Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Celebrates 15th Anniversary

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (BSLMF) one of the leading Mutual Fund houses in India, is celebrating completion of 15 years of wealth creation. Since its inception, the fund house has offered funds to its investors that have created wealth for them consistently and has registered impressive growth in terms of business (asset under management).

Established in 1994, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company (BSLAMC) is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Group, a well known and trusted name globally amongst Indian conglomerates and Sun Life Financial Inc, leading international financial services organization from Canada.

BSLAMC is amongst the top 5 asset management companies in India with an average asset under management of Rs 68,066 crores as on December 31, 2009. An impressive mix of reach through 106 branches, full range of product offerings across equity, debt, balanced & structured asset classes and strong investment performance has helped the Company enjoy trust of over 2.3 Million investors. Known for its consistent performance, BSLAMC has received recognition from various institutes of international repute like the CRISIL, Asian investor Magazine, The Asset Magazine ICRA and Lipper. It is the only fund house in India to have won the coveted “Mutual Fund House of the Year” from CNBC TV 18 Crisil twice in a row.

Aditya Birla Financial Services Group is a broad based and integrated player in the financial services space with a strong presence across verticals viz., life insurance, asset management, retail broking, distribution and wealth management, NBFC, insurance broking & advisory services and private equity. ABFSG is rapidly growing in line with its vision to be a leader and role model in the Indian financial services sector.

The seven companies representing Aditya Birla Financial Services Group are Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, Birla Sun Life Insurance Company, Birla Global Finance Company, Aditya Birla Money (erstwhile Apollo Sindhoori Capital Investments), Birla Sun Life Distribution Company, Birla Insurance Advisory & Broking Services and Aditya Birla Capital Advisors.

The consolidated revenues from these businesses crossed USD 1 billion mark in 2008-09. Today ABFSG collectively enjoys trust of over 4 million customers, manages assets over USD 16 billion and prides itself for having a talent pool of over 15,000 committed employees. ABFSG has its wings spread across more than 500 cities in India through over 1500 branches and over 2 lacs channel partners.

ABFSG is a part of Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL), a USD 3 billion conglomerate having leadership position across its manufacturing as well as services sector businesses. Aditya Birla Group is a USD 29 billion Indian business house operating in 25 countries across the globe of which ABNL is a subset of.

Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services. As of March 31, 2009, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $375 billion globally. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide.

Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company today offers a wide range of products to suit the wealth and income creation needs of investors across asset classes including Portfolio Management Services, Offshore Fund and Real Estate Fund. The average AUM of the fund house as of 31st December was Rs 68,066 crores making it the fifth largest fund house in India, while the number of investor folios today stands at over 23 Lakh.

In a celebratory event for marking the completion of the 15 years, some of the first set of investors who are associated with BSLMF even today, were felicitated by Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman - Aditya Birla Group. These investors have realized multifold gains from their investments, underlining the need of having a long term horizon in case of equity investments.

The fund house has focused on investor needs and launched innovative products in order to provide investment solutions to its investors on an ongoing basis. BSLMF was the first to introduce Birla Cash Plus as a Quasi Money market fund. When stock markets were volatile and investor sentiment weak in the year 2002, the fund house identified the opportunity to invest in high dividend yield companies through Birla Dividend Yield Plus. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ‘96 has secured the 1st rank based on thirteen-year annualized return of 35.33% in Indian Rupee as of 30th September 2009. Further, Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ‘96″ (BSLTR’96″), has been adjudged “the World’s Best-Performing Equity Fund”, according to Lipper global data.

Mr. A. Balasubramanian, CEO-BSLMF said, “We have entered into the 15th year of our foundation amidst challenging environment as we move closer to the leadership position in the industry, following strong business growth. We are celebrating the occasion with solemn commitment of continuing to focus on the needs of our investors and serve them better.” “Over a decade and half of experience over various market cycles has helped us formulate time tested processes to help us deliver consistent investment performance for our investors”, said Mr. Balasubramanian thus concluding the event.

