This video explains the importance of Critical illness cover and its advantages. Critical illness cover is also known as critical illness insurance. This video share some alarming statistics on critical illness cover in UAE. To know how much it will cost and how you can avail it, please call me on 050-2285405, or email me by clicking here Please subscribe to my blog or podcast by clicking the following links;

What do you buy, when you buy Life Insurance?

When buying life insurance, many see it only as money their family will get when they die, but in reality it is much more than that..

It is a legacy which you can leave behind, to make sure that your family’s world is a better place to live in..

What Life Insurance means to your children?

Your life insurance policy could mean a lot to your children and the following are some examples, which may apply to your situation

• An assurance that they can continue to pursue their education dreams…
• A promise that they will have more of their mother’s  / father’s time, love and affection
• A promise that they still can afford to pursue their hobby or passion..
• A promise to your daughter, that her marriage expenses are taken care off

Life Insurance protects your children’s dreams

What it could mean to your spouse?

• An assurance that she will not have to work to make ends meet
• An assurance that she can spend more time with children, showering them with love and affection
• A guarantee that their well being is taken care off
• A guarantee that the mortgage is covered, and they can still continue to live in your dream house
• An assurance that she will not have to depend on children or others for her expenses when she is old

The most valuable thing any father can leave his children is their mother’s time

What it could mean to your parents?

• A pension to your parents to support them in their old age
• Medical Insurance to pay for their ailments

We remember the Ancient Egyptians for the pyramids they left behind..

We remember Steve Jobs for touching our lives with passion and creativity..

We remember Michael Jackson for being the King of Pop…

It is up to you to to decide, what legacy you want to leave for your family and how you want them to remember you???

Suppose you don’t get paid this month, the next month and for the next 6 months…

How will you manage?

How will you pay bills, rent, school fees, groceries and all other expenses….

Do you have an emergency fund?

If you have will it last for 6 months?

Have you ever thought, if it can be difficult or impossible for you, to manage your finances without an income, how your family will manage any better if your salary never comes again?

What will they do? who will they ask?

Will your spouse have to work? Even if she did, will she be able to manage?

Will your family be able to lead the same lifestyle, or will they have to compromise by large

How will it affect their goals, dream and aspirations?

So many questions..

One simple answer…

Life or Earlier Critical Illness Insurance.

• It can potentially replace your income, to make sure that your family does not have to go through difficult financial situations..

• Your spouse need not work to manage the finances, he or she can spend quality time with your children to make sure that they become independent and successful

• Your children can still afford quality education of their choice..

• Your family can still keep the dream home..

• Your parents can still lead a comfortable life

• In short it can financially support as a loving parent would….

What about you..

Do you have life insurance?

If not, what are your waiting for…

Act now, Call 050-2285405, to buy life or earlier critical illness insurance.

“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”- Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey

What is Budgeting?

Budgeting can be defined as the process of deciding in advance and allocating fixed sums of money for expected and unexpected expenses.

A budget helps us make the best use of the money we earn, so that we not only have enough for today, but we also are able to keep some for tomorrow.

A budget is a spending plan, ensuring that you always have enough to spend for the things you planned for…

Benefits of Budgeting

• A Budget helps you make better financial decisions and avoid financial mistakes..

• It helps you keep your expenses in control and avoid impulsive shopping.

• It keeps you focussed on your regular needs and long term goals

• A budget keeps you organised helping you pay bills regularly and on time

• It helps you be prepared for the unexpected financial expenses and emergencies. People who do not budget are 10 times more likely to postpone or cut down on medical care!!!

• Increases your earnings, savings and investments – People who budget are likely to have twice the liquid assets in comparison to non budgeters

• Helps you become and stay debt free

• Helps you give back to the society and the needs, people who budget are more likely to contribute to charity, than people who do not…

• Helps you realise your dreams earlier than you thought was possible, hence live a happier life..

