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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand

new ending.” - Carl Bard

1st JANUARY 2015

Breeze wishes all SCUFians and their families a

very Happy,

Successful,

and Prosperous

2015

Happy New Year!

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

It’s all about Money, Honey This article is an adaptation of the article by Ms. Vibha Padalkar (ED & CFO,

HDFC Life) originally published in the September 2013 issue of CFO Connect. Though the

article primarily addresses a female audience, her points on special financial needs, careful

planning, and focused investing are universally valid. We hope you find this useful.

Urban women are strong economic contributors to society. They are increasingly setting up

small to medium scale businesses, or co-operative self-help groups. These contribute to their families’

income and to the nation’s GDP. Despite being sophisticated, and understanding the importance of

being financially self-reliant, many urban women are reluctant to be involved in their own financial

planning.

I would like to narrate the real life stories of three women whom I

have known personally. The first story is about a woman who is single (by

choice), and successful in her career that offered her a spacious flat on Alta-

mount Road, in Mumbai. She lived a good life but in the last five years of

her working career, she realised that her savings were woefully inadequate to

sustain her lifestyle or buy an apartment in Mumbai. In the second instance, the woman was happily

married (for some time), and spent her salary on household expenses while her husband made the

investment decisions. When the relationship soured, she realised to her dismay that she had hardly

any savings in her own name that she could fall back on. In the third case, a friend who was a home-

maker lost her husband prematurely in a road accident. When he died she was clueless about what

savings they had, and even whether they had an insurance cover. In all three cases, while no one had

any control over their personal pain, they may have derived comfort from their savings through better

financial planning.

In late 2011 and early 2012 the findings of a survey conducted by HDFC Standard Life

Insurance among urban women in 11 Indian Tier I and Tier II cities, concluded that they have poor

financial awareness levels and a lot to learn in goal-based, financial planning. The survey also noted

that just 22 per cent of urban women have a comprehensive financial plan that covers short and long-

term goals, while 42 per cent have only a basic plan.

Are women’s financial needs different?

Yes, women’s financial needs are different from men’s. Women face a

number of unique risks that are physical as well as social. These include

longevity, gender-related illnesses, caregiving responsibilities, single and ageing,

and greater healthcare costs, among others. Pregnancy brings its own joys and

additional financial responsibilities. Most women opt to stay out of their careers,

or settle for lower-paying jobs to balance their career and demands of mother-

hood. Many face complications, that leave them emotionally and financially

drained. As moms, we often take prolonged leave from our careers to care for

our kids or ageing parents. This may deplete our income source and the

savings gap may take years to overcome.

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

Contd...

Our genetic and biological makeup places us in vulnerable medical and health situations that

are unique. While medical advancement has made illnesses like breast cancer and cervical cancer less

severe, the financial drain of fighting these diseases can wipe out a family’s lifetime savings. It is

advisable that we pay attention to our health at all times and plan proactively to build an emergency

fund for such situations. With the evolving demographics and social changes, women may be forced to

remain single through widowhood, divorce, or just by choosing never to get married. We are, therefore,

more likely to be solely responsible for our own financial independence at some point in our lives.

Though saving systematically with a disciplined approach comes naturally to us, studies show

that most of us do not start saving early in life. Building an asset and aiming to be self-reliant,

enough to last the social stages we either choose or may have to pass through, requires the right

financial planning.

Key basic financial steps

As women, we need to understand our financial situation and learn more about money. We

need to do more than just balance our bank account and pay the bills. We must understand that as a

woman, we have different financial needs than men and must start our financial planning as early as

we get started in our first job or business venture. Things that we need to do to have a better control

on our finances are the following:

Learn about money; we can control it only if we know about it. Hence, the first thing we should do

is know how to earn it, save it, multiply it via investments, protect it, and then pass it to the next

generation;

We should make projections of our income stream and the antici-

pated expenses in the short and longer term;

We need to understand our risk profile and invest accordingly;

We should start to plan for our retirement as early as our first job

or venture to fully benefit from the power of compounding;

Learn how to keep away from investing in products that we are

unable to understand;

Know our financial situation all the time and take charge of it. And after marriage, we need to

share in managing the family's finances.

Several decisions we make as women will have a financial planning component to them. Hence, we

should avoid being stranded when faced with a difficult situation.

Step 1: Defining the objective

Women should clearly set realistic financial objectives, which could be purchasing a home,

building a kitty for retirement, starting a business, overseas travel, buying a car, and creating

education and marriage funds for their children, etc. Defining the amount of money and the time hori-

zon for accomplishing the objective is the second important factor, as it determines the choice of

investment instruments and impacts the accomplishment of the objective.

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

Contd... Step 2: Preparing a plan

A financial plan starts with taking stock of one’s assets and liabilities and projecting future ex-

penses and incomes. This gives a fair idea of what amount is required to meet various current and

future financial objectives. Various factors such as time horizons, risk appetite, and type of investment

avenues available are also considered. Don’t forget a contingency fund for the unexpected situations in

life, like illness, loss of a job, loss of an earning member etc.

There are many financial instruments like equity, MFs, ULIPs, traditional insurance plans, pension

plans, debt instruments like bonds, and PPFs among others, for savings and investment. For financial

protection there are life insurance and health insurance plans. For tax savings we can choose from

insurance plans, equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS), PPFs, MFs, and tax saving bonds, among others.

If diversification is not done properly, then the portfolio may not grow sufficiently and inflation will

erode any gains that have been made. Given longer life spans for women, the long term is critical.

