As I write this post, the stock of FAANG company Netflix has fallen by 41% since its peak 3 months ago. More headlines are talking about the incoming Market Crash, some even call it the Superbubble. My own personal investments have taken a beating. Bitcoin and Crypto in general is in free-ish fall too. All this because Inflation is battering people around the globe, and it is time to raise interest rates and stop printing money. Photo by Thomas Shockey on Pexels.comFour ways how investors will behave #1 Run for their lives and Exit Many speculators, specially retail investors who got into the ..read more

If you have Indian roots like me, the Fixed Deposit has been the go to investment advice passed on from Generations in our families. Even now questions like Should NRIs invest in Fixed Deposits, what are the bank rates for FDs for NRE accounts etc are common. In my book, I challenged the notion of Fixed deposit being an amazing investment because its interest rates are an indicator of how the currency is losing value. My premise: if FDs offer 5% annual interest rate, there is a good chance that the current is losing its spending power by roughly the same amount. At best, FDs are a good cover f ..read more

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com When I launched my book Money First at the beginning of the year, apart from many encouraging comments I also recieved feedback on why should anyone listen to me. I am not Finance guru, I have hit no big money milestones (yet?). I understand this need to validate, and truth be told, critical thinking is essential. People must research and make their own conclusions, and not simply do what a guy on the Internet, or their cousin, or their boss is doing. So I have a milestone to share, last week I hit 6 figures milestone on my investment account, and as you may ..read more

Its been almost 6 months since I could scribble on the blog. It isn’t that I forgot my mission or I didn’t care about sharing any new details, life simply came in the way. There were things which required way more attention and time which I could not devote to Getting you to Financial Independence. So, what happened in the meanwhile? Let me see, ah Bitcoin went up and down, and GameStop happened! My own personal finance journey also has new wins and losses which I want to share: As before, my investments are automated, even when I had little time for understanding what is happening around me ..read more

There are far too many blog posts talking about what your ideal networth should be in your 30s, 40s and more. I do not find a good mathematical basis for it, some of us are late bloomers and others early. Today I found a study which gives actual baselines in Germany. The graph details out Net Worth according to age brackets in Germany. It is based on a study by IW Cologne. It is not a ‘goal‘ recommendation but a commentary on how things stand today. What is measured on the Net Worth? The study (released in 2020) is an evaluation based on 2018 numbers for household Networth i.e. Assets – Liabil ..read more

I have been asked to write about personal income taxes in Germany and the German tax system a few times. Things get complicated with taxes when you are an immigrant, like an NRI from India with income in India and work in Germany. How do you then pay taxes in Germany and file tax returns? Do you hire a German tax consultant or do it yourself? Lets try to break it down to the basics. Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.comTax Rates in Germany (2020) Germany has a concept of progressive taxation, simply put the tax rates go upwards the higher your income is. Income (Single) Income (Couples ..read more

A few months ago I had talked about my relationship with Money and how it has shaped my behaviour. Today I will ask you to think about why is money is not evil, and it brings access. Money the root of all evil? Before we proceed, pause for a second and try answering: What do you feel about money? Keep the answer to yourself before reading on. Money is behind all the Corruption in the world Most people would consider that all the corruption in the world is because of Money. If this money would magically disappear, the world might be a nicer place. This is only partially true, sure unethical pur ..read more

2020 has been a strange year, of many firsts for all of us. Here’s my big first time project: Writing a book! It is called MONEY FIRST, and I am very excited to share it with you! My book will answer questions like, How does banking work in Germany, how can I save on bank fees? What is SCHUFA, how do I get a free SCHUFA report, how do I maintain a good score? How do personal income taxes work in Germany? Which insurances should I buy in Germany? How do I invest money in Germany? What is a Depot, Sparplan? How do I manage taxes on capital gains? Free Giveaway I am giving away the first chapt ..read more

The road to financial freedom I have been quiet for the past few weeks, its for the lack of ideas and lack of structure in my life which kept me away. I went back to evaluate where my life was and where I need to be. This led me to write this post on the only money principles you need to follow. As things proceed in life, I will update this again. A lot of this is obvious, but foundational! Principle #1 : Spend less than you make Yes, this is obvious but it is the very first step. If you are not able to consistently spend less than what you make, you are sooner or later preparing yourself for ..read more

Basis Rente I am kicking off a new series on financial topics used in Germany. The first financial product that I would like to talk about is Rürup or Basis Rente (Rente in German means pension). We also explore common terms and their meaning to build up the concept of Rürup. Concept #1: What is altersvorsorge and Gesetzliche rentenversicherung? Altervorsorge (old age provision) is a general term used to describe various products and options which are available to support you for your old age. These are usually described into three pillars (or categories): Basisvorsorge (basic provision ..read more