Plan your life style

Life style Planning is not something we plan but we automatically keep looking to do without our knowledge. Moving to a smart phone from Nokia basic model is lifestyle improvement. Driving our own vehicle from travelling in bus, train and autos is a lifestyle improvement. Some of these may be well planned by many but for most others it is like did I actually plan to buy all these things or just peer pressure which forced me to buy all these things still exists. There is nothing wrong in improving ourselves when we draw the required salary to it, but we should also make sure to sustain the lifestyle which we are moving in.

Are you planning in your life?

Most of our answer will be NO, but this planning was done for us on our behalf in our society. Right from schooling, taking up sports, joining a college and joining an office, everything takes place automatically and each of our parents plays a significant role in our career. It is due to them that who we are, but one thing which we fail to recognize from them is saving and investing which they did diligently without affecting their entertainment quotient in their life. Now in our generation there is much to enjoy, much more to travel, much more to see and much more to spend, but the only thing we never give a thought is saving even a meager sum from our monthly salaries.

Even if you say that, everything in your life has happened on its own, the concept of marriage becomes zero. So we can never deny saying that I don’t plan in my life. It is not that you need to compete with your peers in all aspect; it is just to make sure you are able to compete in your life and lead a good life. Everybody including financial advisors will recommend just making sure that money you earn is sufficient for your later stage of life.

What is happening at present?

Mobiles have revolutionized not only in the way communication takes place, but also it has influenced day to day activities in our life. Initially it has just eased in the way that people stay in touch, from that period to now in sharing daily activities to our dear and loved ones in other part of the world has become easier. It has lead to surge in so many apps and so much data to collect and analyze the behavior of an individual. Now with this data many are being hooked to shop online in mobile itself from groceries to tv’s and now even bikes.

The amount of bill payment via mobile has increased significantly in the last 3 years. This shows that people are moving towards spending and enjoy their life unknowingly. On the other side savings rate has dipped constantly among Indian’s over the last 5 years, though it can be attributed to inflation, lesser increase in wages etc.

How should I Approach?

We had seen how the investments should be approached (Investments, How should I approach) over a period of time in our previous articles. Leaving aside investment which many see as a big thing, buying anything should be seen with an eye of whether it is a need or a Want in our life.

Need

Want

                                                        

There is a clear difference between these 2, you may be in need of smart phone for calling, browsing, chatting etc, but you need to analyze whether you NEED a iPHONE or Android phone at half the price and even lesser. There are so many advantages in buying an iPhone but a decision needs to be taken on whether my life will be stable during any unexpected events. This is a mere example with phone, this need to be practiced in everyday life activity unless this becomes a habit. Am not asking everyone to become frugal all of a sudden, introspect this need and want at least on certain big ticket purchases.

Everybody knows who Warren Buffet is, the biggest investor of our times and now the philanthropist too, he is still leaving in a 5 bed room home that he had bought in 1958 for 31500$. Can you believe that he is the owner of 62 Billion$?

How to file financial complaints

           

When we try new things or even in our day to day activities some may work perfectly and some may require little tweaking be it any electronic equipment or any financial related activity. Just like software update for mobile if you do that activity it will work perfectly again, but if you miss those updates and postpone it, phone will hang, applications will not work correctly and so many series of unexpected issues may happen.

We buy insurance, stocks, mutual funds, so many products etc but if there is a problem in any of the service many of us will try to contact customer care and if the response is poor, we may try to escalate but may not know the proper routes. Let us look at some of the mechanism available to resolve your grievance for the below important ones,

Product\Service;

For any consumer durable products contact customer care, get your complaint registered, If your grievance is not resolved, take it to the supervisor and send an email & physical mail for documentation.

Still if unresolved, approach National consumer helpline 1800114000 and register your complaint it at www.core.nic.in. Finally you can approach consumer court in your locality were you don’t need any lawyer to start a case.

Stocks\Funds;

Any delays or mis-selling or fraud done by broker, contact the fund house or the company immediately. If your grievance is not addressed approach SEBI via www.scores.gov.in to register and track your complaint.

Finally you can approach consumer court in your locality were you don’t need any lawyer to start a case.

Banking;

 Most of the Banks have in house grievance addressable system and most if the issues will be addressed here itself. If unresolved within a month, approach any of the 15 ombudsmen whose address is listed in RBI website.

If not satisfied with the settlement file an appeal before appellate authority – deputy governor within 30 days.

Real Estate;

I believe many will have complaints in this category, though there are some grievance addressable system in many of the leading companies it can be said that it is dysfunctional. Next level can be CREDAI, NARDECO and national association of realtors etc.

Final option is civil or consumer court to get proper settlement.

Insurance;

First and foremost try to get it addressed with customer care. Then you can approach grievance redressal officer of the branch, still if you are not satisfied you can approach http://www.policyholder.gov.in/report.aspx#.

You can call toll free number 1800-425-4732 or send an email to complaints@irda.gov.in

Telecom;

Most of us would have had this problem with mobile networks and ended up changing number. Take up the issue with customer care, and then escalate it to nodal office of the network. The grievance should be resolved within 10 days.

If you are not satisfied go to appellate authority in your circle within 3 months.