score can also affect the interest rates (IR) they pay, the size of their DP, and the kind of debenture they choose.

Traditional housing loans backed by financial institutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are usually the first choice for individuals with scores of 720 or higher – they offer an excellent combination of attractive terms and low rates for borrowers.

But these rates increase substantially as scores go down into the 600 range. On the other hand, the Federal Housing Admin does not use a risk-based property pricing, so individuals pay the same home loan rate with a 640 credit rating as they would if their score is 740 or higher. But the other charges associated with a Federal Housing Admin can be a lot higher compared to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debentures.

The takeaway is that if the person scores 720 or higher, they are probably better off focusing on a Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae housing debenture instead of going the Federal Housing Admin route. If the borrower scores 680 and below, they will most likely want a Federal Housing Admin debenture. In between these scores, it can be a toss-up.

Is the borrower active-duty personnel or a veteran?

If the person is active-duty personnel, a veteran, or an individual that can qualify for the Veterans Affairs debenture program, they should not even think twice about it. They should avail the Veterans Affairs mortgage programs. The rates of these schemes are pretty good, and there is no requirement for a DP or housing loan insurance unless they are purchasing an expensive house, they have already used up their entitlement on previous house purchases, or they have the funds in hand for a DP of 20% or more. Otherwise, it is not likely they will find a good or better deal investigating Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, or the Federal Housing Admin options.

Shop Annual Percentage Rate, not the mortgage rate

A lot of individuals look for housing loans by comparing debenture rates. While that can be pretty useful, it is also very misleading. Lending firms usually compensates for artificially low-interest rates by charging higher advance fees, especially by including discount points. These points are ways of purchasing lower housing loan rates by paying part of the interest in advance.

But there are other ways lending firms can offset the lower rates by charging higher charges as well. It is where the Annual Percentage Rate or APR come in. It provides an excellent way to express the total cost of the debenture in terms of percentage rates.

These are rates people would pay to roll all closing costs of loans into housing loans themselves. While it is not an exact comparison, especially if individuals refinance or sell before the debenture is paid off, it is an excellent way to make initial and fast comparisons when sorting through different options.

It is also an excellent tool for making final choices if borrowers are not comfortable with crunching numbers. But they should not rely solely on the Annual Percentage Rate if they are considering ARMs or Adjustable-Rate Mortgages instead of fixed-rate debentures. There are other factors involved with individuals to make accurate comparisons.

Strip out points for fee comparison

One piece of advice people will hear about shopping for a lån lav rente (low interest loans) is to compare the fees charged by various lending firms. But that can be pretty hard to do since not only do fee amounts differ from a lending firm to lending firm, but various financial institutions will use different names for similar fees, bundle multiple fees under a single name or break one into different ones.

They can also not charge for services while billing for others. It is enough to make people’s heads spin. But there is a good and easy way to address this issue. Individuals can simply compare total fees from one lending firm to another. After all, individual charges do not matter as much as the total people are paying.

Although, when individuals are doing this, they need to make sure to break out charges for discount points when doing their comparison. That is because these points are special fees used to purchase down interest rates, which can throw off comparisons. So when comparing charges, individuals need to ask their lending firm first to give them an offer that excludes points so they can accurately compare charges among different offers.

Check out the Internet

One of the best and time-saving techniques people can use is to check out the Internet for their home debenture. These days, it is no longer necessary to physically visit the lending firm or even talk to loan officers through the telephone.

Almost everything people need to sort their list of the potential lending firms and shorten it down to two to three candidates can be done through the Internet. Usually, individuals can get all the details they need to choose a financial institution and apply on the Internet without making phone calls.

Lending forms may not even have physical offices in their state but can still be licensed to do some business there. People can make all their questions and submit all their documents online. The only time they actually need to go anywhere is when they close the deal, which can be handled at the office of local lawyers or title agencies.

Prequalification is very important

Getting prequalified is considered one of the best things people can do to make their property buying and home debenture application process problem-free. First, it provides them with statements from lending firms as to how much they are willing to loan borrowers and on what terms. It means they avoid wasting a lot of time looking for homes they cannot afford.

Second, it gives borrowers’ basic details of lending firms so that they have most of what people need before submitting the application. SO if there are gaps in their info, they can inform their clients in advance. There still may be a couple of things to straighten out once individuals submit their applications, but at least they will have the essential details nailed down.

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