Learn more about Birla Sunlife MF’s 15 years of Wealth Creation. Visit Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund site where you can find out all about their achievements.

Declaring Dividends

Dividends are payments from shares, unit and investment trusts, which, investors hope, are not only regular (usually twice a year) but also rise over time to reflect the companys (or trusts) growing fortunes. Dividends are taxable as income.

The good news is tax on UK share dividends is deducted before you get it. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, you dont have to do anything else. Nontaxpayers and ten per cent taxpayers dont need to do anything either. But theres bad news here: You cant reclaim the deducted tax under any circumstances. Even though its called a tax credit by HMRC, we refer to it as a deduction to save confusion.

Top-rate taxpayers have to declare dividends on their self-assessment form and have the cash ready to pay the gap between the 40 per cent rate and the tax deducted.

Whether you get income from unit trusts, investment trusts, or individual shares, look at the date the dividend was declared and ignore the period for which the dividend applied. A 10p a share dividend for the year ending 31 December 2006 declared on 1 May 2007 and paid on 1 June 2007 counts as part of your 2007 ” 08 return, not the 2006″07 calculation.

If you invest for long-term growth in shares that pay low or no dividends, youll pay less income tax. But dont forget these shares tend to be riskier. And you can get hit for capital gains tax on your profits.

Dont forget if you are near the top of the basic rate ladder ” earning around $36,000 a year ” your dividends can push you into the top tax bracket. For instance, if you earn $36,500 and have $3,500 of dividends youll be over the $39,825 (in 2007″08) basic rate tax limit for a person aged under 65.

Dividends from stocks traded in foreign markets can be tough to deal with. You may have to convert dividend payments into sterling as well as account for them separately.

You need to fill out the foreign income pages of the self assessment form. The UK has double taxation agreements with most foreign countries. The effect of these agreements is to cap the tax due on foreign-sourced income so you are no worse off as a result of possibly being taxed twice.

Many stock market companies have schemes by which shareholders can opt to receive new shares to the value of their dividends rather a dividend cheque. Even if you choose this option, you still have to declare the value of the new shares and any balance carried forward in cash because it is not large enough to buy a share. Youre liable for tax on re-invested dividends in just the same way as a cash dividend.

Learn How to Invest Today from the basics to advance. Find financial freedom from debit and other money issues by learn how to invest and learning to control your money.

Money Management Can Make Or Break You

Many people have been through it all, they’ve lost money and made money in stocks, they’ve lost and made money in poker, and they’ve lost and made money in options, and they’ve even lost money and made money in gold. Ultimately the one thing that can make or break you is Money Management. It is what separates the winners from the losers and the haves from the have-nots. What do people that go through those experiences ultimately learn from?

The fact is that it almost doesn’t matter at all how good the method is, if you cannot manage your money well. In stocks although people who can read financial statements and charts, and understand if a stock is likely to go up, or do back testing on certain method and estimate a probability that stocks using that method went up in the past, it is difficult to pin point the exact odds. That makes managing your money more difficult. However, just because you can’t know the exact probability, doesn’t mean you can’t use past results to estimate a probability range, and manage your money well. Lets just assume for a while that you could know the exact probabilities. If you know that you will win 3 times as much as you lose when you win, and you know that the win will take place half the time, do you know for sure that you will make money in the long run?

This is a trick question, you can never know with certainty that you will make money, but is it probable? Again, that still depends. How can this be? It’s easy to say that if you invest $100, you will turn it into $200 (gaining $100) half the time, and you will lose $33 the other half, that in 100 one hundred dollar investments you can expect to make $5000, lose $1667 and net $3333. However, this fails to take into account how likely you are to be able to afford the $1667 in losses and maintain that $100 investment every time out of 100 times.

