Gruhini’s Gifting Guide

A Perfect Dress, A Perfect Gift, and A Perfect Movie for a Great Christmas Holiday

Christmas and New Year’s is the time it’s difficult to control your urge to spend. You would probably hop from one mall to another to buy a perfect party outfit or you might be sitting on a couch to grab deals on Google’s online shopping festival (GOSF). Those with kids would have a long Santa Claus gift list to be done. If you are going crazy organizing all of this, follow The Great Gruhini’s three tips for a hassle-free preparation for the festivities.

Photo Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net
Dress up to Kill with International Labels
Looking for a bright red cocktail dress for 31^st night or a sweater dress for an office bash? Check out Macy.com, America’s largest retailer. During festival sales, there is a virtual stampede to get into its stores. Very few are aware that Macys.com is shipping to India also, although shipping charges are applicable. The site layout is simple and lets you decide quickly—women’s clothing is categorized according to size, occasion. For the brand savvy people, it has its online designer store too, Bloomingdales.com 

Get Santa Claus Home or Gift a Spa, a Salsa Class  

                                                     
Photo Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net
Its the great time to show you love and affection for your family.

Get a friend or boys in teens in your neighborhood to dress up like Santa Claus and give away goodies to your children. Or if you are in Delhi and nearby areas, hire a Santa Claus from Excitinglives.com for Rs 3450 and co-ordinate for gifts you want him to give away.

There is nothing like gifting a golf lesson, salsa class to your extended family members or for that matter indulging in a spa treatment for the two of you by gifting a spa package through Delightgifts.in. Call in parents or family to babysit kids and then you acknowledge their gesture by gifting them a fine dining experience at Taj.

While these gifts will reduce your bank balance, but it will be worth the happiness you get to see, so go ahead and don’t think twice!!!

Must Watch Christmas DVDs
Not getting any hotel reservations for 25^th or 31^st? Get a Plan B in place now. Order these classic Christmas Movies before they are out of stock and enjoy your Christmas vacation on the couch!!!

For Kids

Scrooged (1988): Based on Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” in a modernized version starring Bill Murray.  (Amazon.in Price: Rs 125)

 A Christmas Story (1983): A heartwarming tale of a 10 year old wanting a gun for Christmas and how he runs a campaign to convince his parents.  (Ebay.in Price: Rs 1393)

 Elf (2003):  Will Ferrell is hilarious as an overgrown Santa’s elf who moves out into the real world. (Ebay.in Price: Rs 1300)

For a Romantic Evening:

Love Actually (2003): Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Rodrigo Santigo – all make for great eye candy for the ladies, and it has got a killer soundtrack! (Ebay.in Price: Rs 1026)

For Action Junkies:

Die Hard (1988): 40 stories of sheer excitement where a New York Detective John Mclane (Bruce Willis) battles 22 terrorists armed with nothing but a handgun, and his sense of humour on a Christmas eve. (Ebay.in Price rs 359)

(DVD Prices mentioned depending on the availability on the online store)

Have a Merry and a Moneywise Christmas !!!

The Great Gruhini’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams

Hello Gruhinis

Are you planning to do something on your own, or planning to quit your job and start something afresh?

Here are 7 crucial success tips from 2 women entrepreneurs who left their jobs, started out on their own and are doing well in their business.

Read the story of Sandhya Sadananda and Sanjana Vinod and their success tips here

http://idiva.com/opinion-work-life/how-to-turn-your-hobby-into-your-dream-job/26035

Money Lessons from a 9 year old Game Show Host

Have you heard a 9 year old say “I wasted Rs 1,000 on buying a necklace and on eating out” The moment I heard it from my neighborhood friend, Srilekha Arun’s daughter, Pranati, I knew I had found the first money savvy kid for my blog.

Given her age, Pranati, could have spent the money on a doll set. She could have dragged her mom to a mall to buy new dresses for birthday parties or she could have treated her friends at a pizza or a burger joint.

