A while ago, I made two videos (linked below) on the options for parents if their child is interested in science. Recently, I received a rather critical email in response. The essence was: Why are you recommending science as a career when the pay is so small?! The answer is quite simple: passion. If my…

A reader asked me to write about work-life balance and how to achieve it. So here goes. In my opinion, it is hard to define work-life balance. It is always easy to eliminate extreme cases – someone who hardly works and someone who works all the time and misses out on being there for the…

One of the first SEBI-registered investment advisors in the country, Melvin Joseph, is an amazing person. In 2018, he launched his movement to educate underprivileged children called Kids’ Education and You (KEY). A monthly investment of Rs. 2000 towards this cause will change lives and reward you in bear or bull markets! No better day…

One of my biggest regrets is being unable to splurge on my parents – buy them expensive gifts, take them on holidays, etc. My dad died when I was in debt (due to his hospital bills), and my mom became ill soon after.  So I keep telling young people that there is a small window…

The growth of AI-based tools is astounding and alarming. I was recently sent a CT report of a hospitalised relative with multiple findings that seemed to require medical attention. I was curious to learn more. It is inadvisable to do this, but some of us have a curious itch to scratch (and suffer the consequences)….

In this article, Sunil shares how he and his friends and family came together to assist a student with this medical college tuition. Sunil believes, “While we always discuss our own personal finance improvement, many of us also want to help society by supporting education or medical support. The support can help a needy family…

Kid’s Education and You (KEY) is an initiative by SEBI registered investment advisor, Melvin Joseph to help children from low-income families with a monthly payment of Rs. 2000 from donors. The initiative now helps 260 children thanks to your support. A report and how you can be part of KEY to help out. On Aug…

In this guest post, R. Srivatsan discusses the importance of time and energy budgeting for financial success! Srivatsan would only like to be referred as a “long time reader” of freefincal. Regulars may recall that he wrote a wonderful guest post on the importance of looking at the earnings power of a stock: It’s Earnings That Count: Forget…

November is the best time to make resolutions, not January. If you keep at it regularly, it will become a habit that you cannot shake off by January. So what better day to start than Diwali?! Here are five important money steps that you can consider working on from today and perfect by Jan 2019….

Yes, that is right! Each time we get on the internet, search for information, get entertained, use social media, shop online, buy and sell stocks, pretty much anything, we are part of someones’ data experiment! Whether we like it or not, whether we consider it an infringement of privacy or not, we simply have no…

Every teachers’ day, I think about my third standard class teacher. She is a visionary. She looked me in the eye and said, “you will come to nothing in life” and that turned out to be true.  I have no idea what I did to make her so angry, but I still remember where I sat…

At work, I have the privilege of constantly interacting with gen-X (or Y/Z/AA!) – 18+, 20+ young adults coming to terms with an environment very different from school. It is natural to encounter students who are generally unhappy with life and existence. They first seem distracted in class. Then they stop coming and if you ask…

Impulse buying refers to the sudden purchase of goods and services without planning or without evaluating if it would be useful. It is the same as the sudden urge to pick up a packet of namkeen or sweets just because we have seen it! If you are worried about how you or someone you care about…

In Jue 2013, when freefincal had just completed one, I had written an account of how I came to be interested in money management and finance and my money mistakes. This is a mildly updated version for new readers, especially young earners who think they have “started late”. Trust me, when you look at my life,…

Here are some important business lessons from the box office collections of three movies released this year: The Mummy, Split and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. As a movie buff, I am also a box-office receipts buff and all money information is from www.boxofficemojo.com (as on June 28th 2017). Announcement: As readers may know…