5 ways to teach kids about money management

Recent studies have shown that Indians across the major cities are not very good when it comes to financial planning. We can partly blame this on our social fabric which does not allow us ample opportunities to hone our money management skills during childhood. However, we, as adults, would do a great disservice to our children if we fail to instill good financial habits in them.

With rising medical costs and nuclear families gaining popularity, our children can no longer afford to be ill-prepared in financial matters when they grow up.

Here are five time-tested ways to teach your kids about good money management.

Be a good role model

Studies have proven that kids often follow adults in the house - most importantly, parents - as their first role models. One may be surprised to know that imitation plays an important part for kids to learn. Involving kids in household financial decisions is a good way to do this.

One can discuss, explain and take kids' opinion on everyday matters. Here are a few topics you can use to engage your kids on such matters:

• Shopping: Why you think buying clothes on sale is a better idea?
• Dining: Can a family enjoy the same tasty food in a less costly restaurant or at home?
• Utilities: Can reduced AC usage help in cutting electricity bills?
• Grocery: Why may not buying imported products be so cost efficient?
• Frugality: How, by spending smartly, one can save for birthday gifts for the elderly.

Encouraging, praising and rewarding kids when they exhibit good money management behavior is a good way to go about it.

Use video games

In the era of Xbox and Playstation, there are no better fun ways to teach your kids some financial skills. Kids can play popular online money management games such as Road Trip to Savings, Financial Football, Peter Pig's Money counter, Money Metropolis, Financial Soccer, Record shop tycoon, Burger Restaurant, and so on.

The good old family board game is still considered one of the best to impart valuable financial lessons. This way, kids will not only learn to count while spending quality time with family but also help you carry out basic calculations. The game of Monopoly helps kids learn how to manage limited money best and think the way a banker does.

Encourage saving towards goals

Discussing with children things they want to buy in near future - toys, games, bicycle etc. - will help them calculate how much they need to save each day to reach their goals. Gift them a piggy bank to put their savings in. Kids can also be guided about the importance of prioritising and trading off, since not all goals are achievable with the same resources. When repeated over a period of time, children start believing in long-term savings and develop financial discipline which adults lack these days.

Make them earn pocket money

Kids need to understand that money does not grow on trees but is earned through hard work. Children should be encouraged to earn pocket money by getting involved in different kinds of tasks. A kid of 7-12 years of age can easily handle household chores whereas teenagers can make a decent pocket money by taking up a part-time job. By working towards earning their own pocket money, children become more responsible and start valuing the money.

Give budget projects and allow mistakes

Passing an overall budget objective to kids and giving them money to come up with a plan to achieve the same is a good idea. For example, you can ask them to plan a picnic. Let them come up with all activities, food, fuel and other costs, within a strict budget. Let them, then, make payments for these expenses. Failure or mistakes are also the best teachers. Let your kids figure out that they have overspent on one activity at the cost of another or they simply underestimated the costs. They need to learn to make choices within the budget. Involve bigger kids in running and analysing your home budgets.

Source: NDTV Profit

Infosys Q1: 10 reasons why shares jumped 15%

Infosys shares surged 15 per cent after India's second largest IT outsourcer beat June quarter earnings estimates. Infosys was the biggest gainer on the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks and single handedly drive the markets higher.

• Topline beat: Infosys Q1 sales rose nearly 8 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 11,267 crore against estimates of 5-6 per cent growth. The big beat, however, was the 2.7 per cent sequential jump in dollar sales against estimates of flat (0 to 1 per cent) growth. Hitesh Shah of IDFC Securities told NDTV that revenue growth was pretty encouraging considering that slowing growth was the biggest concern for Infosys.
• In constant currency, Infosys' revenue rose 3.4 per cent, much higher than Street estimates of 1.3 per cent growth.
• Infosys reported volume growth (increase in man-hours billed) of 3.4 per cent against 1.8 per cent sequential growth in the March quarter. Volume growth in the IT services grew by 1.8 per cent. However, there was a sequential price decline of 0.7 per cent, suggesting continued pressure on pricing.
• Profit beat: Infosys net profit declined 1 per cent q-o-q to Rs. 2,370 crore against estimates of Rs. 2,330 crore to Reuters poll. The company posted a 3.7 per cent year-on-year increase in its first-quarter net profit.
• Operating margins for the first quarter grew at 23.5 per cent, same as last quarter, but higher than against Street estimates of 23.4 per cent despite some salary revisions kicking-in with effect from May 1. CFO Rajiv Bansal told NDTV that we did a fantastic job on the margins front. The positives were the rupee and the utilisations went up. (Utilisation is the ratio of the total manpower that is billed to total billable hours). However, Mr Bansal cautioned that going forward margins may fall by 300 basis points in the next quarter and 240 basis points for the full year on account of salary hikes.

• Infosys retained its full year dollar sales guidance at 6-10 per cent. This comes as a big relief to investors, who were prepared for the worst after global investment bank Morgan Stanley, warned that Infosys may revise its guidance downwards earlier this month.

