Under the Yoke

Where are you and where are you going?
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fiby41
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Under the Yoke

Post by fiby41 »

College is from 9 15 to 5 weekdays and banks closed on second and fourth Saturday so I get only alternate Saturdays for visiting branch.

Started PPF.

Total savings are at 1 year and 7 months.


Became major, so couldn't use the minor bank account. Started a new account and then had the balance transferred.

There are three main types of banks,

Public sector
Private and
Co-operative banks.

The last are comparatively the most risky in terms of going belley up with all your money but also have a bit higher interest rate.

The LTSD as described in a previous post was was the II one in 2013, I was arount 9-10. III had started when I checked last Saturday, and I will roll >~₹25 into it if its still around next working Saturday. Interest is 9%, 3.25% above current inflation, but 1.5% below previous LTSD II. Since this cannot be closed before maturity, I'm basically betting on that the difference between 9% and inflation to remain >=3% for the term of the deposit.

This seems only worthy thing I can do with my money as I don't have the skills or time for speculating stocks or precious metals for at least next 4 years... IOW working toward something that returns higher than the time spent acquiring these skills would.

To start brokerage account, I need PAN, which in turn requires passport... Have yet to apply for passport renewal.

I have to learn driving, practice and then get driving licence so that eventually I can marginally save time and money in comparison.

SEM I result yet TBA.

Finding it increasingly difficult to balance 'national character' and personal character. How does nationalism (patriotism) go with individualism? The relation gets blown out of proportion because on one side 'no matter how much too much is never enough' when you volunteer and on other side smaller affiliations like family, parents, friends, group, SO, etc have more apparent and immediate rewards to loyalty. Where to draw the line to set personal limits then?

nitelight
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by nitelight »

Norway has public universities where you only pay a nominal fee (registration fee). And you buy your own books. High living expenses but uni is free. Might be worth taking a look at.

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fiby41
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by fiby41 »

nitelight wrote:Norway has public universities where you only pay a nominal fee (registration fee). And you buy your own books. High living expenses but uni is free. Might be worth taking a look at.
Thanks nitelight. I'm locked in for another 3 out of 4 years. The college takes your leaving certificate along with 10th and 12th passing certificate so you don't go anywhere before completing your BE.

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fiby41
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by fiby41 »

Thanks LiberateMind and Dave.

Rs 1,42,981 in the bank

50,000 LTSD
500 PPF
500 savings acc2
91,881 savings acc1
100 savings acc3

Gave Sem2 and finally got a real break. "Vacation" between sem1 and sem2 was 4 days. :(
Did 1st year by self-study, now I don't trust myself, I am joining a class.

Need to decide how to chose a class and zero in on one. There are the brand-name classes, that use print and other mass media to advertise and push this cost to students as high fees. There are one-man-army types where a charismatic professor or one who knows actually how to teach and not only just the subject matter. Or I could chose the one nearest to home.

I didn't like this (engg) at all at first. It does not seem suited to my temperament. I'm barely going through the motions. Sem1 was barely tolerable, by sem2 I got used to it. I better get Rs 1,80,000 per anum job for it to be worth it. For now I'll quit worrying about that and just focus and passing all the tests. Father has a people-oriented job and might help me get a job.

Tomorrow I'll go to hometown meet family on father's side then to another city to stay with my mother's side.

To do:
Pack bag
PAN Card

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fiby41
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I'm so cheap, I can make your Happy Meal sad

Post by fiby41 »

1 INR 1,42,981 (+0.7%, INR 1,000)

2 Applied for PAN. Will receive it in mail by month end

3 Sem2 result yet TBA

4 Estimation of parent's combined networth,

11 lac in FDs of father
1 flat each in hometown, current market price ~5 lac
Plot of land, 15 lac, loan will be repaid by next July
5 lac, mutual funds
3 lac, in LIC policy

44 lac

Father got his post one year before the pension scheme for new employees was closed. So all FI costs, like in post1, will be concerning me alone.

Only thing they need to take care of is their health and not do anything financially self-sabotaging like what happened to my paternal grandfather who is now financially dependent on my father.