Instead, she chose to put the money back to work, in her piggy bank. This was the money she earned by hosting a game show with the help of her mom and dad, not to forget her naughty little brother, Pradyut.

A game show managed by kids!! Aren’t kids meant to have fun? Surely all this money saving morality can come up when they’re older! Besides, how will we ever get them to stand at a stall?

Well, it all began out of boredom.  Every winter our building hosts an annual fun fair. Kids across age groups usually dance to popular bollywood numbers, families come together, eat together and a play a “housie”, “bingo” or some such draw based game. Last year, Srilekha decided to do something different. She thought of buying a stall and hosting a game show. She engaged her daughter in each and every aspect of it. The deposit money of Rs 500, for putting up a stall and overhead costs of Rs 300 for buying prizes and putting banners for game show came from Pranati’s piggy bank.  The young girl helped her mom decide the three games, she painted the banners to attract her friends and their parents to her stall. She stood at the stall for two hours as people came and enjoyed the games. She got the fruit of her labour, Rs 2800 cash earned by charging Rs 10 for each of the three games.

That fun fair, changed Pranati’s approach towards money. You can see that in her attitude when you ask her what she did with her prize money. She says she  “wasted” instead of “spending” Rs 1,000 of the total amount.

She recounts her experience of being a game show host.

“On the day of the fun fair of my building, I opened a games stall. For booking the  stall we had to give Rs 500. In the evening I was excited and nervous too. I  wasn’t sure if my friends would come to my stall. There were three games and each one costed Rs 10.  As my friends started coming to play the games some of them came again, I thought we have earned close to Rs 1 lakh rupees. I enjoyed it a lot. I was very tired of standing at the stall. I learnt that doing a job and getting money after a job are very difficult things. Maintaining a crowd is very tough”

While the young girl surely has an idea about earning, job and income, Srilekha says that the whole process of hosting the show, attracting people, managing it has taught many more long lasting lessons to her daughter. Here are the four lessons in mother’s words.

Pranati’s 4 money lessons 

1 “Spend within your means”

While there is no concept regular pocket money in our house, Pranati would usually spend the money she got as a prize in school or as a gift from grandparents. She wouldn’t really bother to know or ask how much her things cost. But the game show changed that attitude. Whenever she is out for shopping with me, she asks or checks the price of the things she wants. The cash gifts like the show money go in to her piggy bank. Now that she has earned it she doesn’t want to spend it so easily

2 “The concept of doing something, taking risks and making profits”

The simple concepts such as why we need to put a price tag to each game, how much money we need to make to be successful in this game, what do we lose if nobody comes to our stall, were easier for Pranati to understand once she was part of it. She came up with the idea of searching green peas with a chopstick game. Once the game show was over, it was easier for me to explain the money concepts such as capital (Rs 500 stall fees), the overhead costs (Rs 300), our total earnings (Rs 2800) and our profit (Rs 2000)

 3 “Attracting people with discounts”

We decided to keep Rs 10 each for three games and if anyone wanted to play all the three games, we offered it at Rs 25, a discount of Rs 5. Pranati understood that people had to be encouraged to play three games and that’s how we could earn more.

4 “Money comes in different shapes and sizes”

Some of our neighbors came with Rs 50, Rs 100 notes. While handing over the balance money to them, Pranati saw the coins of various denominations. She got to know that money transactions can be done not only with rupees but coins also. When we returned home and counted the rupees and coins, she added it up to Rs 2800 and understood that how much more it will take to earn Rs 1 lakh.

 The next step as I was discussing with Srilekha , was to open a bank account for her daughter.  She already had one in her name with a (particular) public sector bank. But the 9 year old girl was clear about her choice of a bank also. She interrupted and said “I want an account in that particular (names a private sector) bank”

Srilekha is doing her bit to make her children understand about money and its value, are you doing something similar? Do write to me at thegreatgruhini@gmail.com

Introduce your Children to Secret Millionaires Club

Hello Gruhinis

Hope you are following your Gyani Gruhini’s tips on  giving money lessons to your children. I just came across another fun way in which you can teach your children about things like how to earn money, how to use credit cards. 