• Infosys sales in North America, its biggest geography grew by 4.9 per cent sequentially. Among the frontline IT companies, Infosys has the biggest reliance on U.S. for revenues. Similarly, financial services, Infosys' biggest vertical, grew by 1.9 per cent sequentially. Infosys also won seven large deals in the first quarter; a few of them are over $100 million over 3-5 years.

• Infosys management remained "cautiously optimistic" though chief executive S. D. Shibulal said "sentiment towards Infosys is very positive among clients." Mr Bansal said Infosys has done "reasonably well" in the first quarter. However, Mr Shibulal said regulatory challenges (read visa issues) remain.

• Analysts bullish: Most experts said Infosys has posted impressive numbers in the first quarter. UBS said Infosys has beaten revenue, margins, and earnings forecasts (It has a target of Rs. 2,900). Nomura said Q1 numbers overall look very impressive. Domestic brokerage Kotak retained its "add" rating on Infosys on inexpensive valuations.

• The Murthy effect: Sanjeev Hota of Sharekhan told NDTV that it's a good start for Infosys after NR Narayana Murthy coming in.

Source: NDTV Profit

Car sales down 9 per cent in June

Car sales in India fell an annual 9 per cent in June, an industry body said on Friday, as demand continued to suffer due to rising ownership costs and sluggish economic growth.

Automakers sold 139,632 cars in India last month, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), with demand dropping for the eighth straight month.

Sales of motorcycles fell 9.2 per cent in June to 799,139 vehicles, SIAM said, while truck and bus sales were down 13.5 per cent at 56,197 vehicles.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2013

How to Flunk a Job Interview

These common mistakes will ruin your chances of getting just about any job

Finding reliable, loyal, and competent employees is at the top of most entrepreneurs' minds. You deal with this as a start-up founder, and it continues to plague your management team through the mid-size stage and beyond.

Our company has recently expanded significantly, opening up a number of critical positions. That's pressed us to spend most of our time recruiting--and to learn a lot about the common mistakes that job applicants make.

Using a salary-driven approach to selecting your first job

Opting for a salary-driven approach to the job search--especially when you have little or no experience behind your expectations--is probably not the best long-term strategy. Those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to gain experience in a coveted field come when you're young and fresh, and the reality is that learning jobs don't pay that well. Being aware of this fact will help you gauge the opportunity better.

As an entry-level candidate, you want to show your prospective employer that you value the experience--and the potential opportunity for growth--more than your initial paycheck.

Using unlikely stories to justify past slip-ups

I frequently find myself speaking with applicants that look great on paper and turn out to be quite different during the interview. If you have unexplained breaks in employment, don't use some crazy excuse in an attempt to make yourself look better. Instead of crafting a sad tale portraying you as the martyr, try using a good old-fashioned truth: "I made some mistakes in the past. Now I realize that I didn't have my priorities properly in mind, and I'm clear on where I'd like my journey to go." It sounds better.

Confusing your employer with a misleading resume

If you acted as director of marketing for your previous employer, but you still haven't graduated from college, don't omit the expected graduation date from your resume. Even if it might get you more interviews, it misleads your potential employer into believing you have more experience than you actually do. This will come clear during the interview, by which time you will have changed from being an interesting prospect to a potentially shady candidate.

Employers are looking for candidates that are capable, reliable, and willing to go the extra mile. My advice: Check your ego at the door, and write a kickass cover letter about why you would be great for the job. Explain your capabilities, and why the company interests you. Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for the next hidden treasure. That could be you.

Source: http://www.inc.com/mayra-himenez

Rupee breaks 61 against dollar, hits record low

The Indian rupee breached the 61 mark against the U.S. dollar for the first time ever on Monday, surpassing the previous record low of 60.76 hit on June 26. The partially convertible rupee traded at 61.03 as of 11.15 a.m. against Friday's close of 60.23.

The sharp plunge also affected sentiments in equity markets, with the BSE Sensex falling over 300 points in early trades today. Bond yields also jumped on fears that foreign investors would continue to sell rupee debt. 

Fresh weakness came on better than expected U.S. jobs growth, which increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting its massive monetary stimulus, known as quantitative easing, as early as September.

Traders fear that cuts in the U.S. bond buying programme will trigger massive selling by foreign investors, which will make the financing of India's high current account deficit difficult.

The Reserve Bank of India was spotted selling dollars via state-run banks, traders told Reuters. Three traders said the central bank likely started selling dollars when the rupee was trading at around 61.15 levels, while two other dealers said they were spotted a little later at around 61.21 levels.

The central bank will meet with officials from state-run oil marketing firms in Mumbai later in the day to discuss their foreign exchange needs, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Oil companies are the biggest buyers of dollars in domestic currency markets. Dealers have said the RBI may impose a separate window to oil companies to provide them with U.S. dollars, reducing demand for the greenback in the spot market and thus helping ease downward pressure on the rupee. 

Last week, the rupee fell 1.4 per cent last week and its nine-week losing streak is the longest since the last one ended June 3, 2012.

The RBI's intervention has not been strong during the current bout of rupee weakness, with Governor D Subbarao's comments on Thursday about the RBI not targeting any particular exchange rate also deepening the uncertainty.


Source: NDTV Profit