In other words, the $3333 net gain is theoretical, and takes absolute no consideration on how likely you are to be able to afford those 100 investments. What if you only had $100 and you bet it all, you have a 50% chance that you lose $33 of that 1000… what then? You can’t simply make another $100 investment, So instead you have to make a $66 investment, now your win will be significantly less. If you lose yet again it will become even more difficult to get back to even. Although on paper this is a good investment, it is not a good investment without proper money management. You may have built a very safe car that drives straight, but if you are a bad driver you still could crash.

Unfortunately many people don’t learn how to drive their financial investment vehicles, and instead rely on money managers, financial advisors, mutual fund owners, and company CEOs to do everything for them. This isn’t a bad thing for those unable or unwilling to learn. However, the risk is not only that these people won’t manage your money well, and not only that if they do, you still may pay them so much in fees and expenses that it’s not profitable, but also that by handing the keys to your investment vehicle over to someone else, you lose control and you fail to learn anything. Although you may accomplish your goals with the help of these people, you also could do this yourself with a good trading system that uses good money management.

Maclin Vestor teaches about financial information and advice. You can even learn about finance, money management, and figuring out finance at his System Trading | Stocks Trading Systems blog.

Four Points On Why You Have To Contemplate Trying Out The Forex Trading Software Called IvyBot

Do you want to know how to reap huge benefits from the use of a forex software that many traders have little knowledge of? It is simply called Ivybot. I know. After reading the title of this software, you may be saying to yourself “No! Not another Forex trading software promotion!” I know the feeling, but this one is different. Some of the trading forex software programs worked in trials only to not do so well in real life trading, but you can’t base your judgment on the failed attempts of other products. The question I know you want answered is “What about Ivybot? Is it different?”

It is easy to see some similarities in Ivybot and the other forex solutions of the past, but there are differences of course. Look for programs that has been around and been proven. Ivybot has been around since 2001 and backed by reliable data strongly indicating its success. The investigation doesn’t lie. The outcome was simply startling. In each year tested, Ivybot proved itself over and above. In each year, there was no less than a 400% profit margin achieved by this marvelous software. There are a number of features that helps Ivybot stand above all the rest.

1) Four trading pairs verses one - It is a fact that most trading programs are programmed to search for no more than one exact currency pair. This scans for four. The inventors engineered this software to specifically deal with the challenge of tracking down four unique forex currency pairs. Each of these currency pairs has their own algorithm. The 4 in 1 professional Ivy bot robot code is built on a exceptional algorithm created entirely by the Ivy bot team. Its a four for one deal!

2) Lifetime updates - one guaranteed way to make the typical trading software fail is for the market to veer widely off course. It is important that any foreign exchange software programs you get will change with the market conditions. If not, the tool itself can turn out to be less valuable. This is not the situation with IvyBot forex trading software. It remains up-to-date to the most up-to-date foreign exchange market conditions. To deal with the most recent changes in the market, it automatically updates on a regular basis with the latest algorithms.

3) Completely Automated - Every forex trader hopes for a forex software that can help to carry out lucrative trades on complete autopilot. Investigating it closer, IvyBot was without doubt able to deliver. Automation allows your software set-up to trade forex in your sleep. No need to watch over the program at all, it does all the work for you. Just plug in the software into your forex account and relax, all the work is done for you.

4) It Is Totally Guaranteed - Aside from giving you a forex software that is essentially 4-in-1, the designers are so certain with their product that they are offering a 60-day money-back guarantee, no questions ever. If you want to make sure your forex trading is performed by the top cutting edge forex trading software for 4 reasons, be sure to try out Ivybot. With a guaranteed 95.82% accuracy rate and a money-back guarantee, you don’t have anything to lose by trying it out.

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Investing For The Really Stupid

Investing and money is a major subject on most people minds. Adding to the fact there is no shortage of people out there trying to make money showing you the secrets to investing and how to get rich investing for a price. Normally the only one who really gets rich from these programs are those selling them.