The next time your kiddo wants to take away your tablet or iPad, get him or her hooked on to Secret Millionaires Channel on Youtube. This channel has an animated video series, Secret Millionaires Club, in which World’s richest and the Successful investor Warren Buffet advises four youngsters about how they can run a business and gives valuable money lessons in the process.

Warren Buffet along with other foundations in US have devised kits, books and the above mentioned DVD series for parents and children. Learn more about it here.

How I wish India’s wealthy investors or the financial institutions could think of making something like this for our younger generation.

Your Gyani Gruhini will be back shortly with a profile of another Money Savvy Mom !!! 

The Best Diwali Gift for Your Teenager

A leading desktop company’s advertisement pre-empts our youngsters to “Hint a Gift” to parents. Friends and office colleagues drop names of the brand to the bemused father. At a Diwali party, his friends again drop the name of the desktop brand. A surprised dad asks son “I never got you this brand!!!”. The son replies proudly “So what Diwali is tomorrow, you can still buy it for me!!” The son and his friends break in to triumphant celebration as the father gives an embarrassing smile.

Marketers probably want us to believe that asking for a gift from parents is the constitutional birth right of children.

“Bachhpan Khel Main Khoya, Ladakpan neend bhar soya, Budhapaa dekh kar roya” so goes an old Bollywood ditty;  But in today’s times would we be good enough parents, if we were to abide by these age old clichés or the drivel that marketers thrust down our throats?

Fortunately, unlike the “reel” life, in our real life, teenagers can be starkly different as 15 year old Sara Jain, from Mumbai’s Villa Theresa Convent School so proves. Sara’s parents; Rajesh Jain, (a wealth manager) and Sangita Jain, (a doctor), have stayed away from  the infamous parental guilt trap, that our kids lure us into, by complaining that they no longer feel “cool” or “happening” in their immediate social circles.         

While teens and their parents never see eye to eye, there is one thing that Sara and her parents readily agree and that is, the best gift she has ever got from them is the gift of Shares!!.

Sara’s smile lights up the room, as she shows me the share certificates of The Walt Disney Company and Mcdonald’s Corporation. Like most of our little ones, she grew up watching Disney movies and eating at  Mcdonald’s ever since she was 3. At 11, her father got her one share of each company as a birthday gift which he purchased through a broker based in United Stated of America.

Through these years, as she watched a young princess Merida in “Brave” or celebrated her birthday at Mcdonald’s, she knew that the value of her gift is going up. She doesn’t have to sit down and understand the technical charts to understand it.

Yes, Fellow Gruhinis, shares or stocks are the best gift you could ever give to your teenagers!

Warren Buffet, the legendary investor and the World’s richest man once stated that ‘I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will”

Think about it, there can’t be a better way of immersing your child into the world of investments, than by buying them shares of companies that they know, use and love!

Like Sara’s parent do it, your teenager can be gifted a share of a familiar company. If your daughter rides a scooter of a particular brand, gift her shares of the company that owns the brand or gift your son shares of the company which you work for. He will know that if its price goes up, dad’s company will benefit. You can make a beginning with stocks of brands they are familiar with.

If your teen is too old to be swayed by a Walt Disney, you can “lure” him/her by citing examples of celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and Ashton Kutcher who have invested in shares of various start-up companies, and earned millions through this route. It will surely be better than the image of the old uncleji share-broker that your teen have had in mind!! (click here to read about it)

Ownership of a share will give your teen a sense of responsibility instead of just demanding gifts whenever he or she wants. They will understand how wealth is created, how it can go up and down. Last but not the least, they will develop patience to see something grow over a period of time.