I have long history of diabetes approaching me from both sides of my family.

I will have free accommodation in this city until father retires after 14 years, assuming he doesn't apply for/get extension. But fiby41 year is 2039, so will have to see what to do about it when I hit the way.

5 Family friends who could help me get a job overseas,

1 Father's maternal cousin. Works in San Francisco Bay Area. They spent childhood summers together.

2 My paternal cousin on grandmother's side. Used to meet yearly until he completed his studies and got a job in Oklahoma city.

3 Mother's friend working in the Netherlands.

6 To do,

1 Open online brokerage

2 Link PAN with bank acc2 and PFF account so I can get rid of messages from bank threatening me to do that

3 Driving license

4 Do something with the 92k in acc1

Lac is 5 0s on 1.

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fiby41
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I could spend all year, never blow my stash

Post by fiby41 »

From this post onwards, there'll also be a section on what I'm spending on and costs.

Static reserve index means how long savings will last at a fixed monthly expenditure, Rs 10,000 is what I've set for me.

Dynamic reserve index means how long savings will last at current month's expenditure- if you spent at that level every month until it lasts.

-Rs 970 bus pass
-Rs 45+65 medicine
-Rs 1,500 Sem3 textbooks
-Rs 1,010+510 reevaluation and exam fees
=Rs 4,100

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fiby41
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coffee makes it possibl to get outta bed and chocol8 mak eat worth while.

Post by fiby41 »

Current Year 2

College:
Tuition Fees 103090
Development Fees 10310
Gymkhana 200
E-Charges 50
Ashwamedh and Indradhanushya 30
Disaster Relief Fund 10
Cultural Activities 6
Exam Fees 870
Insurance Charges 442
Convocation Fees 0
Alumini Fees 0

Maths-3 6000
Circuit Transmission Lines 6000
Analog Electronics-1 6000

Bus pass:

810 * 2 months 1620

Textbooks:
500 kept for
Neaman for Analog Electronics-1 and TechMax for Object Oriented Programming Methodology

Exam:

1510 revaluation
Mumbai University would be bankrupt and would have gone belly up by now if it wasn't for revaluation, ATKT and answersheet photocopy monies.

Health: 1155

Total: 135783

Some money for a box of chocolates bcoz I'm a spoilt brat and every1 noes tat coffee makes it possibl to get outta bed and chocol8 mak eat worth while.

Josué
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by Josué »

I admit that I've only skimmed through your posts (a lot of data to process) but I have a question: do you consider moving out of India once you graduate? If no, why not? I guess ERE would be easier outside no?

You seem to be a very well rounded person for a 17 year old (your first post), I congratulate you for that. I certainly didn't have the knowledge you have at that age.

JamesR
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by JamesR »

Have you considered quitting school and focusing on becoming a highly skilled freelancer instead?

You could go into something like web development or mobile phone development, etc. You can easily teach yourself most of this, do some personal projects to build your own portfolio, put some of your projects on your github.com account, etc.

If you have 1-2 years of solid experience with something like Ruby on Rails, or React, or Meteor, you should be able to earn something like $20-30/hr as a freelancer on upwork.com or elsewhere.

The problem in India is that everyone is going for credentials.. When everyone has credentials, the value of that becomes diluted..

You could be fiby31 if you were to skip the conventional path and focus on building real work experience instead.

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fiby41
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My headspace is limited, there's no room even at the back of my mind

Post by fiby41 »

Image

Practical exam, theory paper and crash course (CC) dates.

OOPM: Object Oriented Programing Methodology
DE: Digital Electronics
AE-1: Analog Electronics
CTL: Circuits & Transmission Lines

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fiby41
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So much on my hands, I have to give my sisters a fistbump

Post by fiby41 »

Image

Examination dates

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fiby41
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by fiby41 »

1 Thank you Josue and JamesR for your replies. I'll consider your suggestions.

Yes, quit India is an option. There are these tests foreign companies need us to take before we can apply like GRE, TOEFL. Yes FI would be considerably faster in some countries.

