Public Provident Fund Account

A public provident fund (PPF) is a good way of saving for your future. The one feature that lets you grow your money is the lock-in period of 15 years and the power of compounding.

Keep your money invested in a Public Provident Fund and see it grow through the years. You should not just make use of this account for your tax saving requirements but also plan your long term investment and deposit the amount accordingly.

A PPF account can be opened with a Post Office or with your bank. Most of the banks now allow you to open a PPF account online which saves your time from visiting the bank branch personally.

Some salient features of the PPF account are given below in FAQ format:

1. Who can open an account?
Individuals who are residents of India are eligible to open their account under the Public Provident Fund.

2. What is the minimum and maximum deposit one can make?
Minimum is Rs.500 per annum and maximum is Rs.1,50,000 per annum. The amount can be deposited in a lumpsum and only 12 deposits are allowed in a financial year (1st April to 31st March)

3. What tax benefits do I get?
The deposits in a PPF account are allowed as a deduction upto Rs.1,50,000 u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act.

4. What is the benefit of investing in this account?
If you invest say Rs.1,00,000 beginning of every year, at the end of 15 years your maturity amount will be more than Rs.30,00,000. This is due to the power of compounding.

5. Are withdrawals allowed from the account?
Yes, withdrawals are allowed subject to certain conditions. You can withdraw upto 50% of the balance after completion of 5 years.

6. What happens after completion of 15 years?
You can either close the account by claiming the maturity proceeds or can continue to hold the account for another 5 years after approval from the bank or post-office where you are holding the account.

This is one of the best savings schemes as the investment, interest and withdrawal, all are tax-free.

The Starting Problem

The starting problem. 

I have always had this problem every since my childhood. I get aroused (yeah, I know what you are thinking), I meant I get inspired by something and that is short-lived. Even today I have had spells of instant rejuvenation and refreshing moments that are alive for a few hours, few days, few weeks or just few minutes and then I sulk into my own comfortable thought process that convinces me that it is not worth the effort. Just be happy with what you have or I'm just incapable of achieving it, or I am not 'lucky' enough like the rest of the crowd or I am luckier than most of them who don't even deserve what I have.  

What happened in school: I would always look at my report card that placed me anywhere between 5^th and 10^th position in class and the very moment the adrenaline rush would help me resolve to change my situation and become that first rank student. Alas, the momentary boost is so short-lived, I would just convince myself that I am not that bad after all. There are students in my class who are way beyond my current position and that soothes my heart and I am contended in what I have already got. 

Gratitude you see, we should be grateful for what we already have and not lament on what we do not or cannot have. But doesn’t that make us a loser, oh yes! It does make us a loser, it did make me a loser. I was happy with the status-quo and time and again I would see the dashboard on my report card showing me nothing less than 10 or sometimes it would go up to 15. If you are wondering what these numbers are, we were ranked from 1 to XX depending on the number of students in the class for the exams/tests conducted to evaluate our performance. People who scored greater than or equal to 35 out of 100 in the aggregate would be ranked from 1 to XX by taking all subjects into consideration. People who got 2nd or 3rd rank would be more disappointed than I am and I never understood their concern, why should I, I was lot better than the 15-20 students I had left behind.

Come college: It was hard to get an admission in a college of your choice, not that they were against me, but my report card had a strange look that no one wanted to invest time to mould my career. That was the first loss (of opportunity) I had to cope with. I resolved to change this situation and make it better in the coming days and as always it happened. I saw that I was better than others, did you say complacent, yes in a way I was.

From initial years of work life to today: Its the same, momentary bursts of emotions, that fire in the belly attitude which tells me that I can take on the whole world and appear bright and successful, the thoughts that appear to my mind every night before I go to sleep. And when I am just about to begin my day the next morning, all that I want is to pass yet another day without any surprises, I am so comfortable you see, a air-conditioned office, a reasonable career graph and a sustainable take home pay, what else do you want. Such a loser I must say!

One of the best lines that I have heard from my taxation teacher (I'm sure most of the students in the south pursuing Chartered Accountancy will relate to it) when he taught us was to question ourselves - If not YOU, who will do it. If not NOW, when will you do it. Moments of adrenaline rush, excitement, the power of the entire universe resides within me on pondering over this thought and as soon I let my mind wander, it consoles me to stay within my limits, it tells me I am an average person and what I already have is more that what I can ask for.

No, no, no... your mind is limitless, boundless says Swami Vivekananda. If you think you can, you will, if you think you cant, you wont. So arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached... now again you see the emotions charging at you to take that extra effort and push yourself so hard that you know its almost impossible for you, for you are Mr. so and so and your limits have already been tested. Stop not till the goal is reached, but then what was my goal, what is my goal? I HAVE already reached it, I may now stop. Relax! Let the mind be peaceful, lets not worry about the goal right now, slow your breathing and let the emotions calm down.

You see that, charged up emotions refuses to resonate with you when you try to push them hard. 