Dear Gruhinis, I know what you’re thinking! That the stock market is a gambler’s den and so on.  But you have to trust your Gyani Gruhini on this! Don’t give your young ones full access to the share trading account. Keep sufficient checks and balances in place. Let them monitor the share price everyday through simplistic tools such as Google Finance (google.com/finance) and let them understand simple things like a red graph means erosion of wealth and a green graph means increase in wealth.

 The Great Gruhini’s Guide to Gifting Shares:

1) First, obtain a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for your teenager.

2) Second, open a share trading and a demat account in their name, preferably with your bank. As per the rules, either parent can be the guardian and can monitor the demat account on behalf of the minor.

 3) Third, help them monitor it on regular basis.  Once they are 18, the demat account can be closed or you can fill up requisite forms to convert the existing minor account into a major’s account.

We all love our kids, and nothing pleases us more than the smile on their face, when they love the gift that we have chosen for them. Why not, this Diwali, give them “a gift that keeps on giving”; the gift of shares!!

The Great Gruhini wishes you and your loved ones, a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali!!

Feel free to ask any questions by emailing me at thegreatgruhini@gmail.com

Gyani Gruhini’s Guide to Smart Investing

When I started writing this blog, I asked my gruhini friends “So what would you like to read in a personal finance blog?” “I want to know the best investment option today?” said one. Another friend asked “where should I invest when economy is doing bad?” Yet another one who works from home asked about investments which give maximum tax benefits. You can bet on this, if they had 10 seconds to talk to Warren Buffet, the World’s richest and the legendary investor, they would have bombarded him with same query.

I thought hard. But I couldn’t sum up a list of investments that will work for a friend who is an entrepreneur, for a friend who is a senior marketing manager in the radio industry and a friend who does research work from home. The friend who works from home has a 11 month old daughter; the entrepreneur and the other friend are moms to boys aged six. Our tax status is different and I know for sure that our aspirations are diverse. So how can our choice of investments be same?

Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

No, it can’t be same. Where your friend puts her money can’t decide what you are going to do with yours. It can’t be guided by what Gyani Gruhini says, nor can it be guided by the year-end or anniversary issues of magazines that run specials like “best investments for 2013” A tax friendliness of an investment opportunity cant be the only reason too.

Our investments ought to depend on our end use of the money or our financial goals. What would you like your money to do for you? Is it to fund your child’s dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer or your daughter’s destination wedding or to live a retirement life on an island in Maldives?

How many years down the line will you need that money?

Ever thought on these lines? Probably not as we spend more time in the mall for the much hyped festival sales than trying to know more about what a particular investment opportunity offers. Or some of us just see how much tax will be saved in it.

Fellow Gruhinis, it’s time we take charge of our family goals and align them with our existing or future investments. If you are not the one in charge of family finances, sit down and list it in your diary or save it in your reminder app on the phone. The next time the husband takes stock of family finances, do this little exercise of aligning your goals and investments. He will be impressed with your skills!!!

Here is how Gyani Gruhini does this exercise for her family finances.

A. Set your goals today

First thing I would do is to list down my goals along with the time frame.

Goal 1: Vajra’s education, 16 years from now

Goal 2: A holiday in South Africa’s Jungles or Kerala’s backwaters, 8 months from now

Goal 3: Own a beach bungalow in Goa, 20 years from now

B. Choose your investment and link them to the goal 

I know my destination and I know the time in which I want to be there. So I will chose investments which match this time frame

Goal 1: Vajra’s education, 16 years from now

Long term goal needs long term investments: Invest Rs 2,000 monthly in Public provident fund and Rs 2000 in an equity fund through a systematic investment plan (SIP)for at-least 13 years.

Open the PPF account or a mutual fund SIP (or whatever other investment option you may chose) in the child’s name. Believe me, it will be a great deterrent for you to not to withdraw that amount. A friend of mine started doing SIP in funds in both son and daughter’s name when they were just few months old. It worked for him as he felt embarrassed to withdraw that money whenever his monthly budget fell short.