No, quitting is not an option. I'm so invested that at this point I might as well keep going. I should have real work experience seems like good advice.

2 I got the jio 4G SIM. No data charges until 31st March 17 so spending here is nil.

3 Demat account opening- Almost there. Just need to courier in the printed application form and do the online payment.

4 Still yet to learn how to ride a two wheeler.

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fiby41
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I got digits in my calculator, dividends and bank accounts Broker like an aggregator, making money, making clout

Post by fiby41 »

My father retires in 2030. FI is only possible in this city when a higher salary including HRA House rent allowance is coupled with living with my parents in their govt quarters. We will be forced to vacate this flat in 2030 and move, assuming father does not get an extension.

I'll graduate in 2019 (hopefully!)

This leaves me with a time window of 11 years to make a run for the money in this race against time with fiby32.

In next post I'll run the numbers for fiby2030

Brokerage, Demat, trading and commodity accounts active. Now just have to transfer funds from bank so I could start buying.

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fiby41
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What's a little change to a pocket full

Post by fiby41 »

Data consumption:

This is relevant to the The Role of Free Luxury thread. Internet is like a luxury. When data charges are low, I end up consuming more GBs. There's a name for this phenomenon, all I remember is the Hedonic treadmill. Other example from the blog, is when a family uses a washing machine, they end up washing clothes more often and with lower loads per wash. Do you know what this is called?

I wanted to track this. That way I'd know which plan was best for me depending on how much maximum I could consume when there was no cost barrier. But I didn't do the tracking.

But here are the stats logged by my phone

Jan 4 GB
Feb 9.2 GB
March 10 GB
April 24 GB

I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. Not because the price, speed, usage etc. The plans are great. But because I end up spending lots of time. Currently I'm solving for being all clear in sem 4. Money, data, time are so all freely adjustable variables.

April was high because I'd just start a movie download which would make other net use painfully slow and I'd rather get something real done instead. Id be like lets get this much work done , by then this would've been downloaded and I could watch it later. Some of the movies didn't seem as interesting as I thought when I was bored. Other times Id binge watch movies back to back.

I didn't want this to become an addiction I cannot live without. On demand cheap entertainment has its perks though.

Classes:

We have 6 subjects in sem4 and all are mathematical so classes are offered for all of them.

I joined for all except Control System. There were many reasons for joining for CS but main reason was it was on Fri 6 to 9 pm and the next day Sat Id also have morning 7 to 12 Microprocessor and Peripherals MPP and 1 to 6 pm Signals and Systems. This was not possible for me. To be attentive for such stretches of time. Only one person I know did all tree subjects. Others did a combination of two.

I wanted to join after MPP class ended after 6 weeks. But waited for internal assessment to get over, misplaced cheque, decided to join the short term batch... Short duration batch was never made for CS and MPP (due less number of interested students?)

I'm worried about CS now. Now things I need to do/my options to pass:

1 Crash Course of control systems
2 Learn atleast Nyquist plot and Bode plot from a friend
3 Get past year's university question paper solution.
I'll call tomorrow morning to check if they're available yet.


Math 4 8500
SS 7000
Analog Electronics-2 AE2 8500
MPP 7000
Wave theory and propagation 7000

Total 38000

College: is now over. No lectures. Tomorrow is Software Simulation lab SSL, Math4 Tutorial, Signal System Tutorial , these three journal submissions. Then we'll have 3 practical exams and viva/oral exams for the 3 labs: SSL, AE2, MPP.

Transport:

Bus pass 2410 for three months ending 11 April. Now 50 for round trip to college. 24-32 round trip to class. 70 for college-class-home (I haven't had to do this yet since pass ended. ) Pass only covered home to college route so had to take ticket for remaining route when taking bus from college to class, class to home, home to class and class to home (last two for sat and sun.) Used a prepaid card for this that gives 5% extra on the recharge amount.

Home to class takes almost same time by train just more sweat but costs less. Home is 15-20 mins from station, 10 mins in train, 5 mins walking to class. By bus I have to 3 mins walking to bus stop, waiting time, alight stop1 takes walking to ward the station, crossing the bridge in scorching heat over station and to class on the other side. From alight stop2 3-5 mins walking but lower bus frequency and more crazy driving here for crossing.

