Don't Just Stand There

Got overweight during secondary section part of  school life.

Finally during college days ( 20 yr ) I went to fitness centre at hometown to move out of the sedentary lifestyle , after having high uric acid level and pain in knees 

Simple stretching and exercise on coming months with a healthy food choice I lost 13 kg ( from 66 - 53). For the next 2 year I kept balancing with the final year study and exercise. Even it gave me the confidence to compete for SSC exam . Lethargy is no excuse.

Years passed as I moved to city life for job , tried to be regular going to gym and got roommates who inspired not to give up of fitness. 

I registered for 10k run on Dec'2012 but did not turn up for the race.

Subsequntly again I registered for 10k runs on 2015 & 2016  but did not turn up.

Transformation isn't just about losing weight. Transformation can be about so much more. 

It took 30 years to complete my first 5k run cum walk. Sometimes it's the internal transformation that is its own best reward.

The desire to explore yourself is one of the most basic instincts of the human nature. It is therapeutic and the ultimate source to find your zen.

2017 onwards, gratitude for the small successes kept pushing me to particpate more 5k , 10k races.

The more you can focus on what you're doing right, the more confident and energised you'll be to keep on going.You can't beat yourself over the finish line folks. You've got to learn to truly love yourself unconditionally and keep on encouraging yourselves to grow in the right direction.

It works like an antithesis where you compete with yourself and success leaves you in want of more.

As we progress in life, creating milestones and achieving them, we should not forget our gratitude to everyone who has been instrumental in making our lives easier, even if in a small way.

My first fitness instructor Rishi Da will keep inspring me always. 

In this journey I keep meeting  and always keen on learning from the various trainers.

Fitness is the ability to keep going on when others have surrendered a long time back.

We also need to remember that our existence on this planet is finite.

Do whatever makes your body flexible and lighter .Be selfish and take out time every day for yourself.

Certainly this has been my long, slow journey.

Train, eat, recover and repeat! Do that repeatedly — day after day — and that's how you'll be able to imbibe real fitness in your life , Don't Just Stand There !!

Income – Savings = Expenses

The most common mistake people make is planning to save with the wrong formula Income - Expenses = Savings

We have to forcefully save money and manage expenses in the balance amount left.

But a prior allocation to saving is what we should opt for.Clear financial goals and proper planning helps in saving too. Another disruption we see that hinders our saving is Lifestyle Infaltion.

Lifestyle inflation means the increase in one's spending in proportion to an increase in income. In short, salaries have gone up, spendings have gone up and savings have gone down.

There is no harm in buying materialistic things but that has to be within limits.Learn to differentiate between what you fancy and what you need.

Remember, 'SALE' means the company wants to make a sale; it's for them, not for you.

Just like humans binge on food when they are depressed, they also tend to shop for instant gratification. which is just temporary. In the present economic turmoil, please do not fall into this trap.

Once you start maintaining an expense sheet on monthly basis, you will automatically tend to be more cautious while spending.

50/30/20 rule : Resolution to make a difference

From the perspective of long-term financial well-being, sticking to a financial plan is important.

Budgeting is always a challenging task with a three way pull between necessities, luxuries or wants and investing for financial security.

Senator Elizabeth Warren popularised the '50/20/30 budget rule' (sometimes labelled '50-30-20') in her book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan (originally published in 2005).

According to this thumb rule:

50 percent of the earnings after tax should be used towards necessities.
30 percent of the money should be spent on luxuries or wants / desires.
20 percent money should be saved and invested towards your financial goals.

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ELSS or PPF?

Nayana is a young banking professional. It's the last quarter of the financial year and she is trying to figure out tax-saving options under Section 80C. Her father has suggested investing in the Public Provident Fund (PPF). However, her adviser recommends investing in Equity Linked Saving Schemes (ELSS) instead.
Her father is worried about this as he has never explored anything beyond PPF. He derives comfort from the fact that it is a fixed income oriented investment, guaranteed by ..

Nayana and her father have to understand that tax-saving investments should not be looked at from a tax saving perspective alone. We are talking about Rs. 1.5 lakh of her hard-earned money, which she has the option of investing year after year. There is no reason not link it to one of her long-term goals like saving for retirement, buying a house and the like.

Investing in a fixed income product like PPF will restrict her returns. With inflation hovering around 6%, her real rate of return is only 2-3% with PPF. Such low returns will prevent any major gains accruing over a long period of time.

ELSS actively invests in the equity markets, with a potential to earn higher returns than traditional savings options like PPF. In fact, if Nayana's father had invested in ELSS instead of PPF 15 years ago, his investments in equity would have grown to Rs. 61 lakh as against Rs. 29 lakh in PPF.

If risk is what Nayana's father is worried about, risk of loss in equity tends to reduce over the long term and tax-saving investments under Section 80C are usually for the long term. Hence, ELSS fits the bill. Moreover, ELSS will effectively be a tax-free investment (EEE) for Nayana
The investment gives deduction up to Rs. 1.5 lakh and both dividend as well as redemption proceeds are exempt from tax. Nayana also gets better liquidity with ELSS' lowest lock-in period of 3 years, should she feel the need to redeem the investment for some reason. To top it all, she can do a monthly SIP, which means every month she invests Rs. 12,500 instead of bunching everything up at the year end.

