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Information provided on this newsletter has been independently obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, such information may include inaccuracies, errors or omissions. viranilic.com and its affiliates, information providers or content providers, shall have no liability to you or third parties for the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or correct sequencing of information available on this newsletter, or for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance upon such information, or for the delay or interruption of such information. viranilic.com, its affiliates, information providers and content providers shall have no liability for investment decisions or other actions taken or made by you based on the information provided on this newsletter.
The benefits we have listed are not the regular benefits but the lesser known benefits which most of the people don't avail primarily because of lack of awareness. These benefits should not be seen merely as some icing on the cake as their inclusion truly enhances the value of a health insurance plan.

Lifelong Renewal Every health insurance plan sets an upper cap on the entry age. It is usually 70-80 years. The renewal age is extended a bit but it does not get beyond 90 years. Now doesn't it seem an irony that the older you get, the harder it becomes to get covered under a health insurance plan. A lifelong renewal feature enables you to renew your policy lifelong, so that you are covered under a health plan even when you are a 90 year old.

Restore Benefit Also known as convalescence benefit or recovery benefit, this refers to handing out a lump-sum to the insured, post hospitalization. The prerequisite is that the insured was hospitalized for a period of 10 days or more. The restore benefit is given to the insured to take care of his household expenses till he gets back to the normal track.

Medical Concierge Services At times, the petty things end up bothering you the most. Concierge services are a host of services that lends personal assistance to the insured through his/her illness. It includes getting the contacts of medical professionals, taking appointments, making arrangements, bills and prescriptions and a dozen other matters. Taking medical concierge services saves you time and effort.

Reinstatement of the Sum Insured  There's a fixed sum assured that the insured can avail during a policy term. But what happens if the sum assured is exhausted before the end of the policy term? In that case, the insurance company waves the white flag and leaves the insured at his/her own. The reinstatement feature refills the sum assured if it is exhausted. Thus, the insured continues to get the financial support during hospitalization. Now that's what we call good value for money.

No Loading Charge  You must be well aware of the fact that if you do not make a claim, you get awarded by the insurer and if you do, you get penalized in the form of loading charges on the premium at the time of renewal. Wouldn't that be nice if you do not have to bear the claim-based loading? Some insurers have come with a valuable benefit on some their plans which frees you of incurring extra loading charges, even if you make a claim during the policy term.

Top-ups  There are many turning points in life such as getting married, being promoted to a higher designation, or if you are lucky enough, inheriting a fortune from a rich relative of yours. Well, whatever the case may be, at such points you might feel a need to get a wider health coverage because now you can afford it. That is where top-ups come into picture. A top up on your existing health insurance plan lets you to enhance your health insurance coverage.

Attendant Allowance Many people have heard of daily cash allowance but most of us don't know what attendant allowance is. This allowance is given to the person looking after the patient in the hospital. This allowance makes up for his personal needs such as food and refreshment. It is given out on a daily basis and is usually restricted to a number of days of hospitalization. It is like, the insurance commits to take care of the person who's taking care of the insured.

Alternative Treatment  Almost all the insurers count alternative treatment as an exclusion to the medical cover. This would include Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Naturopathic treatment. IRDA is soon going to imply some reforms as per which every insurer has to give a certain percentage on the expenses made on alternative treatment.

Domiciliary Hospitalization  Health insurance provides the expenses incurred during hospitalization. But what if the patient doesn't get a hospital room or is too sick to be transferred to the hospital. In such cases, if the doctor approves, the patient can get the medical treatment at home, this is termed as domiciliary hospitalization. Reread your docket and find out whether your policy covers domiciliary hospitalization expenses or not.

Source: PolicyBazaar

You earn well but are unable to save. You have no idea where your salary goes. You sometimes borrow to pay your bills. If any of these statements applies to you, it's time to write down a household budget.

Many people are put off by the word budget because they associate it with restrictions on spending and frugal lifestyles. That's a misconception. Budgeting does not make you spend less, but allows you to spend smart. "A good budget lets you focus your money on the things that are most important to you," says personal finance expert Carl Richards. By preventing you from overspending on less important items, a budget channelizes resources to areas that should be given priority.

