A Moment Of Solitude
When I start the day with a moment of solitude and contemplation, even the most crowded schedule runs more smoothly.
Relationship Manager
In this article, we will discuss “Relationship managers”. I got an interesting comment about “Relationship Managers” on my Facebook wall from Prasad when we were discussing about recent HDFC Life offering on 100% Free Financial Planning through snapdeal. Here is Prasad’s sharing on his relationship manager and what happened with him.
I am totally disappointed with HDFC Bank, every time my RM calls, he wants me to sell an insurance plan. If i tell him that I have other commitments at this point of time, he tells me he can get me a credit card if I don’t have one and use it to buy the insurance plan… It can’t go down more ! Had so much respect to this bank. But the concept of RMs is the most misleading thing !
Focus on this comment and re-focus on one sentence – “he tells me he can get me a credit card if I don’t have one and use it to buy the insurance plan”. What does it say ? What comes to your mind when you read this ? It shows that there is extreme focus on performance, there is extreme pressure on meeting targets on relationship managers. Their jobs are at stake at times and there is a do or die situation.
What are Relationship Managers ?Relationship Managers are generally assigned to a customer who have more money and resources than others, who has more longer term relationship with Banks, you are told that you will be taken special care by this relationship manager, at times you can directly talk to him for any issues. All the people having more than a certain net-worth or salary are assigned relationship managers.
You are told that he is suppose to help you out whenever you want and he will be available to you all the times when you need him. However, relationship managers are generally MBA Marketing guys , who are hired to take the sales go up, they are responsible to bring business by hook or by crook. The worst part of relationship managers is that their attiration rate is so high, that by the time you figure out that you 90% mis-bought and were 10% miss old a financial product, the relationship manager is not working in the same company anymore, he has moved to another job now.
I read this funny incident on Mayur’s article comment section where Sahid is sharing something about customer care people lie
Recently got a call from Kotak Mahindra bank regarding some bullshit insurance policy. Usually whenever marketing calls comes to my mobile, I used to say “sorry, Not interested”. But this time I decided to elaborate why I am not interested by telling a lie. All I told was “Actually I was interested in this product and had fixed appointment with your relationship manager on last Friday. But he didn’t come. So not interested.” The marketing guy replied that he will check back. After two or three minutes I got a call from them again. “Sir we are extremely sorry. We called that relationship manager. He was not able to come to you because he met with an accident that day. Shall he come today?”
What a relationship manager knows about you ?
A relationship manager knows how much money do you have in your bank account, he knows for how long it is lying there. He knows the recent credit and recent debit from your bank account. He can figure out that one of your FD maturity and is now “available” for massacre. He can then call you or meet you and show you an amazing product , if you want to invest and “if you have any money” . Obviously he knows you are sitting on a 10 lac cash right now. He is innocent, he is just telling you about something FYI, after all thats his job!
Remember, If a relationship manager recommends you some product and if you manage to make good returns or it turns out to be a good thing for you, it’s mostly accidental! So now, if you are an HNI or if you are going to get a relationship manager from your bank , broker or whatever it is, just make sure you know that it’s most probably going to add to your headache. He will keep on pushing you, convince you about opportunities and prove to you how your money is getting wasted sitting at your bank account. I remember a comment made by Subra on one of his article on relationship managers and doctors.
Joints Accounts-Nominations-Will, Best Use of It?
There are 3 ways one can pass on his wealth to someone – joint accounts, nominations and Will. A lot of people do not know which one is more powerful than other and when to use which one. Today let’s discuss a few points about joint accounts, nominations and will and some scenarios which will make them clear. Also, below is a good video on Wills in case you want to watch.
3 mistakes which investors make
1. Not understanding what a joint account means
If you want to make sure that after your death, your wife operates the account and should be the sole owner of the account then don’t just make her the nominee, better make her a joint account holder in the bank account itself. If you choose “either or survivor” mode, she will be able to transact and do things along with you. But if you want to make sure that she can only operate and take charge once you are not around, then choose “former or survivor” mode, so she will not be able to transact and own anything till you are alive, but once you are no more, she just becomes the owner, without any hassles. This is a better way to give control to someone after your death and more powerful and simple than making a WILL or leaving it on the mercy of fate. You can make some person joint holder in bank accounts, mutual funds, FD’s or real estate properties.