Short term goals needs short term investments- For my goal of vacationing abroad or in Kerala’s backwaters, I have promised myself to spend less time shopping in malls or even clicking on online retailers emails about festival dhamaka offers. Spending less now to spend more in future is one way of meeting short-term goals. The other way is to pick investments, which mature or can be withdrawn closer to your short-term goal.

Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

Every two-three years from now I will review if my SIP investments for my son are giving good returns otherwise I will switch to another fund. Atleast two years before he is ready for college, I would withdraw this SIP investment and keep it in a 2-year fixed deposit. When it’s time to run around for college admissions etc, I will have a tidy pool in FDs and PPF.

If the investments are done in an avenue such as real estate, be ready to sell it much in advance before you need the money.

Hope you liked Gyani Gruhini’s quick guide to smart investing. Always remember the golden rules:

Set a goal, choose an investment and link it to a goal, and review it before you forget about it.

Feel free to write to me at thegreatgruhini@gmail.com 

You are a Financially Intelligent Parent

Hello Gruhinis, Pat your back. You deserve kudos for the survey (Click here if you missed it)

According to Jon Gallo and Eileen Gallo, the creator of the survey, if you responded in negative to 8 of the 10 questions, you are what they call a “Financially Intelligent Parent”.  The survey results show that most Gruhinis had a negative response to 7 of 10 questions.

100% of the Gruhinis said they don’t use money to bribe kids or buy them stuff if they feel they are neglecting them. Only 33% said they had difficulty saying no when their kids asked for money.

 

But don’t let these results elude you. Let’s analyze results closely- 55% Gruhinis admitted to having unresolved money issues, but 89% are confident of having goals and plans in place to educate kids about money and passing values through their money behaviours.  That’s a decent target to have, but let’s first resolve our money habits too, isn’t it?

 

Jon Gallo and Eileen Gallo also believe that we as parents need to understand our money beliefs first. “The financially intelligent parenting isn’t an inherent skill. Our own parents’ money issues combined with societal attitudes have shaped our money beliefs and behaviors, and they have not always shaped them in ways that benefit our children” says the couple who has been advising American families, financial advisors and parents on the issues of financial literacy. 

 So, Lets understand our money beliefs first before we set out to share it with our children !!!

Are You a Financially Intelligent Parent?

Hello Fellow Gruhinis, Let’s begin this week with a little introspection.

Your Gyani Gruhini came across this wonderful quiz created by Jon Gallo and Eileen Gallo. The husband and wife have co-authored the famous book  “The Financially Intelligent Parent: 8 Steps To Raising Successful, Generous, Responsible Children”

This quiz will help you figure out how financially intelligent you are as a parent? So take out some time from your busy schedules and Click here to take survey

Memorize your responses. Your Gyani Gruhini will be back soon with the survey results.

6 Must Have Smartphone Apps to Save and Spend Wisely

Dear Gruhinis, do your kitchen jars run empty in middle of the month? Do you scramble for gift wrapping paper just before leaving for a birthday party or end up planning a holiday when long weekend comes closer?  Are you reminded of that store that stocks that special brand of Jam/Jelly that your kiddo loves, only once you have crossed it in your daily commute?

Let’s face the truth. Sometimes no matter how much we plan, things tend to go out of our hands. As if trying to fit in purchases in our ever inflationary times is not enough, we also have to manage purchasing or bill payments in the constraints of our daily life! While lightning strikes once, this “Bhoolne Ki Bimari” or the “Curse of the Forgetful” has stuck us Gruhinis many many times over!!

