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January 2021

Investment

WHY INVESTORS SHYING AWAY FROM ELSS

on by Hazel Calvin

Equity-linked Savings Scheme, commonly known as ELSS are a popular investment avenue among investors looking to expose their investments to equities while simultaneously saving on tax. Usually, ELSS investments are the highest during the last three to four months of the financial year as investors rush to earmark their tax-saving investment avenues before the deadline of tax submission. However, this year the number of investors investing in ELSS funds has dwindled.

As per the data released by AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India) on 9th April, 2020, the net ELSS inflows in FY 2020 between December 2019 to March 2020 was just Rs 3,834 crore. The net ELSS inflows is around 36% lower than the net ELSS inflows during the same period in FY 2019 and around 55% lower than the net ELSS inflows in FY 2018.

So why are investors shying away from ELSS mutual funds?

There are chances that with increased awareness about SIP investments (Systematic Investment Plan), investors are beginning to invest in mutual funds via SIP in the start of the financial year rather than investing a lumpsum in the end of the financial year. This might result in slower sales in the ELSS category. However, one could argue that the net inflow in ELSS funds in the entire FY 2020 was much lower than that of FY 2019 – Rs 8,187 crore in FY 20 and Rs 12,771 crores in FY 19.

Another reason for investors shying away from the tax saving mutual funds could be market volatility. But again, net inflows in equity jumped around astounding 52% to Rs 24,343 crores between Dec 19 to March 2020. Then, what’s the issue?

Experts believe that the drastic decrease in ELSS investments in FY 2020 could be because of the budget announcements. Budget 2020 includes a new optional tax regime that does not include most of the tax deductions and exemptions, including the ELSS tax saving exemption of Rs 1.5 lac under Section 80C of the IT Act. It must be noted that the taxpayers can continue to choose their old tax regime. Experts believe that the confusion to choose between the old tax regime and the new tax regime might have resulted in a lower net flow of ELSS investments.

Another reason could be the poor performance of these tax-saving mutual funds. Data shows that the returns on ELSS funds dipped from double digits in 2017 and 2018 to single digit returns in 2019 and 2020. Investors looking for the past performance and returns of ELSS mutual funds might not be satisfied and thus discouraged to invest in ELSS funds. This could have also contributed to the investors shying away from ELSS investments.

If you are an existing investor in ELSS funds, you might consider staying invested if you are satisfied with the performance of your fund. On the other hand, if you are a new investor, opt for funds with risk appetite matching yours. Happy investing!

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Investment

Achieving Business Growth Through Strategic Partnerships

on by Hazel Calvin

Business success and growth can be achieved by impressing clients and improving your company’s performance. As long as you can provide consumers with high-quality products and services, your business will likely survive. Unfortunately, there are moments when your business experiences major setbacks because of a lack of significant resources. This may include a lack of funds, tools, and equipment, or even manpower. When this happens, business processes are disrupted, which eventually leads to inconvenience both to you and your clients. To prevent this, you need to prepare backup strategies or find a strategic partner who can help you deal with possible business challenges.

The Importance of Strategic Partnerships in Business

Some business owners get overwhelmed with challenges in running a company. Aside from building plans to attract more customers, they also need to find time to fix internal processes. This includes hiring competent and reliable employees or investing in advanced tools and equipment. Unfortunately, not all companies have the ability to secure all the resources that are essential in fixing their business processes. Most of them lack funds, while others don’t have the right knowledge and experience to handle certain tasks. Good thing, companies can rely on strategic business partnerships to solve these issues.

Strategic partnerships refer to an agreement of two businesses to combine their efforts and work together to achieve a common goal. This helps companies, especially small businesses, have access to valuable resources essential in improving their performance. Here are some of the remarkable benefits of having strategic business partnerships:

  • Gain knowledge and skills in running a business.
  • Get funding for your future campaigns.
  • Help identify opportunities.
  • Build a team of skilled and talented individuals.

Strategic Partnerships You Need for Your Business

  • Marketing—Partnering with a marketing agency helps increase your chances of building successful campaigns. You can look for companies doing print ads or digital marketing campaigns to help you produce high-quality and effective promotional tools. This helps you improve brand awareness and business visibility, which helps attract more clients to your business.
  • Logistics—If your business heavily relies on delivering goods, you need to find a logistics partner. You have to ensure that your customers can conveniently get their orders on time. Also, you need to reduce the chances of your items getting damaged. Thus, a trusted logistics partner can help you address these concerns. You may also consider partnering with a reverse logistics provider so you won’t have issues dealing with returned goods.
  • Financial management—If you are having trouble looking for a reliable accountant, bookkeeper, and other staff who are money experts, you can rely on other companies to solve the issue. There are software developers who can help you get hold of advanced accounting tools and other resources you might need to improve financial management in your company. On the other hand, if your business is based in Toronto, find Toronto accountant with good results
  • Technology Integration—Using advanced tools and equipment requires time and patience. Whenever you invest in the latest tech tools, you have to train employees to use them properly. This ensures that they won’t commit errors and continue staying productive while doing their jobs. To minimize risks and mistakes, you can work with experts in technology integration. These companies assist business owners in onboarding processes and provide useful training programs that employees need to keep up with business processes.