Looking at the basics of investing we find that there are no set rules. Dont confuse that with the set rules that must be followed when purchasing stock, bonds, buying a house and such. Those are just the details of making it happen. Investing doesnt have any real set of rules, you cant just write down a set of rules for investing and people get rich. We all wished it worked that way.

Investing is actually an art form. Like most art forms it takes knowledge, experience, practice, and lots of hard work. Like art it also takes commitment. Investing is a lifelong practice and commitment with goals along the way.

What area you decide to invest in; stocks, bonds, real estate, and such there is one thing that is always consistent and will directly affect your money. Regardless what you invest in, people and society will always dictate how any investment will do. Why didnt I say data or the investment itself? People and society have a very profound and direct affect on any investment. For example, if you decide to invest in stock, how the company is doing is what determines if you make or lose money. What affects the company more than anything? People run the company; those people will either make or break the company and your investment.

Should I mention Enron? The company broke because of greedy people running the company. Investors lost a lot of money due to people. What about Krispy Kreme? Societys obsession with weight, health, and healthy food almost destroyed the company just because of one report on how unhealthy the doughnuts are to consume. Making matters worse, people at the top almost finished the company because they got involved in fuzzy business practices.

People and society can and always will affect your investments. However, dont look at just the negative. They can also affect them in a very positive way as well. Just look at how many businesses got started. They started with an idea someone had and they grew it into an investment opportunity that it still making some investors kick themselves for not having enough forward insight to invest early.

While looking at the data and details of an investment, also take a look at the people factor. Ask yourself, Would society like this idea or product? Society and people are slow to change, so remember that when you are thinking of an investment which involves a drastic change in the behavior of society. So investing in a drive thru funeral home isnt probably a good idea even though our society loves fast and convenient services and products. Dont laugh; someone already tried it.

So before you throw your money into an investment, look at the people factor. Are the people running the investment worthy of your money? Would society accept such a new idea or product? These and many more questions you should ask yourself before throwing money into an investment.

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Store Credit Cards

If you can comfortably clear the outstanding amount on your store card when the bill arrives and are a regular customer of that particular retailer, it may be worth using a store card, as there could be plenty of benefits in doing so. Not only do you get a discount on your first purchase, there are usually other perks, such as bonus reward schemes, free catalogs or magazines, and special shopping days, where you can avoid the crowds and shop in peace. Jim Black gives customers 1% of what they spend in store back in the form of vouchers, for example, so if you are a regular customer this could be worth having.

Some retailers have launched credit cards alongside their store cards so you get the usual rewards of a store card for spending on the retailer-branded credit card. The danger is that while the APR tends to be lower than on a store card, it isnt as cheap as some of the best credit cards. And as you arent restricted to one store but can use it in whatever outlets you like, you could run up more debt on it than you were able to before. Check the APR before spending ” and if it isnt that competitive (and you dont clear your balance every month) dont use it at all.

Set up a direct debit to pay the full amount due on your store card each month. Then, if you forget to pay one month ” perhaps because youre on holiday ” it will be paid regardless so you wont run up any interest.

As well as persuading you to take out a store card, many retailers will try to force you to buy card protection and, just for good measure, card payment protection as well:

Card protection: Covers you if your card is lost or stolen. A single call from you can cancel all your plastic and usually costs around $7 a month.

Card payment protection covers your store card repayments if you lose your job or become ill and cant work.

You would want to avoid both types of cover, as they are expensive and usually a waste of money. Dont be talked into signing up, no matter how persuasive the salesperson is. If you really want some card or payment protection, shop around for a good deal rather than automatically taking out the policy the store card provider offers: There is no obligation to do so and you will find a better deal elsewhere. Make sure you read the small print before signing anything.

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Declaring your dividends

Dividends are payments from shares, unit and investment trusts, which, investors hope, are not only regular (usually twice a year) but also rise over time to reflect the companys (or trusts) growing fortunes. Dividends are taxable as income.

