Year End Savings Rebates: Fill & Download for Free

NOTE : Applies to IndiansOne thing you must do is open PPF.Yes, Public Provident fund.What is PPF?The Public Provident Fund is savings-cum-tax-saving instrument in India, introduced by the National Savings Institute of the Ministry of Finance in 1968. The aim of the scheme is to mobilize small savings by offering an investment with reasonable returns combined with income tax benefits.Why should I do that?The rate of interest at present is 8.7% per annum, which is also tax-free. The entire balance can be withdrawn on maturity. Interest received is tax free. The maximum amount which can be deposited every year is Rs. 1,50,000 in an account at present. The interest earned on the PPF subscription is compounded annually. All the balance that accumulates over time is exempt from wealth tax. Moreover, it has low risk – risk attached is Government risk.So,suppose If you deposit yearly 1,50,000 rupees for 15 years then,By end of 15 years term it will amount to 4675913.64 rupees.Total Investment of 2250000 rupeesand Total (Tax free Interest) of 2425913.64 rupees.​​​​So at the age of 33 you will have 2425913.64 rupees (earned without Tax).Interest earned is tax exempted and withdrawal is also tax exempted. Interest earned is fully exempted from tax without any limits. Annual contributions qualify for tax rebate under section 80c of income tax. Contributions to PPF accounts of the spouse and children are also eligible. The scheme is fully guaranteed by the Central Government.Many people realize about this when they start earning.If you can afford to invest money now, then this is the good way to begin.Sources : Public Provident Fund (India)

I buy a new car once every 10 years, so it a major event for me.I begin by going on-line and downloading the details on all various cars in the range I’m looking for. Internet pricing is typically the lowest as it is the most competitive. I shop at model year-end when they are about to get slammed with next year's cars.I then go to the dealerships in my area the THIRD weekend of the month. If you go the last weekend they have a pretty good idea if they will hit quota, on the third weekend they are still hustling, and every sales counts.I look for program cars that have 5000 miles or less. These are the ones their salesmen drive. The factory gives them an allowance based on mileage, but they still title as new.BTW when they show you that they are selling the car below invoice, pay no attention. They get kickbacks and rebates that don’t show up on the invoice.The final trick is to bring my wife or a person pretending to be my wife. No matter what the deal is she will want a car that is a different color than the one on the lot.Then the fun begins.I tell the salesman that I will be buying a car that weekend, saw one on his lot but he has to beat another deal. I show him all my print outs and tell him to call the other dealership if he wants to confirm the price.I get him to match my best price. This is always an out-the-door price, so they don’t add a bunch of crap fees like doc prep, license, title etc.Then I tell him I just have to clear it with my wife. She, of course, is not interested because she wants a different color. Nothing matters to her other than the color and his car is not it.When they sit me in the office to “negotiate” with her, I assume they are listening. We go back and forth and I finally tell her “If I can get it for $x less, I will use the difference to buy you a new ring”. She says, well OK but only if you can save enough for a ring.With my head down I go back to the salesman and tell him I really like the car but I have a problem with my wife. I tell him that I need to save $x more to buy the ring and get the car. I also tell him that I need to get her home soon because she is pissed with me.He can’t argue with me that this is his best price because the deal-breaker is an irrational issue.He either beats his previous best price or we walk.I only had to walk away once.And no, she never gets a new ring, but we do have a nice dinner afterward.

I bought my year-end close out, 2014 Prius C on two cash reward credit cards (one paying 5% and the other paying 1.5%), netting $795 in “statement credits” (hence, I reaped a $795 discount off the price of the car).I of course paid the cards off when I got my statement — I’ve never paid a penny in credit card interest in my life (raised by Great Depression parents, I don’t buy things unless I have the money for them; “debt is death”).The 5% cash rebate card deal happened like this: While negotiating with the sales guy, I scanned a Prius C sales brochure and noticed the Toyota Visa credit card offer of 5% cash rebate for every dollar spent at a Toyota dealership. So, before the deal closed, I opened a card online and got the sales guy to agree to let me put $15,000 of the $18,770 purchase on that card, and the rest on my 1.5% card.They didn’t have the car color that I wanted on their yard, so they directed me to come back in two days — they’d trade with another dealer for it.When I came to pick up my new car, however, my sales guy said he didn’t realize that his dealership would be charged a $176 transaction fee for the Toyota VISA card, so I would have to pay it.“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, friend.”Miffed, he called me rude and got his Finance Manager. That guy entered the office and played dumb: “Now what’s this all about?”“You know what it’s about because he just told you. Don’t try to wear me down.”I then gestured: “That’s my car sitting outside that window. Are you going to give me the key or do I need to go into my junk-yard lawyer mode with you?”He fumed, looked down for a moment, then stammered: “OK, but you’re going to leave a good review online for us, right?”“You bet, my friend,” then I shook his hand, invited him to give me his card (“I’m bad with names”), and in fact positively mentioned his name when I left a 5-star online review for his dealership.The Toyota VISA rewards were initially tied to purchases at Toyota dealers, but by dumb luck another bank bought out that card and untied the rewards, so I elected a simple statement credit for the full $750 — and for the best car I’ve ever owned. Thanks, Toyota!Shoppers Love Rewards Credit Cards. Retailers Hate Them.My second biggest score was in 2004: During my lunch hour at work I noticed a good rate for I-bonds at the TreasuryDirect - Home site. I also noticed that, at least that day, there was no fee for buying bonds with a credit card. So I called my no-fee, 2% cash-back credit card bank and asked the gal to raise my credit limit to $30,000, then bought $30,000 in savings bonds online.Yep. That 2% credit card netted me $600 tax-free on that deal. And sure, I paid the card off by the end of the free-interest float, so it didn’t cost me a dime.I still have those bonds – they’re paying me over 4% interest, state-tax free. Not terrific, but easy, safe, and always there to be easily cashed if ever needed.