Consulting a certified financial advisor is recommended in order to establish a financial plan.

Step 3: Starting to invest

Disciplined investment is the key for the success of a financial plan. Today, investing online is

gaining popularity. Also, most financial advisors help with documentation. However, it is important to

read and understand the nature and associated risk of each investment instrument before investing.

Step 4: Reviewing the plan periodically

Once investment starts, to ensure that you remain on course, it is advisable to periodically re-

view it in line with increased income or expenses, new assets or liability acquisitions, or changing

market conditions. For example, a plan should be reviewed to judge the performance of various

investments. When stock markets change course over a period of time they may disturb your asset

allocation. So you may have to redeem some equity investments or buy more of them depending on

how much risk you are willing to take.

As you approach a particular milestone (say, your child's college admission or marriage) you

will need to exit your equity investments and move to debt in order to protect your accumulated

funds. It is critical for us to invest our time in educating ourselves about the different investment vehi-

cles available along with the different life stage events for the right approach to financial planning.

Women should cultivate a habit of reading different personal finance columns and related publications

to brush up their knowledge of finance. We must know what exactly we are investing in and not blindly

follow others’ advice. Only an informed mind can take the right decision.

After all, you must carve out and decide your own financial future. This will help you

to maintain your ‘self respect’ and ‘dignity’, irrespective of what life may throw your way!

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

Did You Know Series (DYKS) - 17

PART I – Rules of DYKS

The details and rules of the DYKS are as follows:

Each issue will contain 3 multiple answer questions

All staff members are eligible and are encouraged to reply to the questions

All replies to be sent only to DYKS@shriramcity.in

The mails should be sent from the official mail ID of the employee.

The response mail should be as follows:

The name of the staff from whom the first correct response comes will be published in the subsequent issue of ‘Breeze’. This will be for each of the states.

======================================================================

PART II – Answers to Quiz of December 2014 issue

SNo. Required Information Employee Entry / Answer to quiz

1 Employee Name

2 Employee Number

3 Designation

4 Email ID

5 Branch code and name

6 State

7 Answers:1

2

3

SNo Question Answer

1 Major checks to be done to identify fake

notes while handling cash D) All the above. ( Latent image, Intaglio printing, Water-

mark)

2 Upon request by a customer for a NOC on

their vehicle loan, how is it issued? D) Check the ledger. If there is no amount outstanding, issue

an NOC from UNO

3 The following registers are maintained at

the branch. Which of it are important for

Jewel Loan Department?

E) All the above except Attendance Register. (Sanction Register & Redemption Register, Chubb key Reg-

ister, Stamp Register, Cash movement Register , Jewel Stock

Register and Cash Withdrawal & Deposit Register)

PART III – Statewise correct responses to Quiz in December 2014 Issue

S.No State No. of responses State No. of responses S. No

1 Maharastra 2 Chandigarh 1 5

2 New Delhi 1 Haryana 1 6

3 Karnataka 1 Uttar Pradesh 1 7

4 HO-Chennai 2 Tamil Nadu 1 8

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

PART IV – State wise 1st correct response to Quiz in December 2014 Issue

PART V– Quiz - January 2015

1. On our website www.shriramcity.in, in which part does the “Whistle Blower and Vigi-

lance Mechanism Policy” appear?

a. About Us

b. Social Impact

c. Investors

d. Business Outlets

e. Media

2. What is fraud as per the “Whistle Blower and Vigilance Mechanism Policy”?

a. Misappropriation of funds, assets any other item of the company

b. Accepting or seeking anything of material value from customers

c. Destruction, removal, inappropriate use of records, assets, information, any

other item of the company

d. Disclosing confidential and proprietary information of the company to out-

side parties

e. All the above

3. Who can be a Whistle Blower as per the “Whistle Blower and Vigilance Mechanism

Policy”?

a. Directors of our company

b. Employees of SCUF

c. (a) and (b) above.

d. Customers of SCUF

e. Vendors of our company

f. All of the above By

Sri D. Srinivasan (Sr. Manager)

BPR, Santhome

S.No State Name State Name S. No

1 HO - Chennai R.V. Sreenivas Rajan New Delhi Aftab Anwar 5

2 Haryana Vijay Kumar Uttar Pradesh Kanchan 6

3 Karnataka Deepa Chandigarh Raviprakash Ojha 7

4 Maharashtra Aamir Gaur Tamil Nadu D. Arul Prakasam 8

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

The Ahmedabad Zonal Office of Shriram City was inaugurated on the 16th of

December 2014. The event was attended by Mr. G.M. Jilani (ED), Mr. Niranjan Rao

(ED), Mr. Jignesh Shah (State Head - Gujarat), and all the Branch Managers and Team

Leaders of Shriram City in Gujarat. Below are a few photos of the event:

Inauguration of Ahmedabad Zonal Office

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Shriram City - News Letter - Breeze - 1st January 2015

Editorial Committee

Shri K.Subramaniam

Senior Consultant, CO, Mylapore

Smt M.Subhashree

TED., BSC, Santhome

Sri M.Radhakrishnan

Consultant, BSC, Santhome

Ms. Teena Philip

Business Manager, BSC, Santhome

Communication Address:

Editorial Committee,

(News Letter—Breeze)Shriram

City Union Finance

144, Santhome High Road,

Chennai—600 004

Phone: 044 43925300

Email:

breeze@shriramcity.in

A parting thought

Breeze wishes all its readers a

very happy Pongal and

Makar Sankranti

You can be a

victim

or you can be a

victor

but you can’t be both