The Stay-At-Home Fund Managers

More and more women are taking charge of their personal finances as well as that of their families. But most of this responsibility is still fulfilled by men, which is also the reason why the main protagonists in the advertisements of financial products and financial awareness literature being promoted by various companies continue to be men. A crucial part of women’s empowerment is financial literacy and decision-making. Many of my women friends who are independent in most aspects, depend on their fathers to manage their investments. The change must come from women, and the advertisements will follow suit.

Shivani Maheshwari

Budget And You

I am a senior citizen aged 73. My wife is also of the same age. Both of us file our tax returns regularly. Our main sources of income are pension and interest from fixed deposits plus some dividend. The February issue of Outlook Money was quite useful. However, it did not dwell upon tax rebate and the importance of Annual Information Statement (AIS) in addition to Form 26AS. Please throw light on these as well.

J.J. Desai, Baroda

The Lion Is In The Street

Indian investors’ experience with initial public offers (IPOs), especially the more recent ones, has been mixed. While there is more visibility into LIC’s operations considering the number of years the company has been operating for, but there is much to be desired when it comes to transparency. Many of the new-age tech-based companies whose IPOs hit the market recently were considered unsafe due to the fact that they had never turned in a profit. With LIC, the method of valuation and factors considered makes it a risky bet for investors.

Sanjith Patel

The government is drumming up support for the LIC IPO but the Russia-Ukraine war has played spoilsport. Once the dispute settles down (hopefully, soon), the government should move fast and launch the IPO to avoid further unplanned obstacles. There is never an ideal time for an exercise of this size. So, the government must slip in through the next window of opportunity.

Arpita Kaul