Bus wins
(almost most times anyways.)

AC: 38500
Got AC for the first time after nagging parents. 4-5 years too late. Both of them have ACs at their offices. During PLs preparatory leave before exams Im home alone sweating profusely in summer throughout the day. I wanted them to save some thousands by buying and keeping during winter when the AC market is down and deals and bargains could be had down to 32k-35k range. But its their money and father got it at the height of summer, when half the summer was already over for a preety markup.

They went to a far place to buy chairs but got the AC from quite nearby, when closer that the chair shop is a stop called Air Conditioner Market, known for its , well you guessed it, ACs.

Rant: Also I was going to use one of the chairs to be bought so naturally I wanted a say in choosing what chair Id ise/ spend so much time on. Unfortunately father delayed this until my Saturdays were no longer free and only Sunday mornings were free. And now I have to ise/live with their (overpriced) chair (Choice.)

Investment:

Finally had my commodity account opened by Feb mid but I thought the market was at a crazy high. Especially after demonetization. It went even higher after the Uttar Pradesh UP election result (most populous state). And further higher by the end of the financial year.

My risk appetite is now high as

1 123k have been in savings account for too long now , 2 years for the 73k and 1 yr 6 mo for the 50k
2 I turned 50k of of above into FD
3 So that I could invest rest in mid cap mutual funds

Large caps PE ratios are very high. Parents are insisting I invest soon and it's not good to let this much money laying around (it's nothing for them, but its almost half my savings). I feel the markets are too overvalued. But if the GST goods and services tax bill gets passed through the center and states, this will actually bring the PE ratios of large caps from FMCG fast moving consumer goods to pharma lower due to uniform taxation and increase in revenue.

And I don't know what to do. What help I need and where to look for it.

bryan
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Re: What's a little change to a pocket full

Post by bryan »

fiby41 wrote:
Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:16 pm
Signals and Systems.
This was the hardest course at my University for Comp. Engineering majors. The winning strategy for me was 1) focus on learning the concepts, theory during the lecture and study 2) use the Schaum’s Outline to see how to do the problems for tests.
fiby41 wrote:
Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:16 pm
Investment:

Finally had my commodity account opened by Feb mid but I thought the market was at a crazy high. Especially after demonetization. It went even higher after the Uttar Pradesh UP election result (most populous state). And further higher by the end of the financial year.

My risk appetite is now high as

1 123k have been in savings account for too long now , 2 years for the 73k and 1 yr 6 mo for the 50k
2 I turned 50k of of above into FD
3 So that I could invest rest in mid cap mutual funds

Large caps PE ratios are very high. Parents are insisting I invest soon and it's not good to let this much money laying around (it's nothing for them, but its almost half my savings). I feel the markets are too overvalued. But if the GST goods and services tax bill gets passed through the center and states, this will actually bring the PE ratios of large caps from FMCG fast moving consumer goods to pharma lower due to uniform taxation and increase in revenue.

And I don't know what to do. What help I need and where to look for it.
The psychology behind investing is tricky. I think most here on the boards don't like the advice from MMM, Bogleheads, etc to just put all our money into total stock market funds. There are many alternative ways of investing that work well with ERE. So maybe you can focus on those aspects even more? For securities, http://portfoliocharts.com/ is useful for constructing a diversified portfolio you are more comfortable with. I've found my own diversified portfolio to work for me as I am happy to continue investing into the "over-priced" market with the knowledge that I will easily outperform ~TSM portfolios during a correction or crash.

Jason

Re: Under the Yoke

Post by Jason »

(1) Your maturity is astounding. I wasn't as mature as you when I turned 41. I guess I'm still not. Not that it says much.

(2) With your intelligence and determination, why stay in India? Trying to place a caste system in a democracy will always prohibit central authority and India will never have the state structure to truly promote capitalism i.e. yes you make automobiles but you drive them alongside cows and rickshaws. Go West young man.

