- Carl Bard Happy New Year! - scufhoftp.scufsanthome.com Breeze/January... · 2015-01-07 ·...
Transcript of - Carl Bard Happy New Year! - scufhoftp.scufsanthome.com Breeze/January... · 2015-01-07 ·...
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand
new ending.” - Carl Bard
1st JANUARY 2015
Breeze wishes all SCUFians and their families a
very Happy,
Successful,
and Prosperous
2015
Happy New Year!
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
It’s all about Money, Honey This article is an adaptation of the article by Ms. Vibha Padalkar (ED & CFO,
HDFC Life) originally published in the September 2013 issue of CFO Connect. Though the
article primarily addresses a female audience, her points on special financial needs, careful
planning, and focused investing are universally valid. We hope you find this useful.
Urban women are strong economic contributors to society. They are increasingly setting up
small to medium scale businesses, or co-operative self-help groups. These contribute to their families’
income and to the nation’s GDP. Despite being sophisticated, and understanding the importance of
being financially self-reliant, many urban women are reluctant to be involved in their own financial
planning.
I would like to narrate the real life stories of three women whom I
have known personally. The first story is about a woman who is single (by
choice), and successful in her career that offered her a spacious flat on Alta-
mount Road, in Mumbai. She lived a good life but in the last five years of
her working career, she realised that her savings were woefully inadequate to
sustain her lifestyle or buy an apartment in Mumbai. In the second instance, the woman was happily
married (for some time), and spent her salary on household expenses while her husband made the
investment decisions. When the relationship soured, she realised to her dismay that she had hardly
any savings in her own name that she could fall back on. In the third case, a friend who was a home-
maker lost her husband prematurely in a road accident. When he died she was clueless about what
savings they had, and even whether they had an insurance cover. In all three cases, while no one had
any control over their personal pain, they may have derived comfort from their savings through better
financial planning.
In late 2011 and early 2012 the findings of a survey conducted by HDFC Standard Life
Insurance among urban women in 11 Indian Tier I and Tier II cities, concluded that they have poor
financial awareness levels and a lot to learn in goal-based, financial planning. The survey also noted
that just 22 per cent of urban women have a comprehensive financial plan that covers short and long-
term goals, while 42 per cent have only a basic plan.
Are women’s financial needs different?
Yes, women’s financial needs are different from men’s. Women face a
number of unique risks that are physical as well as social. These include
longevity, gender-related illnesses, caregiving responsibilities, single and ageing,
and greater healthcare costs, among others. Pregnancy brings its own joys and
additional financial responsibilities. Most women opt to stay out of their careers,
or settle for lower-paying jobs to balance their career and demands of mother-
hood. Many face complications, that leave them emotionally and financially
drained. As moms, we often take prolonged leave from our careers to care for
our kids or ageing parents. This may deplete our income source and the
savings gap may take years to overcome.
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
Contd...
Our genetic and biological makeup places us in vulnerable medical and health situations that
are unique. While medical advancement has made illnesses like breast cancer and cervical cancer less
severe, the financial drain of fighting these diseases can wipe out a family’s lifetime savings. It is
advisable that we pay attention to our health at all times and plan proactively to build an emergency
fund for such situations. With the evolving demographics and social changes, women may be forced to
remain single through widowhood, divorce, or just by choosing never to get married. We are, therefore,
more likely to be solely responsible for our own financial independence at some point in our lives.
Though saving systematically with a disciplined approach comes naturally to us, studies show
that most of us do not start saving early in life. Building an asset and aiming to be self-reliant,
enough to last the social stages we either choose or may have to pass through, requires the right
financial planning.
Key basic financial steps
As women, we need to understand our financial situation and learn more about money. We
need to do more than just balance our bank account and pay the bills. We must understand that as a
woman, we have different financial needs than men and must start our financial planning as early as
we get started in our first job or business venture. Things that we need to do to have a better control
on our finances are the following:
Learn about money; we can control it only if we know about it. Hence, the first thing we should do
is know how to earn it, save it, multiply it via investments, protect it, and then pass it to the next
generation;
We should make projections of our income stream and the antici-
pated expenses in the short and longer term;
We need to understand our risk profile and invest accordingly;
We should start to plan for our retirement as early as our first job
or venture to fully benefit from the power of compounding;
Learn how to keep away from investing in products that we are
unable to understand;
Know our financial situation all the time and take charge of it. And after marriage, we need to
share in managing the family's finances.
Several decisions we make as women will have a financial planning component to them. Hence, we
should avoid being stranded when faced with a difficult situation.
Step 1: Defining the objective
Women should clearly set realistic financial objectives, which could be purchasing a home,
building a kitty for retirement, starting a business, overseas travel, buying a car, and creating
education and marriage funds for their children, etc. Defining the amount of money and the time hori-
zon for accomplishing the objective is the second important factor, as it determines the choice of
investment instruments and impacts the accomplishment of the objective.
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
Contd... Step 2: Preparing a plan
A financial plan starts with taking stock of one’s assets and liabilities and projecting future ex-
penses and incomes. This gives a fair idea of what amount is required to meet various current and
future financial objectives. Various factors such as time horizons, risk appetite, and type of investment
avenues available are also considered. Don’t forget a contingency fund for the unexpected situations in
life, like illness, loss of a job, loss of an earning member etc.
There are many financial instruments like equity, MFs, ULIPs, traditional insurance plans, pension
plans, debt instruments like bonds, and PPFs among others, for savings and investment. For financial
protection there are life insurance and health insurance plans. For tax savings we can choose from
insurance plans, equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS), PPFs, MFs, and tax saving bonds, among others.