Therefore, Nayana must refrain from allocating funds towards tax-saving options the way her father did. Instead, she should weigh the pros and cons and aim for more with ELSS, instead of getting stuck with fixed income-oriented investments like PPF 

Here's how an employee can keep track of his EPS amount

An individual switches jobs and usually transfers the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) balance to the new employer. But what happens to the funds in the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) continues to remain a mystery for many. While the PF account number of the new employer shows the transferred EPF balance, what about the EPS money from the previous employer?

Here are a few pointers on how the EPS works and how one can avail it: 

*An employee contributes 12 per cent of his basic salary directly towards EPF. 

*He does not contribute directly towards EPS. 

*Of the employer's share of 12 per cent, 8.33 per cent is diverted towards the EPS, with a cap of Rs 1,250 (earlier Rs 541) a month. 

*When the employee switches jobs, the EPF gets transferred to the new employer, but not the EPS. 

When the employee switches jobs, the EPS contributions stay with the EPFO. 

*The employee has the option to either withdraw the EPS amount or carry it forward to the next job. This, however, depends on the length of his service and his age. 

Less than 10 years in job 

If an employee has not completed 10 years in service, he can either withdraw the EPS amount, or take the 'scheme certificate'. If he is still working, but hasn't completed 10 years, this, however, is not possible. He can apply only after he has quit his job, i.e., before joining another company. 

The option to withdraw or take the scheme certificate has to be submitted by filling Form 10C, which can downloaded here . Recently, the EPFO introduced 'UAN based Form 10C', 

This form can only be used by an individual who has furnished employee details to the existing employer in 'Form 11-New' ( download here ), furnishing the Aadhaar, bank details, and after getting the Universal Account Number (UAN) activated by providing a cancelled cheque with name, account number and IFS Code. Currently, UAN based Form 10C can only be used for withdrawal and not for taking the scheme certificate 

If you have worked for less than six months, the EPS contributions cannot be withdrawn as the EPFO rules say that for those who have not yet completed 180 days in the organisation, the withdrawal benefit is not admissible. One can, however, apply for the scheme certificate. 

The employee won't get the entire contribution (Rs 541/Rs 1,250 a month) back after applying through Form 10C. The amount received will be subject to Table D as below. 

How it works: If the salary at the time of EPS withdrawal after 8 years , by filing form 10C, is Rs 15,000, then the EPS money one receives is Rs 1,23,300 (Rs 15,000 * 8.22). 

Remember, the employee who hasn't completed 10 years and does not wish to withdraw his EPS money, may opt for the scheme certificate as well. 

Scheme certificate 

Form 10C asks you to choose between the scheme certificate or withdrawal benefit along with filing the date of joining and leaving the company. The EPS money can be withdrawn by an employee or it can be carried forward through a scheme certificate while switching jobs. 

If you have taken a scheme certificate, submit it to the EPFO through the new employer. When you leave the job, you will again have to fill Form 10C. The EPFO will add the new number of years in the scheme certificate, showing the cumulative service record and give it back to you through your employer. 

This continues till one reaches the age of 58 and then surrenders the certificate to the EPFO to start getting pension. One may opt for early pension (reduced to that extent) after 50 years provided one has completed 10 years of service. 

More than 10 years of job 

For an employee, the service for six months or more is treated as one year. Therefore, 9 years and six months will be considered 10 years. Once 10 years are completed, the withdrawal benefit stops and one can only take the scheme certificate from the EPFO by filling the same Form 10C 

Time for pension payments 

Pension begins at the age of 58 and for that, one need to fill Form 10-D ( download here ). Let's see how much pension one could get after the hard times of a working life. The pension amount is based on a formula: 

While working, the maximum amount that can go into the EPS of an employee is 8.33 per cent of the employer's share, but the basic pay is capped at Rs 15, 000. So the amount comes to Rs 1,250 each month, i.e., Rs 15, 000* 8.33 per cent. As the EPS funding is capped, the pension that one will get is also capped and is based on the following formula: 

(Pensionable Salary * service period) / 70. 

The pensionable salary is capped at Rs 15,000 and service period at 35 years. Therefore, irrespective of the actual years and the basic salary, the maximum monthly pension would be Rs 7,500. 

To be eligible for pension (for lifetime and then family pension), one has to work minimum 10 years and then keep accumulating service period through scheme certificates. 

How EPS works 

Remember, an employee does not directly contribute towards his own EPS. It's the portion of the employer's contribution that moves into the EPS. An employee contributes 12 per cent of his basic pay towards the EPF account. 

The employer is supposed to match the employee's minimum contribution of 12 per cent. Of this, 8.33 per cent is diverted towards the EPS and the balance of 3.67 per cent moves into the EPF account. In effect, 15.67 per cent of the employee's salary goes into EPF account each month 

Conclusion 

Peanuts for pension, they say and rightly so. With the maximum pension capped at Rs 7,500 a month and not even indexed to inflation, the dependency on it is certainly not possible. From September 1, 2014, the EPS is only for those new members earning less than Rs 15,000. Therefore, new employees whose basic pay is more than Rs 15,000 will not see any diversion of 8.33 per cent (of the employer's share) towards the EPS. For older employees, the diversion will, however, continue.