When it comes to investments: The same rules apply here, why should I start investing NOW. I am only 32, I still have to buy a lot of things for myself, my wife, my kids or I just want to see the recent movie, eat something at the newly opened restaurant in my neighbourhood, buy that expensive phone no one else has yet and make that trip to the dream destination for my honeymoon. I can think of investing later. Later? but when?

Slowly you know you are left behind, true that there are people who are worse off than you are and you should be thankful that you have in abundance in comparison. Raise your bar and you will see that there are many who are ahead of you who are much better than you are, because YOU think that way and can make you look timid, stupid and dumb!

You may say its a state of mind, how to make best use of this is left to you. I have wasted most of my time convincing myself that I have enough and I should be grateful. On the other hand I have also cursed myself on having missed a lot of opportunities which otherwise would have changed the course of my direction in life, be it personal or professional - procrastination, complacency, sheer laziness and lethargic approach to everything in life has actually pushed me 100 or more ranks behind if I have to put in on my report card dashboard today.

In today's world when everything gets evaluated with the money or money's worth you have, start saving and investing TODAY. Don't get left behind, there are always people who will have less money than you have and there will always be people making more money than you make. Always look forward, be greedy, it doesn't hurt. 

After all, its all about money honey!

House Rent Allowance - How to calculate

Many of us still do not know how to calculate House Rent Allowance though this is one of the major components of Salary in India. 

The calculation of exemption that you can get under section 10(13A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for House Rent Allowance is very simple. Calculate the following three things, all of this information should be available on your payslip or the Cost to Company break up:

(Please note to gross it up to an annual figure starting April to March of next year - 12 months period)

(1) Actual HRA Received - the amount that you receive as HRA from your employer
(2) Rent paid in excess of 10% of Salary ie. Actual Rent you pay minus 10% of your Basic Pay
(3) 40% of Salary (50% in case you live in Delhi/Kolkata/Mumbai/Chennai)

Salary in the above context refers to Basis Salary, also called Basic Pay by some employers. 

Some of the employees in the public sector or in Government employment will have Dearness Allowance (DA) also included in their payslip. In the case of such employees Salary shall mean Basic Pay plus Dearness Allowance, if the terms of employment so provide.

When I say terms of employment so provide, you will need to check with your employer if DA is considered part of your salary for the purpose of calculation of other benefits. If not, this cannot be included in the computation of salary.

Once you have figured out the numbers in (1), (2) and (3) above, the least of amounts so calculated will be your exemption for that particular year.

Simple example:

We have the following data:

Basic Salary or Basic Pay - Rs. 20,000 per month
HRA Received - Rs.15,000 per month

(Case 1) House Rent Paid - Rs. 3,000 per month, living in Mysore
(Case 2) House Rent Paid - Rs. 3,500 per month, living in Delhi

How to calculate:

(1) Actual HRA received - Rs. 15,000 x 12 months = Rs. 1,80,000

(2) Rent paid in excess of 10% of Salary: 
10% of salary will be Rs. 20,000 x 10% x 12 months = Rs. 24,000
Rent paid in Case 1 - Rs. 3,000 x 12 months = Rs. 36,000. Excess rent paid is Rs. 12,000
Rent paid in Case 2 - Rs. 3,500 x 12 months = Rs. 42,000. Excess rent paid is Rs. 18,000

(3) Case 1 - 40% of Salary ie. Rs.1,80,000 x 40% (living in Mysore) = Rs.72,000
Case 2 - 50% of Salary ie. Rs.1,80,000 x 50% (living in Delhi) = Rs. 90,000

Least of the above for Case 1 - Rs.12,000 and for Case 2 - Rs. 18,000. Only this much will be exempt and the same shall be deducted from your Gross Salary for arriving at your Gross Total Income.

Note: Suppose 10% of your Basic pay is more than your monthly rent, the exemption will be zero.

Wasn't that simple. 

Sweet and Sour !

No, I’m not talking about the relationships. They are always sweet and sour, did someone say spicy as well, yeah then may be it is. But here I’m talking about the Pot Noodles, my breakfast saviour.

Owing to less time in the morning due to working late evenings coupled with a terrible sense of cooking skills, I had to manage my stomach between 8 to 12 AM every weekday (that’s when I’m hungry since I used to skip my breakfast). I tried everything since I fell into this habit, bread and jam, bread omelette, Walton cafeteria and Walkers wafers… nothing seemed to quench my hunger until I discovered Pot Noodles.

Yes, Pot Noodles, as the name suggests is noodles in a pot that’s easy to prepare, eat and feel satisfied and happy. This one I picked up once when I visited the Unilever store in Walton bowing to a strong recommendation from Venkat Vamsi Krishna, another fan of Unilever’s Pot Noodles. Later I realized that there were more fans than I ever imagined, in our office itself. I could see them with a bag containing all flavours of Pot Noodles, minimum of ten persons carrying atleast 5 pieces each.

My first encounter was with Chicken and Mushroom and since then I’ve loved the combination even when I eat grilled or fried chicken, a couple of mushroom pieces in them makes my food complete.

Chicken and mushroom can be traced all the way back to ancient Rome. The Romans celebrated 'Orgia Pullus et Funghi' or 'Festival of Chicken and Mushroom', which could last for weeks, depending on how many chickens were available. Celebrate with a sachet of soy sauce. Also available as King Pot and Mini Pot.