• Helps you retire earlier than you thought was possible and with more money. Budgeters are likely to have twice the amount of savings for retirement than non budgeters

• Helps you live a happy and fulfilled life

• Helps you leave a legacy, so that you are remembered even after you are gone…

What about you, do you have a personal budget?

If not, start today and budget your way to financial independence and peace…

To know more about budgeting, saving and investing for your future, please call me on 050-2285405 or fill the following form to arrange a free initial meeting;

A Budget is the most basic and important factor in helping an individual achieving financial success.

It helps him to make the best use of the money he earns; to meet the financial needs of today and goals of tomorrow.

It also allows him to manage his cashflows effectively while focusing on his long term financial goals..

How to Budget?

There are many budgeting tools like an excel template, mobile applications and Desktop applications, which can help in setting up a personal budget and track expenses regularly.

The following are some of the excel tempaltes available free to download and create a personal budget;

Once you have decided which method to use, either a mobile application or an excel sheet, or budget using a simple paper and pen, the following steps will help you create your budget…

Step 1 – Pay your self first  The biggest mistake most of us do, is that we pay bills, expenses, loans and everything else before we pay ourselves. When all bills and expenses are paid, there is very little or nothing left to pay ourselves.

Who’s you think is rich? John, Smith or Harry?

Harry is most likely to lead a happy and fulfilled life while being able to save for his retirement, and also for charity from his income, thanks to a robust budget he follows..

The most common advice shared in almost all financial self help books, like Rich Dad Poor Dad & The Richest Man in Babylon  is to pay ourselves first.

George Clason states that this is cure for lean purse….

Determine a certain percentage of your income ( 10% of your income is highly recommended) and setup an auto debit into a savings plan for your retirement.

I know that you are possibly thinking it is impossible to set aside 10% of your income, given your current state of affairs..

Don’t be disheartened, start with a 10% provision, we are still in the planning stage, and you can always comeback to firm the percentages before your fix your budget…

Step 2 – Determine your monthly income

When I say, monthly income, add only the regular and recurring income.

Only include actual income, do not consider income you are likely to receive or notional income.

For best results, add your last 12 months actual income from your bank account and take the average figure as your planned income.

Step 3 – Ascertain fixed expenses

Fixed expenses are the ones which are regular and do not change in small intervals..

They are also usually the basic expenses like; Rent, School Fees, School transportation, Maid salary, Elife – Internet and TV bill, gym or club membership etc…

Step 4 – Ascertain Variable expenses

Expenses which are likely to change according to usage and other factors are called variable expenses..

Examples of variable expenses are; Food, Groceries, Utilities, Departmental, Personal Care, Laundry, Car fuel, repairs and maintenance etc…

Step 5 – List and organise debt….

Make a list of all the debts like credit card(s), personal loan, car loan, mortgage, student loan and hand loans…

Organise the list in the order of highest interest to lowest interest…

For example : Credit cards always come first, as they are likely to charge the highest interest, followed by personal loan, mortgage, car loan and other loans…

Step 6 – List your Savings

Savings can be for short term or long term financial needs..

Short term needs could be an annual vacation, purchase of gadgets, saving for buying jewellery or buying a car..

Long term needs could be, saving for buying a property, saving for children’s education or for retirement…

Step 7 – Don’t forget Charity

Allocate at-least 1.00% of your income to your favourite charity.

When you give without remorse, it creates a feeling of fulfilment, which is essential to lead a happy life..

Step 8 – Balance Your Budget

An ideal budget should have the following ratios

If your income is more than your expenses, then you are very fortunate and it would be very easy for you to create and maintain a budget.

If your expenses and loan repayments are more than 80% of your earnings, then you have a serious cost cutting exercise to undertake.

Revisit all your expenses, involve your family members and identify expenses, which can be avoided or trimmed

Consider debt consolidation to make the repayments more affordable.

Banks like ADIB and NBAD and Mashreq are offering debt consolidation loans to residents of UAE to help them better manage cashflows and save on interest costs..

You can also consider refinancing your mortgage, to take advantage of the low rates currently prevailing.

