Money guides
The calculators tell you what a number is. These guides tell you what to do about it — every figure computed with the same engines, dated, and honest about trade-offs.
- Rent or buy? We ran the 20-year numbers on a ₹60 lakh flatA ₹60 lakh flat, bought with a ₹48 lakh loan versus rented at ₹17,500 a month with the difference invested — simulated month by month for 20 years. The verdict depends on one number almost nobody checks: property appreciation.
- Saving tax under the new regime — what still works in FY 2026-27Most tax-saving advice in India is written for a regime you probably left. Under the new regime, 80C is dead — but employer NPS, EPF restructuring and the ₹12 lakh rebate cliff still move real money. With computed examples.
- Prepay the home loan, or invest the surplus?A ₹5 lakh prepayment on a ₹50 lakh home loan saves ₹10.7 lakh of interest. The same money in equity at 12% grows to ₹27.4 lakh. Here is how to actually compare the two — with the tax, risk and liquidity fine print.
- Where should money sit for 1, 3, 5 and 10+ years?The best investment is a function of when you need the money back. A horizon-by-horizon map for Indian savers — savings, FD, RD, debt, PPF, equity — with computed numbers and the two mistakes that cost the most.
- First salary? Here’s the whole money plan on one pageWhat to actually do with a first salary in India — in order: know your real in-hand, build one month of float, then the emergency RD, then a small SIP you never stop. With the ₹45 lakh cost of starting five years late.
- Old vs new tax regime: how to actually chooseWith no deductions beyond the standard one, the new regime wins at every income level — by ₹1.75 lakh a year at a ₹16 lakh salary. The old regime only earns its keep past a deduction threshold. Here is where that threshold sits and how to check your own.
- How big should your emergency fund be — and where should it sit?Six months of expenses is the standard answer; your actual number depends on how replaceable your income is. Where you park it matters almost as much: the same ₹3.6 lakh earns ₹10,900 in a savings account and ₹25,100 in an FD over a year.
- Step-up SIP: what a 10% annual raise to your SIP actually doesA flat ₹10,000 SIP at 12% reaches ₹1 crore in 20 years. Step it up 10% a year and the same starting amount reaches ₹1.99 crore. The mechanics, the honest caveat about where the extra crore comes from, and when a step-up beats simply starting bigger.
- FD laddering: lock rates without locking yourself outSplitting one deposit into several maturities solves the two problems every FD investor faces — needing money mid-tenure and reinvesting everything at whatever rate prevails on one arbitrary day. How to build a ladder, with the premature-withdrawal math.
- How banks decide how much home loan you getLenders cap your total EMIs at roughly 40–50% of monthly income — a ratio called FOIR. At ₹1 lakh income and a 40% cap, an 8.5% 20-year loan tops out near ₹46 lakh. The full mechanics: existing EMIs, rate sensitivity, co-applicants, and what actually raises the number.