The loving husband swooped in and rescued me from these self destructing habits. One day he just downloaded two applications (Apps as there are referred to) on my smart phone–one to record my purchases and one to list out my grocery list. And there I was, swiping in the phone to record a brown bread purchase of Rs 30. I have been using these apps for two weeks and I am getting better day by day in atleast recording my expenses. I am hoping that I will start following a budget too. I know that some amongst us would find the usage of our smart-phones as a budgeting/shopping device to be a tad inconvenient, but surely that nifty little thing can be put to better use than to browse through those annoying Facebook posts!!

I am compiling a list of simple, free to download and extremely easy to use applications. Pick those which you need the most. You can download these apps on https://play.google.com for smartphones with android software or https://itunes.apple.com/in for Apple phones.

6 Must have Smart Phone Apps

Expense Manager: To track spending (By BishiNews): Get a quick snapshot of your income and expenses at one go. It lets you add income and expenses under various heads. You can enter the cheque details, payee details and funds transfer details.

Toshl Finance (By Toshl Inc): Iphone users can use this app to track expenses.

Out of Milk: For grocery lists (By Capigami Inc): It’s a simple replacement for writing the list on paper. It quickly adds and deletes the grocery items. Since it doesn’t have an Indian version yet, we can’t add the value in rupees. Iphone users can download it from App Store.

Delight Circle: For discount lovers (By Pipal Tech Ventures): Instead of mall hopping, use this app to first find out where you will find discounts or offers on apparels, groceries or electronics or even restaurants. It helps discover shops and malls that keep your desired brand. But it’s only available in 9 metro cities as of now. Iphone users can download it from App Store.

My Smart Price (MSP): For OnioManiacs (By A group of technology entreprenuers): Cut down on your search time on the online retail stores such as flipkart, naaptol croma etc. MSP will list the lowest price across electronics, kitchen, home appliances, mobile phones, laptops from these online stories. It will let you compare and alert you when the price drops.

Pricedekho (By GirnarSoft) Iphone users can check this app which has similar features as My Smart Price.

Skyscanner: For frequent holidayers (By Skyscanner Ltd): Cut down the time you spend on finding the cheapest tickets across the dozens of travel agents and their portals. This app will scan for the best fares across these portals for your itinerary. Save the itinerary details, browse for the fares every-day until you find the one which suits your budget. You can share flight searches and book through mobile. Iphone users can download it from App Store.

Life Reminders: For everything you tend to forget (By Cameleo-Tech) Once you record the important dates for bills, birthdays, anniversaries, it will show up in notifications on the required dates so you can’t miss it.

Alarmed ~ Reminders + Timers (By Yoctoville) is a similar app for Iphone users.

For your stock and mutual fund tracking, Gyani Gruhini suggests that you download the app provided by your stock broker or mutual fund as it will be the most authentic source for prices and net asset values (NAV).

For any other app suggestions or feedback, give me a shout at rachna.advisor@gmail.com

Getting Funny with Money (Part 2)

Fellow Gruhinis, Till the time I am working on a new dose of money gyan, here is a “must buy” DVD list for your kiddos. They will see how the young kids in the two movies deal with too much money in their hands and probably understand it better when you try to give a money lesson next time.

Tip: At the end of the movie, ask your kiddo what he really liked about the movie instead of you telling them about the message in the movie.

Blank Cheque (Walt Disney Productions)

A 12 year old boy is tired of money lectures from his parents and big brothers. He gets lucky when his bicycle is overrun by a car and the owner accidentally gives him a blank cheque. He gets to spend the dollars the way he wants. But the young boy’s party comes to an end as the owner of the cheque wants his money back..

Buy it at Ebay.in for Rs 1600 or watch it on Youtube, if pirated prints work for you.

Millions (Danny Boyle’s Direction)

Two brothers get a sack full of pounds in their neighborhood. Simple plot, you may think. But the hitch is that the country is going to switch to Euro currency in seven days. So watch it to know how the brothers spend the pound.

Buy it at Ebay.in for Rs 1325

This blog’s inspiration came from my husband, Vikram Koppikar, who interprets legal acts for a living and interprets world cinema as a hobby. Happy Watching !!!