Write It Down

The first step in budgeting is to write down the various sources of income. This includes salary, rent, interest on deposits, dividends, etc. Then make a list of expenses incurred in a month and allocate money to each of these heads. Include everything, from the grocery bill to what you pay the maid, from fuel expenses to the EMI of the car. For some expenses, such as school fee or insurance premium which are paid every quarter or once a year, you may have to calculate the monthly figure. There's a widely used 50:30:20 rule of budgeting. This back-of-the-envelope principle says 50% of your income should be used for essential expenses (food, shelter, clothing), 30% should be used for discretionary spending and 20% should be put into savings. But this is not an iron-clad allocation and could vary across individuals and financial circumstances. Those with big-ticket home loans may find that their housing cost is almost 50-60% of their income. We looked at the spending pattern of the average middle-class urban Indian household and tweaked the formula to make it 60:20:20

Setting Limits For Categories

Apart from the broad limits for each type of expense, there are some sub-limits for specific categories. Your monthly outgo for loan repayments should not exceed 50% of the monthly income. This is also why lenders scrutinize your bank account statement to see how many EMIs you are servicing before they extend a loan to you. It's okay if your EMIs are up to 50% of income if they include one for a home loan. But car EMIs should not exceed 15% while personal loan EMIs should not account for more than 10% of the net monthly income. If your EMIs gobble up too much of your income, other critical financial goals, like saving for retirement or your kids' education, might get impacted. Retirement planning is often the first to be sacrificed in such situations.

Keep It Flexible

The best budgets are those that allow the household some flexibility. If you have some money left over in one category, it should be used for expenses where you are facing a shortfall. The only exception to this should be the money earmarked for investing. As a rule, this money should not be used for any other category except in case of a dire emergency. This will ensure that overspending does not impinge your financial goals.

Your Financial Forecasting Tool

Once you start following a household budget, in about 2-3 months, you will notice a pattern in your spending which will tell you where you need to cut down or how you can get more out of your money. Your savings pattern will allow you to draw up plans for short-term and long-term financial goals, such as a vacation, a new car or your child's education.

Your budget will tell you exactly how much you would have saved for these goals in the given time. A household budget is a guide that helps you live within your means. However, it should not be based on flawed assumptions and incorrect information. A budget that is too ambitious or impractical is likely to fail.

Source: Times Of India
Examinations amongst children is not a modern-day phenomenon. With the competition rising and number of seats not increasing to the same proportion, stress during exams is unfortunately here to stay!

According to children's author, Monarose Pereira, "Tension brews as examinations are around the corner. Today, this tension is unbearable because a student's entire life is determined by it. Examinations are no more a positive challenge. They have become a way by which we judge people on all fronts based on one perspective. There are also several empirical forces at play while a student appears for an exam, which are not taken into consideration."

Explains Pereira, "When children play and read, they like the challenges in the exercise. There is a great amount of excitement. In fact, children are born with a natural sense of curiosity which, if tapped in the right way, can be transferred into a keen interest in learning. Unfortunately, we swap down this interest and then force it upon children in the name of information and facts. To top it all, we have only one way of grading various types of children which is really unfair. Our education system has to undergo drastic changes, if we need students to take the examination as an enjoyable challenge."

"In this complex and bewildering world, Indian parents are going to learn the lesson that Western parents, teachers and schools learnt in the heady days of the 60s and 70s that the only way to bring up a child to be happy and successful is to let him follow his own 'star' according to his own timescale," says Andy Gray, head, governing council, EuroSchool, Mumbai.

Today, parents seldom take a personal interest in the child's study. It is left to the school and the tutorial classes. But education is much more than what is imparted in these institutions. What about the thousands of questions in a child's head? "These may not necessarily be about the so-called studies. There is hardly any close contact or relationship with children by parents, teachers or tutors. The schools blame it on the numbers, the parents blame it on work. Besides who is going to teach the students how to handle stress? How to make decisions? Where is the love, the emotional talk, the healing touch that parents are supposed to share with their children? Honestly, children have been living lonely lives for a long time. We have also dehumanised them. We need to relate to their humaneness," adds Pereira.

Children, make your pre-exam time easier

- Eat a sensible and regular diet. Get some fresh vegetables and fruit as part of your diet. Avoid too much caffeine, eg, coffee, tea and fizzy drinks. These give you a quick 'high' followed by an energy slump.
- If your energy does slump, have a banana rather than a caffeine drink. This helps maintain your blood sugar and helps you maintain your energy levels.
- Try to establish a routine that allows time for meals, sleep, revising and relaxing. You are allowed to enjoy yourself and it is important to have a break from study.
- Take some exercise, a walk for instance.
- Consider the possibility of visiting the doctor/counsellor if you feel the stress is too much -- some temporary help may be a sensible idea.