The good news is tax on UK share dividends is deducted before you get it. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, you dont have to do anything else. Nontaxpayers and ten per cent taxpayers dont need to do anything either. But theres bad news here: You cant reclaim the deducted tax under any circumstances. Even though its called a tax credit by HMRC, we refer to it as a deduction to save confusion.

Top-rate taxpayers have to declare dividends on their self-assessment form and have the cash ready to pay the gap between the 40 per cent rate and the tax deducted.

Whether you get income from unit trusts, investment trusts, or individual shares, look at the date the dividend was declared and ignore the period for which the dividend applied. A 10p a share dividend for the year ending 31 December 2006 declared on 1 May 2007 and paid on 1 June 2007 counts as part of your 2007 ” 08 return, not the 2006″07 calculation.

If you invest for long-term growth in shares that pay low or no dividends, youll pay less income tax. But dont forget these shares tend to be riskier. And you can get hit for capital gains tax on your profits.

Dont forget if you are near the top of the basic rate ladder ” earning around $36,000 a year ” your dividends can push you into the top tax bracket. For instance, if you earn $36,500 and have $3,500 of dividends youll be over the $39,825 (in 2007″08) basic rate tax limit for a person aged under 65.

Dividends from stocks traded in foreign markets can be tough to deal with. You may have to convert dividend payments into sterling as well as account for them separately.

You need to fill out the foreign income pages of the self assessment form. The UK has double taxation agreements with most foreign countries. The effect of these agreements is to cap the tax due on foreign-sourced income so you are no worse off as a result of possibly being taxed twice.

Many stock market companies have schemes by which shareholders can opt to receive new shares to the value of their dividends rather a dividend cheque. Even if you choose this option, you still have to declare the value of the new shares and any balance carried forward in cash because it is not large enough to buy a share. Youre liable for tax on re-invested dividends in just the same way as a cash dividend.

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A Guide To Investing Capital

The first and foremost step while investing capital is generally hard in the stock market. This might be due to the reason that the stock market by itself consists of lot of ambiguity that one has to go through in the due course. Most of the people enter the stock market business without doing a thorough analysis of the ground on which he is planning to make the business-this indeed is a very bad and dangerous way of starting your investment business in the stock market. On the other side, there are even people who, though, have analyzed the market properly spoil their fortune because of making unwise decisions while choosing the appropriate stocks.

Investing in very small stocks gives the traders the chance to significantly boost their gains over their investment capital, but, it also offers the same opening to lose the investment capital faster. These five tips will assist the investor reduce the danger for one of the most dangerous investment medium.

While all of us dream regarding investing in subsequent Microsoft or some other Home Depot, that the truth is, the chances of oneself knowing that one time in a certain period of time accomplishment story is very thin. These corporations are both beginning out and acquiring some shell company just because it was low-priced than one IPO, otherwise they merely don’t really neither have a production plan nor the required investment capital, convincing enough to give good reason for investment financier’s capital for one IPO. This does not build them any bad investment; however it must make one be practical about the brand of corporation that one is investing in.

Few companies may not have an appropriate plan nor may have sufficient investing capital in order to implement their strategies. Investing in companies such as these may or may not draw you higher returns. Check for the financial rigidness of the company before you opt for making investments in the shares of the company.

Generally speaking, for an individual to have a high scope of returns, one should have necessary amount of share volume in his exposure. One should always make a feasible number of trades everyday. Also, ‘Liquidity’ must be another important aspect that one has to always keep his eyes on. This is the factor that shows a great impact on your investing capital.

Although it is not strange to observe a established company move at a loss, it is significant to observe at the reason why they are losing up money or funds. Is it something that one can manage? Should they be additionally investing capital (that might result in diluting of the value of one’s shares) or they will have to look for a combined partnership that will favour some other company?