Also check if you can get a lower premium for your mortgage insurance and property insurance, because banks usually charge a fixed percentage of premium, irrespective of the fact if your are a smoker, non smoker, healthy, unhealthy, young or old….

Talk to an independent financial adviser to ascertain how much premium you will have to pay to protect your mortgage, if the premiums are lower than what you are currently paying, consider switching…

Try and reduce 5% to 10% on all variable expenses like groceries, eating out, departmental, clothing, utilities and car expenses. There is always scope to reduce these expenses..

The following flowchart will explain the process;

If your expenses are less than or equal to 80% of your income, fix your budget, to start implementing from the being of each month.

In the next post we will discuss about how to track expenses and re work the budget from the second month onwards

To know more about budgeting, saving, investing or protecting income and wealth, call me on 050-2285405 or

Mortgage insurance is mandatory for all mortgages in UAE.

The following 3 are the most important facts you should know about Mortgage Insurance.

Fact No 1 – Standard Rate : Most banks have an arrangement with a insurance provider for a Group Insurance Policy, charging a standard rate of premium on the mortgage amount outstanding.

This rate varies between 0.30% t0 0.60% depending on the provider.

Fact No 2 – Underwriting : Usually for Group Mortgage insurance, individual underwriting is not done for loan amounts less than 5.00 million AED.

Therefore the same  percentage of premium is charged for all mortgagors of that bank, irrespective of the age, nationality and health.

Also no distinction is made if a person is a smoker or non smoker, male or female…

While this will work to the advantage of an older person or a person with health issues, this will work to the disadvantage of a young and or healthy individual.

For Eg : When a 35 years old male, non smoker, Indian expat avails a mortgage of AED 3,000,000 he may have to pay an insurance premiums of AED 12,000.

If he avails an individual mortgage insurance also known a Decreasing Term Assurance,  he will have to pay a premium of AED 3,496.20 for 25 years mortgage.

In this example, the premium on Individual Mortgage Insurance is almost 70% cheaper than Group Mortgage Insurance

The following is a graphical representation of the premiums;

Fact No 3 – Critical Illness Cover : The Group Mortgages usually cover death, and some banks include Permanant Disability Cover as well, but they do not cover critical illness.

The risk of critical illness is higher in comparison to death and disability, while the impact on the person’s income is much similar.

If a mortgagor is diagnosed with Cancer it certainly leads to loss of income, because he is unable to work or pursue his business or profession.

When his income stops, it will certainly be difficult for him / her to make the mortgage payments.

If his insurance covers critical illness as well, then he will be paid a certain lump sum to pay off his mortgage or to manage the monthly mortgage instalments.

He can focus on his recovery, instead of worrying about his mortgage payments…

Decreasing Term Insurance plan from Zurich, Salama and FPI include  optional critical illness cover as well at an additional premium, and they cover up-to 35 critical illnesses.

The claim is paid in the event of diagnosis of a critical illness, thus protecting the property investment of the borrower.

A very motivating and inspiring video, in which Jason Day shares his success secrets and my list of 5 important lessons I learnt by watching this video..

Lesson No 1 : Follow your passion – No matter what!

Life can change around you from happy to sad, from good to bad or worse…

Or even vice versa from bad to good and better…

Staying connected and dedicated to your passion goes a long way in deciding your future and happiness.

Lesson No 2 : Dream Big – Have a challenging goal!!

We all know the story of Sylvester Stallone; when he had no money to live, he refused an offer to sell his Rocky Script for $350,000; because he wanted to play the lead role in the movie.

In 1970’s $350,000 was a lot of money….

Imagine if he had sold the story and settled for $350,000; we would have not have Rocky, Rambo or Cliffhanger…

Lesson No 3 : Start early and work hard, very hard – Success does not come easy!!!

In his book Outliers; Malcolm Gladwell highlights the importance of getting early access to 10,000 and more hours of practice of  one’s skills to become a master at it….

He quotes the examples of Beatles and Bill Gates, while I can think of Sachin Tendulkar and AR Rahman…

This video of Jason attributing his success to the hours and hours of practice at the Beaudesert country club and Kooralbyn adds meat to this theory.