How to prepare for exams
- Start studying well before the exam. Revisions are more important than first time study.
- Understand the concepts rather than mugging. However, if rote learning is necessary, try using mnemonics.
- Use positive self-statements like 'I am doing my best', 'I am feeling calm'. The more negative statements you make, the more negative you feel!
- Don't work all night - get proper sleep.
- Make sure you know when and where the exam will take place.
- Get to the venue before time to allow you to stay as relaxed as possible.
- Try not to spend too much time analysing your performance after the examination. This leads to anxiety, since we all focus more on what we have done wrong than what we have done correctly.

Parents, help your children during exam

- Encourage them when they get stressed.
-Talk to them in a non-judgmental manner to know where they are coming from.
- Help them in setting timetables and guidelines for more effective study.
-Give them the message that you will accept them no matter the outcome of the exam. This is especially important in preventing suicides, as a lot of children feel anxious about their parents' views on their exam results.
- Don't pressurise if they are already stressed about the exam, keep reinforcing that you love and accept them as they are.
- Take care of their meal and sleeping habits.
(Inputs from Dr Parul Tank, consultant psychiatrist)

Source: Times Of India
From the next financial year, 2017-18, it will get tougher for tax payers to avoid filing returns. But at the same time, unnecessary queries in case of a tax notice& endless waiting in case of appeals may soon come to an end. The Union Budget 2017-18 has provisions that seek to promote compliance while making things easier for those who comply.

Fee For Delay In Filing Returns: Currently, if a tax payer does not file returns on time there is a penalty. The penalty is discretionary & payable post facto, that is, after you have filed returns. It is also levied only if it is proved that the taxpayer has intentionally not filed returns. So technically it is possible to delay filing returns till the end of the next financial year. This means for FY17, returns have to be filed by July 31, 2017. It can be delayed till March 31, 2018, if there is no tax payable (if you have only salary income and the entire tax is cut by way of tax deducted at source). It is only after March 31, 2018 that there are chances of penalty. But, now the penalty has been changed to a fee. The fee is Rs. 5000 if the return is filed even a day after July, 31 2018 up to December 31, 2018, for the assessment year 2018-19. From January 1, 2019 on-wards the fee increases to Rs. 10000. Since it is a fee, it has to be paid while filing tax returns along with any tax on the interest income, etc. If any.

Scope For Unnecessary Queries Reduced: The Budget has proposed a scheme for centralized issuance of notices for processing of information or documents and making available the outcome of the processing to the AO. This will ensure that in case a refund is selected for scrutiny, the AO will have to stick to the particular points of that case. If properly implemented and supervised, this will reduce the scope for unnecessary scrutiny & assessment.

Summary Assessment A Must: Currently, in case of claims for refund, the income tax department is supposed to do a summary assessment. But, often the department puts off the summary assessment till the last minute & instead issues a notice for scrutiny detailed assessment. But, now the Budget has proposed that summary assessment must be done irrespective of whether the claim is to be taken up for detailed scrutiny assessment or not. This would reduce the delay in case of refunds.

Speedier Resolution In Scrutiny Notices: Earlier, if you received a scrutiny notice, the time to complete the assessment was 21 months. This has been reduced to 18 months for the assessment year 2017-18. It has been further reduced to 12 months for AY18-19. This will ensure speedier resolution of scrutiny cases & speed up the resolution process.

Tax Only On Completion Of Redevelopment: Those who are looking to develop their land jointly or redevelop their existing house societies with builders now have clarity on tax treatment of the asset. The Budget has clarified that the tax will apply only when the completion certificate is received. Now, the owner has to pay tax only when the asset, that is the house, is in his hand. Source: Business Standard
Please do not reply back to this mail. This is sent from an unattended mail box. Please mark all your queries / responses to webmaster@viranilic.com.
Information provided on this newsletter has been independently obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, such information may include inaccuracies, errors or omissions. viranilic.com and its affiliates, information providers or content providers, shall have no liability to you or third parties for the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or correct sequencing of information available on this newsletter, or for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance upon such information, or for the delay or interruption of such information. viranilic.com, its affiliates, information providers and content providers shall have no liability for investment decisions or other actions taken or made by you based on the information provided on this newsletter.