An organization that very well knows how to stand in the market builds up its own share value in the market. This enables the shareholders to accumulate higher returns for the investments he makes in the company. Before investing the investment capital, it is highly recommended to research and analyze the company to avoid undesired things happening in your trading.

Also, be careful in dealing with the penny stocks while placing the investment capital in the market. It is highly difficult to predict the nature of the penny stock as they easily go up and tumble down without notice.

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Investment Opportunities, And How To Find Them

Investment is the latest trend currently running all over the world. There are many investment opportunities available. Some of them are real estate investments, stock investments, mutual funds and IRA’s. The secret of success lies in knowing how to scope out investment opportunities.

Real Estate perhaps stands as the first option for many amongst all the investing opportunities available. Real Estate assets include unused lands, new houses, rented properties, office buildings etc-assets that are generally immovable in nature. Real Estate investing business is nothing but buying and selling back of real estate assets at the right time in order to make substantial profits. Properties are generally brought at a low price and are sold at high prices at the right time. This is particularly more profitable at the industrialized areas.

The real estate field includes several kinds of elements such as rented properties, new houses, office buildings and new land-generally properties that are immovable and that cannot be moved from one place to the other. Investment opportunities in this field are nothing but buying the assets at some price and selling them out with a relatively higher price at some or the other point of time. as far as now. The real estate industry is highly profitable industry and continues to have a lot of scope in the near future.

Another prospective investment opportunity is the stock market. There is no other place that has got as much wider public than the stock market. Before heading right away investing in the stock market, it is highly advised to careful research and analyzes the current trends of the area you are planning to invest in the stock market. The investor should be able to make wise decisions in choosing the right stock. One can also take the help of a professional advisor in preferring the appropriate stock that benefits oneself.

There are three basic criterions to determine the scope of stock investment opportunities. Before getting started you have to acquire basic understanding of stocks through various types of investing education available. You can even consult a good financial stock broker to acquire the knowledge. This is very helpful if you have less time available to concentrate.

Mutual funds too, on the other hand, are one of the efficient investment opportunities. Invest in mutual funds that multiply higher returns and in those that do not take much time in delivering good returns.

Mutual funds are one among the safest Investment opportunities. You have to see which mutual funds give good yields in lesser period of time and more over you have to know, if you can get any other associated benefits such as tax benefits and insurance coverage’s. You have to choose the best Mutual funds scheme based on your priorities.

Be sure to make wise decisions while you trade. Making wise decisions is also a part of utilizing better investment opportunities.

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Learn To Invest, Start With An Investment Strategy

Despite years of thinking buy and hold investing strategies were profitable, we’ve recently seen that investing gains are not to be taken for granted. It’s always better to learn to invest money with a specific strategy in mind, a plan for investing in a variety of market situations. Just as when playing a game, the result is only determined when the game is over, and a winner has been declared. Having a plan is what separates the long term winners from the losers - so begin with a investment strategy.

An investment strategy is simply a detailed plan for how you plan to invest your money using various types of instruments to help you achieve your defined financial goals in a specific amount of time. When you choose a particular type of investment, such as stock, or mutual funds, within that category are multiple options for individual investments for you to choose from. It’s similar to the way in which a clothing store sells clothes ? but the items for sale include of pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, accessories, and so on.

When you are trying to determine how to invest your money, if you haven’t spent the time on doing research, your choices can quickly become very confusing, if for no other reason than because there are so many different investment vehicles and individual investments to choose from. This is why having a strategy is key, because it helps you decide which instruments will help you reach your objectives, and which are not a fit.

If you are not an experienced investor, you might consider working with a financial planner prior to making any investments. A professional can help you create an investment strategy that will match your risk tolerance and be a fit for your investment style, as well as help you determine what investments will achieve your financial goals.

Build a strategy first, and then trade from your plan, never from your gut. In the long term, it is the investor who does not have a plan who fares worse regardless of market sentiment. Use your plan to steer your course to financial wealth, and by applying your strategy, you’ll begin to achieve your financial goals.

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