If diversification is not done properly, then the portfolio may not grow sufficiently and inflation will
erode any gains that have been made. Given longer life spans for women, the long term is critical.
Consulting a certified financial advisor is recommended in order to establish a financial plan.
Step 3: Starting to invest
Disciplined investment is the key for the success of a financial plan. Today, investing online is
gaining popularity. Also, most financial advisors help with documentation. However, it is important to
read and understand the nature and associated risk of each investment instrument before investing.
Step 4: Reviewing the plan periodically
Once investment starts, to ensure that you remain on course, it is advisable to periodically re-
view it in line with increased income or expenses, new assets or liability acquisitions, or changing
market conditions. For example, a plan should be reviewed to judge the performance of various
investments. When stock markets change course over a period of time they may disturb your asset
allocation. So you may have to redeem some equity investments or buy more of them depending on
how much risk you are willing to take.
As you approach a particular milestone (say, your child's college admission or marriage) you
will need to exit your equity investments and move to debt in order to protect your accumulated
funds. It is critical for us to invest our time in educating ourselves about the different investment vehi-
cles available along with the different life stage events for the right approach to financial planning.
Women should cultivate a habit of reading different personal finance columns and related publications
to brush up their knowledge of finance. We must know what exactly we are investing in and not blindly
follow others’ advice. Only an informed mind can take the right decision.
After all, you must carve out and decide your own financial future. This will help you
to maintain your ‘self respect’ and ‘dignity’, irrespective of what life may throw your way!
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
Did You Know Series (DYKS) - 17
PART I – Rules of DYKS
The details and rules of the DYKS are as follows:
Each issue will contain 3 multiple answer questions
All staff members are eligible and are encouraged to reply to the questions
All replies to be sent only to [email protected]
The mails should be sent from the official mail ID of the employee.
The response mail should be as follows:
The name of the staff from whom the first correct response comes will be published in the subsequent issue of ‘Breeze’. This will be for each of the states.
======================================================================
PART II – Answers to Quiz of December 2014 issue
SNo. Required Information Employee Entry / Answer to quiz
1 Employee Name
2 Employee Number
3 Designation
4 Email ID
5 Branch code and name
6 State
7 Answers:1
2
3
SNo Question Answer
1 Major checks to be done to identify fake
notes while handling cash D) All the above. ( Latent image, Intaglio printing, Water-
mark)
2 Upon request by a customer for a NOC on
their vehicle loan, how is it issued? D) Check the ledger. If there is no amount outstanding, issue
an NOC from UNO
3 The following registers are maintained at
the branch. Which of it are important for
Jewel Loan Department?
E) All the above except Attendance Register. (Sanction Register & Redemption Register, Chubb key Reg-
ister, Stamp Register, Cash movement Register , Jewel Stock
Register and Cash Withdrawal & Deposit Register)
PART III – Statewise correct responses to Quiz in December 2014 Issue
S.No State No. of responses State No. of responses S. No
1 Maharastra 2 Chandigarh 1 5
2 New Delhi 1 Haryana 1 6
3 Karnataka 1 Uttar Pradesh 1 7
4 HO-Chennai 2 Tamil Nadu 1 8
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
PART IV – State wise 1st correct response to Quiz in December 2014 Issue
PART V– Quiz - January 2015
1. On our website www.shriramcity.in, in which part does the “Whistle Blower and Vigi-
lance Mechanism Policy” appear?
a. About Us
b. Social Impact
c. Investors
d. Business Outlets
e. Media
2. What is fraud as per the “Whistle Blower and Vigilance Mechanism Policy”?
a. Misappropriation of funds, assets any other item of the company
b. Accepting or seeking anything of material value from customers
c. Destruction, removal, inappropriate use of records, assets, information, any
other item of the company
d. Disclosing confidential and proprietary information of the company to out-
side parties
e. All the above
3. Who can be a Whistle Blower as per the “Whistle Blower and Vigilance Mechanism
Policy”?
a. Directors of our company
b. Employees of SCUF
c. (a) and (b) above.
d. Customers of SCUF
e. Vendors of our company
f. All of the above By
Sri D. Srinivasan (Sr. Manager)
BPR, Santhome
S.No State Name State Name S. No
1 HO - Chennai R.V. Sreenivas Rajan New Delhi Aftab Anwar 5
2 Haryana Vijay Kumar Uttar Pradesh Kanchan 6
3 Karnataka Deepa Chandigarh Raviprakash Ojha 7
4 Maharashtra Aamir Gaur Tamil Nadu D. Arul Prakasam 8
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
The Ahmedabad Zonal Office of Shriram City was inaugurated on the 16th of
December 2014. The event was attended by Mr. G.M. Jilani (ED), Mr. Niranjan Rao
(ED), Mr. Jignesh Shah (State Head - Gujarat), and all the Branch Managers and Team
Leaders of Shriram City in Gujarat. Below are a few photos of the event:
Inauguration of Ahmedabad Zonal Office
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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015
Editorial Committee
Shri K.Subramaniam
Senior Consultant, CO, Mylapore
Smt M.Subhashree
TED., BSC, Santhome
Sri M.Radhakrishnan
Consultant, BSC, Santhome
Ms. Teena Philip
Business Manager, BSC, Santhome
Communication Address:
Editorial Committee,
(News Letter—Breeze)Shriram
City Union Finance
144, Santhome High Road,
Chennai—600 004
Phone: 044 43925300
Email:
A parting thought
Breeze wishes all its readers a
very happy Pongal and
Makar Sankranti
You can be a
victim
or you can be a
victor
but you can’t be both