Whatever you are passionate about, keep working at it; the more you train, the better you get. Once you are committed, things will fall in place.

Lesson No 4 : Have a God Father / Mentor : It helps you get the right perspective!!!

If Sachin Tendulkar needed Rampant Achrekar,  Usain Bolt needed Glen Mills and Jason made it because of Collin; what makes you think that you can do it on your own?

Follow someone who you think can lead you to success, someone who is happy to see you win, happy to see you make it big…

If you do not have one, hire a coach…

No matter what area of life you want to improve, a coach can make it easier!

Lesson No 5 : Buy adequate Life and Critical Illness Insurance

We all know that Jason Day made it big in spite of his father’s early demise, in spite of lack of money; but what about his sisters and mother, who had to make huge sacrifices to see Jason make it big…

If Jason’s father had adequate life insurance, one of his sisters would not have to runaway form home and live on streets; and both would have had access to good education..

Who knows, they could have made it bigger than Jason if only they had more money!

What about you, do you have adequate life and critical illness insurance?

If not, are you waiting for a disaster to strike;

Call me now on 050-2285405; to protect your future and the dreams of your children…

Budgeting has been never been easier than it is today.

There are budgeting tools everywhere; on the Computer, Tablet, Mobile apps and printable templates available online. Inspite of all this; do we diligently budget our income and expenses?

If not!!!  Why?

I recently read a quote by Peter Drucker “ What gets measured gets managed” Although very short, it is so true.

If you do not measure how much you make, home much and where you spend, then how can you expect to manage your money.

Chances are that you are spending on things which could be avoided, shopping impulsively to buy stuff which is not useful.

Why Budget?

• It allows you to “Pay Yourself First”.  We usually pay all our bills and expenses and save the money left over( if any).

Given the prevailing inflation and challenges with investing; it is essential to be consistent in saving and investing. When your budget’s first allocation is toward saving and investing for your future, it very unlikely you will not save.

• A Budget allows you to plan your expenses (particularly the large ones) way before they actually happen; enabling you with the following options;

1. Avoiding the expense totally if possible
2. Finding better and more affordable alternatives if available
3. Planning to put together the money required for the expense
4. More importantly, planing the right time to buy the thing (During a sale or discount)

Expenses like vacation, purchase of gadgets, appliances, furniture, clothes and other discretionary purchases usually offer more room for planning.

• A Budget allows you to stagger the expenses inline with your income or according to bigger expenses in a particular month.

For Example: When rent is paid on a quarterly basis; a budget allows to plan expenses in the months when the rent is not due.

• It also helps you avoid unnecessary or unplanned borrowing. Even in case of an unavoidable borrowing, a budget allows you pre plan the actual borrowing required. It enables you to start the application process much early so that you can strike a good bargain on the interest and fees payable.

In the absence of a budget, you would realise the need for borrowing very late and hence there may not be enough time to shop for a good deal.

• A budget can also enable charity. Most of us contribute to a charity spontaneously; when triggered by a particular event or when we are at a particular place. A budget can allow you to plan a certain percentage of your income towards your favourite charity, helping you feel tally and fulfilled.

Now that you are convinced that a budget is useful; I am happy to share with you a very useful tool helping you budget your income, expenses and savings. I have custom made this budget template for UAE residents; helping you record income and expenses in AED and provision for expenses particular to UAE.

Image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee. at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong. at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Why I wrote 8 Steps to Financial Independence?

I have read quite a few books if not many; on the subject of financial independence and getting rich.

Almost all these books are written in the US, UK and other countries of the world for the residents in those particular countries.

I realised that there is a definite need for a book / guide helping UAE residents pursue financial well being; while in UAE.

I also realised that there is a certain need for a book without jargon, making it easy for a UAE resident to adapt the principles and put them to practice in his quest for financial well being.

For what is the use of reading a book and, finding the ideas interesting and not being able to put them into action?

