The bold step to ban the Rs. 500 & Rs. 1000 notes hogged the entire limelight and the 2016 USA Presidential Elections took a back seat on many news channels! It has been celebrated as a welcome move by mostly every section of the society and this move curbs black-money, corruption, hawala transactions, etc. In fact, PM Modi’s cash ban could boost the budget by USD 45 Billion [Source]. Though there are some short-term problems that every commoner would face because of this ban but definitely there seems to be huge long-term benefits associated with this bold decision!
This became the major point of discussion online (in social media, blogs, leading news publications, etc.) and offline in public transports, houses, offices, etc. since this decision touched the lives of each & every Indian irrespective of the financial status of the person. This decision also sparked discussion (and debate) between my colleagues, which slowly digressed to Financial Planning, Tax Saving Techniques 🙂 In fact, the internal discussion threw some very important facts – Many of the working professionals are completely ignorant about long-term savings or should we say – they are clueless about Personal Finance. Since we had some good financial guru’s in the discussion that happened around the ban, there were some long-term & short-term financial planning tips shared by them.
One clear take-away was that Don’t let your hard-earned money sleep in savings account but create a diversified portfolio in order to get good returns on your investments. You do not get good returns on the amount kept in savings account and it is time to do something smarter and wiser, #PaiseKoJagao
Talking about savings account, majority of the banks offer 4% or even less than 4% interest to their consumers! Though there are some banks that offer higher interest rates but it comes with a clause-higher cap in minimum bank balance in savings account. There are some banks that also offer Zero balance savings account but they also have Conditions Apply* attached to it 🙂 Every investor is different and their asset allocation strategy primarily depends on factors like age, net worth, financial goals, existing portfolio and most important of them all is Risk Appetite. There is a very famous saying Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket and Savings Account should be last basket (based on various other factors discussed above) in order to get better returns on your hard-earned savings!
There are different breeds of investors – Active Investors who keep a tap on each & every move in the financial market but that requires immense market knowledge and more investment of your time. Major chunk are Conservative Investors who have invested their money in less-risky options like PPF, few Mutual funds, Insurance policies, etc. since these options require lesser investment of time and give higher (if not significantly higher) returns compared to Savings Account. In some scenarios money in your savings account might end up earning negative returns, post the impact of inflation and taxes!
Central bank data as of December 11 show that commercial banks had aggregate deposits of Rs.91.32 trillion, about seven times the assets under management of mutual funds. In contrast, 68% of the US citizens who invest in mutual funds hold the majority of their financial assets through the vehicle [Source*]
Can you relate to the problems discussed in the video below
We are sure that many Passive Investors would have answered in affirmation and this is where the latest offering from Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (BSIL MF) can help your savings earn for you, every single day. Now you can make your hard earned money work harder for you, with just a swipe of a finger!
With their newest offering – Active Account App, BSIL MF is all set to change the way India saves their money! Every Indian holding a valid Bank account can easily put his/her savings to work anytime, anywhere 🙂
Active Account facility allows you to invest surplus money into Birla Sun Life Cash Plus Scheme with a simple swipe! Swipe left and money gets transferred back to your linked Bank Account. In a nutshell, Active Account App is all about bringing life to your money lying idle in the savings account so that you can maximise savings (with minimal risk).
The minimum amount required to register with the Active Account facility is Rs. 1000. The app allows the investor to Purchase into the Birla Sun Life Cash Plus and Withdraw from the activated amount from the Birla Sun Life Cash Plus scheme. We tried the app and it did not disappoint. The overall experience was seamless, you only need to enter PAN number for one-time registration.
Some of the most important questions that lingers in the minds of every investor are answered in the FAQ section (very important one’s are below)
I transferred some amount from my account to the Birla Sun Life Cash Plus fund using the Active Account App and the interest rates varied based on when the transfer was done. It varied all the way from 6.78% ~ 7.9% (which was anyways significantly higher than any savings account would offer :)) and the rates would fluctuate based on many external factors that affect the overall market.
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To summarise, Active Account App is a very interesting app that compliments your savings account since you do not need to create any seperate profile to get started with investing. Download the Active Account Appfrom Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and take control of your savings & give your savings a new breath of life!