2. Forgetting about old joint holders
A lot of people have joint accounts with their father, mother, brother etc etc years back, but now they want to pass on their wealth to their children/wife on their death, so they put their names in Nominee and also write a WILL (for full proof documentation), but once they die, the nomination and WILL be of no use, because the bank account is not dormant, it’s still alive with a legitimate owner and that will be the person who was the joint owner. You might have opened that bank account long back before marriage with your brother or father as joint holder and now forgot about this, but they are the next legitimate owner of the bank account (or anything else). Note that nominations are useful to pass on the control only when no one is to claim it and WILL are to transfer the rights to someone after the owner is dead, but in case a joint account is there, the control can be passed only on the death of both the holders, not just the primary or secondary holder.
3. Not changing Old nominations and WILL
A lot of people do not change the nominations of their bank accounts, mutual funds, life insurance policies due to laziness, someone else is on the nominee list, but they want to transfer the asset to someone else. A lot of people think that making a WILL is the final solution, but in real life, there can be complications. What if the nominee and the person mentioned in a WILL are different ? The nominee can take out the cash from bank or do some transaction ? Then the legal owner will have to run from pillers to post to claim that money back and do all the legal work. See this classic issue on forgetting about the WILL.
Hi, I am facing a big issue… My husband had written a WILL long back stating that all the wealth should go to his brother after his death, but this happened years back, when we were having a lot of issues in marriage and fights, but after that everything was fine and things were on track. But seems like my husband never wrote another WILL after that and didn’t change the WILL. He died recently in an accident and now his brother has claimed all our property and bank balance because of that WILL. What can I do ?
Truly speaking, This lady cant do anything… her husband was ignorant about these things and now she will pay for his mistakes !
Some best practices:
If you are 100% sure that your wealth should go to some specific person, always have a joint account with that person with you as primary person.
Make sure your nominee should be the same person you want to pass on some policy proceeds or property, It does not make sense to say in WILL that your wealth should go to A , but in nominee the name mentioned is B.
If you have opened any accounts/properties/mutual funds/policies long back, it’s a good idea to revisit it and see that the nominee name is appearing and is consistent with what you want it to be.
Joint Accounts, Nomination and Wills are all ways to pass on your wealth to someone else once you die, so it is very important that you structure these in the best possible manner. Have consistency in all these 3 things. If you pass on your money to a person better open account or buy the asset along as joint owner, make sure you put his name as nominee and also make sure that the WILL is written with clear directions.
All Will Be Well
Amidst the earthquakes of unexpected situations, the hurricanes of unreasonable behaviour, when fortune strikes against me, I will remain unmoved, knowing that finally all will be well.
Thoughts for Successful Trader
“The Successful Trader will Profit from mistakes and try again in a different way”
Day Trading Definition
Day Trading Definition – What Does Day Trading Mean?
The term day trading, as the name suggests, is when an investor buys and sells shares of stock or other financial investments during the course of a single day. All outstanding positions are settled before the market closes each and every day. The main objective for a day trader is to make quick profits from any shares price increased or decreased throughout the day. This type of investing has become very popular over the last decade and continues to increase in popularity on a daily basis.
Wikipedia’s definition of day trading is “The buying and selling of securities on the same day, often online, on the basis of small, short-term price fluctuations.” About.com’s day trading definition is a little bit different but carries the same tone, “Day trading (and trading in general) is the buying and selling of various financial instruments, such as futures, options, currencies, and stocks, with the goal of making a profit from the difference between the buying price and the selling price. Day trading differs slightly from other styles of trading in that positions are rarely (if ever) held overnight or when the market being traded is closed.”
When buying and selling stocks, a day trader will generally select a style that is suited to that particular investor. For example, some may only hold shares or stocks a matter of seconds or minutes. This type of trading style is known as short-term trading. If the investor holds shares throughout the business day then this style is known as swing or position trading. Some day traders will even combine the investing styles but most will generally pick a certain style and stick to it.
There are different kinds of trades as well, such as counter-trend, ranging, and trend trades. Counter-trend trades go against the current stock price movement as in selling when the price is going up. Trend trades is trading in the opposite direction or trading in the direction of the price movement such as buying when the stock price is going up. Then there is ranging trades which are trades that move back and forth between two prices, generally used when market movement is going sideways.
Some investors will make several stock moves per day while other may only make one single trade in a given day. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many day trades you have made but how much money you have made. This is truly what is important in the world of day trading online.
Larry Haywood