While writing this book, I had only one objective in mind; To give you ultra-precise actionable steps leading to wealth accumulation, passive income and as a result Financial Independence.

Download and use this unique but very handy Personal Balance Sheet Template to give you a snapshot of your financial affairs for a given period.

What is a Personal Balance Sheet?

It is a statement which helps you clearly see, where you stand financially? Showing how much you own and how much you owe…

It is an organised statement of your assets and liabilities; helping you understand your net-worth at a given point.

When you hear the word Balance sheet, don’t be perturbed by the accounting jargon, because this template makes the process very easy; needing no prior accounting knowledge or background.

What is unique about this Personal Balance Sheet?

This template has a unique feature for the expats in UAE. While it allows you to record assets and liabilities, and see your net worth in dirhams, it also has a provision to enter the latest exchange rate of your home currency and see the figures both in AED and your home currency, like INR, GBP, EURO etc…

All you have to do is enter the latest currency rate in the space provided and the template picks it up wherever necessary and shows you the figures in both currencies.

How to use the Personal Balance Sheet Template?

The template consists of 2 sheets. The first sheet summary of your assets and liabilities classified under various heads. It also enables you to record the income from the asset or expense / charges on the asset or liability.

The Sheet 2 is where most of the entries and editing happen, it enables you record your assets and liabilities in detail; for e.g.

You can record multiple details of an asset( Property in this case) like address, type of property, purchase price, year of purchase, mortgage repayments, current mortgage outstanding and the current market value…

You can also record various aspects of your liabilities; like name of the creditor / bank, Type of loan, the collateral for the loan, starting balance, maturity date of the loan, monthly repayment and the balance due.

When you have entered the details of the assets and liabilities under particular heads on the sheet 2, the data is automatically captured on sheet one, which calculates your net-worth.

If your assets are more than your liabilities, then your net worth is positive, if your liabilities are more than your assets, then your net worth is negative.

In addition to the net worth, this template also enable you to calculate the following;

1. Number of months you can survive on your liquid assets without an income
2. Debts to assets ratio
3. Investment assets to net worth ratio
4. Liquid assets

Use the Budget Planner 2016, to help you calculate your income and expenses. Click here to download the Budget Planner 2016.

All in all it is a very useful template, providing vital insights about your financial situation on a single page.

Go ahead; download this template to take control of your financial future..

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Health Insurance is a hot topic among the residents of Dubai; as the deadline for mandatory Health Insurance in Dubai is fast approaching on 30th June 2016.

Why is Helath Insurance important?

Many residents in Dubai  were putting off or avoiding proper health care, due to high costs and lack of insurance, and those who were faced a medical emergency had to foot large medical bills, leaving them financially broke…

Delaying timely healthcare aggravates the ailment leading to major complications…

Mandatory Health Insurance:

Mandatory Health Insurance for all residents is a commendable initiative by the Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments aiming to make the residents Happy and Healthy…

The mandatory health insurance was planned to be implemented in 3 stages. While the first 2 stages have been successfully implemented, the last stage is due on 30th June 2016.

Phases of Dubai Health Insurance law’s implementation

In this stage the following have to be covered;

1. All employees have to be provided with appropriate health / medical insurance
2. All spouses, children, dependent parents and domestic helpers like maid, driver and gardener must also be covered before 30th June 2016.

If the employer does not provide cover for the employees family then the employee should bear the cost and provide adequate cover for his family.

Dependent children above 18 years of age have to individually covered as, they may no longer be eligible to be covered by a group insurance plan by the employer.

How much does it cost?

For the people  with salary less than AED 4000/-; the DHA has approved a list of insurance providers, who provide a  DHA basic plan costing around AED 700 per employee per year.

This comes as a huge relief to the vast majority of labourers and domestic helpers, as now they can access appropriate healthcare; without worrying about the bills…

For employees with more than Dhs 4000 salary there; are various plans available based on age, network of hospitals and benefits desired..

The cost of Individual health insurance for dependents is also based on age, network of hospitals and benefits desired..