Businesses need strong and reliable connections to survive, especially if you are part of a highly-competitive industry. Thus, you need to find a strategic partner who can help you fulfill your goals and help you achieve your company’s vision. Working with trusted companies can help you significantly improve your business performance. Doing this does not only benefit your company, but it will also give your clients more reasons to keep supporting your brand.

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Loan

Tips on Choosing the Best Loan Provider

on by Hazel Calvin

If you are faced with a shortage of funds or an emergency financial situation that you need to resolve faster, an online loan with no credit check can help you. With the right loan, you can finance home improvements, pay for your vacation or college fees and foot a wide range of other bills.

However, before you start applying for the loans, you need to understand your options and take time to choose the right lender. Sometimes, you might feel a bit spoilt for choices which can easily make you assume that the loan lender you choose doesn’t matter.

You need to keep in mind that not all lenders are equal and only responsible lenders have your best interest at heart. Therefore, it is critical to take time and choose the right loan provider. Here are some tips to consider when selecting the best loan provider.

1.     Consider Interest Rates, Fees and Other Charges

The first thing you need to pay close attention to while choosing a loan provider is the interest rate, service fee, and any other administrative charges that may apply.  One of the biggest mistakes people commit is simply looking at the interest rate and assuming that they will pay back less money.

Most of them don’t know that some lenders display relatively low-interest rates but charge a ton of additional charges that will eventually make the loan too expensive.

Therefore, before choosing an online loan with no credit check lender, find out what additional charges you will be expected to pay on top of your loan amount.

2.     Assess the Penalties and Repayment Costs

Sometimes, you may be in an excellent financial position, and you will want to make faster repayments so you can finish repaying the loan quicker than the stated loan tenure.  This has always proved to be a prudent move because it can save you a lot of money on interest cost.

However, some lenders don’t like it when you repay the loan early and will have early repayment penalties in place. You must be aware of such lenders and avoid them altogether.

Before you submit your loan request, carefully read the loan terms and ask anything you don’t understand. Enquire about all the potential penalties and repayment costs to avoid paying hefty penalties in the future.

3.     Check the Loan Amount

Depending on your financial needs, you may or may not know how much you need to borrow. Therefore, it is always good to choose a lender who is willing to offer you a substantial loan amount that you are sure will help you cover your expenses.

You should also pick a lender who offers more flexibility. Some lenders provide you with the option of withdrawing the loan amount in parts depending on your needs. In such a case, you only pay interest on the amount of money you use.

The bottom line is to ensure that the loan is flexible and offers you an option to borrow sufficient money to cater to your needs.

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Finance

The Shortcomings of Automated Trading Systems

on by Hazel Calvin

Automated trading systems have many advantages and benefits. For one, they remove the emotions out of trading, which means you can stick more easily with your trading plan. It therefore also improves trading discipline. At the same time, you can backtest your trading strategy using historical market data.

On the flipside, though, automated trading systems also sport downsides that may not be suitable for some kinds of traders. In this article, we explore these downsides to help you decide whether an automated trading strategy is for you or not.

Program Failures

Ideally, automated trading systems work as the name suggests: automatically. It’s also pretty straightforward: set the rules, and let the computer run the trade.

However, in the real world, program failures and mechanical glitches happen. Yes, automated trading is a sophisticated trading strategy. But it is not perfect.

For instance, if the internet connection is suddenly lost, an order may not be sent to the market. There could also be some errors between trades from the strategy.

Traders should expect some kind of learning curve with automated trading systems. The trick is to start small—use small trade sizes—while the automated process is still being polished.

Problems with Monitoring

Even though turning on the computer and leaving for the day sounds thrilling (not really), automated trading systems still require some amount of monitoring.

Keep in mind that chances of technical failures, connectivity problems, power interruptions, and computer and system crashes still exist.

That means the automated trading system could still experience anomalies, which could reap errant orders, missing orders, or duplicate orders.

To resolves these issues, you still have to be alert and monitor the system often.

Overoptimization

Although this issue is not exclusive to automated trading systems, traders who use backtesting techniques can design systems that appear to be great but perform horribly badly in a live market.

Overoptimization is a thing; it refers to the excessive curve-fitting that results in a trading plan or system which traders cannot rely upon.

For example, it’s possible to design a strategy that could achieve exceptional results on the historical market data on which is was backtested.

Traders then incorrectly assume that a trading plan could have near 100% efficiency and profitability (never experiencing a drawdown).

They then tweak the parameters to create an almost perfect trading plan, which succumbs to failure once applied to a real-world, real-time situation.

Scams

Traders search for trading systems which they will use on their trade. But sometimes, it’s too good to be true. And remember that if it’s too good to be true, it probably is not true.

Some systems sold by suspicious or disreputable brokers or sellers promise high profits for low prices. Keep in mind that scams exist and the market has a lot of those going around.

To determine whether the system is legitimate or not, scrutinize anything that you have to pay for before laying down any money. Always ask a lot of questions.

Check the testimonials if any and do your research. Be sure to read the terms and conditions before you commit.

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