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fiby41
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If insane people are rich, why should I sit around? Walk around the house in a hospital gown

Post by fiby41 »

bryan wrote:
Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:30 pm
fiby41 wrote:
Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:16 pm
Signals and Systems.
This was the hardest course at my University for Comp. Engineering majors. The winning strategy for me was 1) focus on learning the concepts, theory during the lecture and study
Thanks I'll keep that in mind.

Consumption:

Spent 470 on previous years question papers.
Data consumption from 26 Apr to 10 May, 14.41GB

Assets:

PPF public provident fund 500. Need to put the minimum of 500 for this year also to keep it going. Maximum is 2.5 lac. Interest was dropped to 8.25% this year. But keeping it open will give tax deduction when I have a job. I've opened it last year, so I'll be able to withdraw/close it and deploy the amount to better use in/for FI.

Bank:

PPF 500 8.25%
Bank account 1 100 4.5%
Bank account 2 100 4.5%
Bank account 3 500 4.5%

Investments:

Bought my first (3) investments!

Rationale for buying mutual funds:

If everyone spent their time into becoming star stock pickers/beating the market, who'd do brain surgeries and fly aeroplanes?

From 1 April the brokerage started offering 'direct' MF for flat Rs 50 monthly fee. There are no commissions for these so the expense ratios for these are lower than the same plan if taken through 'regular plan'. The difference comes out to be around 1% between returns of the direct and regular funds I compared.
Taking it as Rs 600 a year, I'll have to invest more than Rs 60k for the difference to be of value.

DSPBR Small And Mid Cap Fund - Direct Plan
(Growth)

₹ 35000

HDFC Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan
(Dividend - Payout)

₹ 35000

L&T Cash Fund - Direct Plan
(Growth)

₹ 11846

The cash fund is liquid and has no exit load. Return is better that saving account and I can sell it when I need cash for an opportunity. Catch is minimum investment should be atleast 10k.

EQUITY ACCOUNT VALUE ₹81,846.55

COMMODITY ACCOUNT VALUE ₹89.65

Yesterday sensex and nifty reached their highs :( as meteorological department predicted normal monsoon rains.

Fixed deposits:

50k @10.5%
50k @8.25%

Total: ₹1,83,136

5% of goal reached.
Reserve index: 1 year 6 months and 9 days.


When comparing MFs I also found about Monthly Income Plans MIPs. These seem ideal for post FI. They pay out fixed ammount or percentage (I'm not sure which) monthly but the capital gains YoY year on year are generally in the negative.


Things I want to do/wishlist:
1 Learn to use a firearm
Get licence for it
There's an indoors shooting range 25-30 mins travel one way. Not very frugal but I haven't enquired there yet.

2 start swimming- a swimming pool is really close (5 mins) but the cost has been detterent so far. Cue swimming in lake thread.

3 get driver's license
4 own some bitcoin
5 Join a yoga class. Presently at best my yoga is amateurish.

Jason

Re: Under the Yoke

Post by Jason »

I'm guessing you actually understand the bitcoin thing, but those Winklevosses look like genetically engineered date rapists. They actually make Tony Robbins look marginally human.

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fiby41
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by fiby41 »

Jason wrote:
Thu May 11, 2017 5:10 pm
I'm guessing you actually understand the bitcoin thing,
Only as much as I could understand from all the links posted in the bitcoin thread.
Jason wrote:
Thu May 11, 2017 5:10 pm
but those Winklevosses look like genetically engineered date rapists. They actually make Tony Robbins look marginally human.
:lol:I first read date as data.

LiberateMind
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Re: Under the Yoke

Post by LiberateMind »

2 start swimming- a swimming pool is really close (5 mins) but the cost has been detterent so far. Cue swimming in lake thread.
One of the best investment for money is to invest in yourself.Once you learned the skills, it will always be with you. Now you have the time and energy, once you started your employment or family, money will come easily but not time and energy. So try to do the time intensive activities right now. Another free advice, learn selling or try to get a side job with selling. It is a very important employable skill which most Indians lack.

You have invested in mutual funds!! I have always hesitated due to high fees when I researched. Care to share the expense ratios or the fund features link?

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