Ever since, I’ve liked eating the pot noodles. I’ve tried another version of the chicken flavour that’s called the Chicken Satay. This ones delicious too, but the only reason why I liked eating these is the time it takes to prepare.

My strategy worked this way:
- As soon as I entered the Office I used to visit the Walton Store
- Hunt for my favourite flavour, Chicken & Mushroom, if not, Chicken Satay, thankfully atleast one of them was always available.
- Get on straight to the coffee machine that dispensed hot water as well…
- Rip out the lid on the Pot Noodle pack, fill it with hot water as much required and then mix it with the sauce that comes along with the pot
- Head straight again to my desk with a big smile and Hi / Hello to whoever was sitting in the neighbouring cubicle and then wait for my noodle to get prepared.
Yes, it had to be soaked properly for relishing the taste. Now by the time I could set up my laptop and check my emails, my Pot Noodle was always ready to get into my stomach, ofcourse on the way tickling my taste buds too. I always had a stock of disposable forks that I use to pick up from the Walton cafeteria whenever I went there for lunch. They were really helpful.

One day, I unfortunately did not find the Chicken and Mushroom, probably due the popularity (I had not tried other flavours till now) and hence I had to settle for Chicken Satay that day.

The original Chicken Satay Pot Noodle came with skewers. Unfortunately, it was hard to eat; people got angry, the skewers were pointy, and, well, the rest is history. Now it just comes with a sachet of sweet chilli sauce, and skewer-related injuries have gone down by 12.5%.

Though I didn’t like this one as much as I liked my favourite, it wasn’t that bad anyway. Now this became a substitute of my favourite breakfast time. I remember whenever I spoke to my mom or a friend of mine back home in Bangalore, they used to ask me what did I have for breakfast. The obvious answer was Pot Noodles… and then I didn’t have to tell them ever again because they knew I was having a good breakfast with my Pot Noodle time.

Time passed by, my noodle adventures also progressed until one day I noticed my colleagues getting me pot noodles coz they thought it would get over and I might have to go without breakfast. This way, I always used to have an extra stock of Pot Noodles that would also help me share it with whoever was hungry, thus making the Pot Noodle Fan Club grow.

Now, I’ve vacated the office because we don’t work there anymore and that means no more visiting Walton, no more visiting Walton store, no more buying Pot Noodles the way I used to, atleast not for breakfast anymore. But one fine day, after 3 months of separation, when we were cleaning up things at home…. Yeah, we had an amazing stock of masalas at our flat that we had got from India that we had to streamline and keep it clean so that we did not mix one with the other. As it is we were too many cooks spoiling the broth, somewhere down in the cupboard, below the MTR Sambar powders, I saw something that looked somewhat similar, something so close that I could feel it, I knew this thing since ages…. and there it was… my all time favourite Pot Noodles. Figured, it wasn’t the Chicken and Mushroom, nor was it Chicken Satay, then who bought this flavour and why was it lying there?

Dilip told me, since it was the vegetarian flavour, it must’ve been one of those purchased by Ananth and never been used since he left. How could I eat it, I’ve never tried this thing before, will it be the same that will tickle my taste buds, will that make me come alive and make my day… well I tried, the new flavour in the family, the Sweet and Sour.

This Pot Noodle is sweet like kittens, but sour like an ex. Sweet like a cupcake, and sour like a lemon. Sweet like a daisy chain, sour like a grapefruit hat necklace. Sweet like my gran, yet sour like my Auntie Phyllis.

Indeed, it was amazing, I liked it much more than the Chicken category. I remembered all the days I spent in Walton and how these noodles helped me survive during times when preparing breakfast was not my cup of coffee. I owe a lot to them, I love them and they also know, I do.

However, one more Pot that got my eye on it was the Bombay Bad Boy. This was may be due to the name Bombay… taking me closer home and definitely the colour black. There was nothing to show, what it was made of or what would it taste like.

This Pot Noodle is in no way implying that boys from Bombay are bad, or that anyone from Bombay is, in fact, bad. The hot-fire chilli sauce does kick some serious butt, though. Also available as King Pot.

I’ve not tried this anyway, but some day I shall try it out too. But definitely Pot Noodles were my best breakfast friends and I miss them a lot.

If you wanna try these, go grab them from your neighbourhood store or if you are looking for the magic that they spread, why not go and visit them at https://www.facebook.com/potnoodle . I’m sure you’ll like it too! Slurrrrrrrrp!

The London Experience

I would like to thank Kumaran again for having spent so much time on search and research to write something on the London Experience. Now what else would you expect me to do, write the same thing over again.. nah! This time again I have linked the Kums page so that you can take a peek and read it for yourself. I did not however want to reproduce his works and then be blamed for plagiarism. Anyway the subject matter being the same and the thoughts and views almost similar, I didn’t want to waste time writing about it again.

So go ahead and read mine and Cool Kums’ London Experience here: http://pkums.blogspot.in/

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the author.