Ranjan Varma Money Tree by Ranjan Varma MoneyTree is back. To some of you who doubted if the MoneyTree was dead, let me assure you that the “Tree” was growing roots that were not visible above the ground! You must have heard of the tale of two friends who planted seeds at the same time. While one friend was happy that a sapling sprouted up in quick time, the other friend was worried as there were no signs of anything coming up from the seed he planted. However in time, while the first sapling grew up to be a shrub, the other plant that took it’s own sweet time, grew into a giant Tree.... 

Money Tree Real Example of Mis-selling and the Cost of Free Advice By Ranjan Varma In the last column of the MoneyTree, we discussed the cost of free advice . The assumption was that the commission based advice sets you back by just 2% in return. And this 2% setback translates into Rs 1 crore over a period of 30 years. Let’s take a live case and see that the cost of free advice can be much more monstrous. Dr. Kumar De (name changed) is a renowned Doctor in Kolkata. Despite being an expert in his field and being a man of intelligence and maturity, he’s at the receiving end of the mis-selling... 

Money Tree Mental Accounting v/s Getting Real By Ranjan Varma Understanding Mental accounting is very useful when want to be able to handle our personal finances effectively. Mental accounting reflects some deep rooted behavioral patterns and it’s very useful and interesting to be able to understand our own behaviors. Yesterday, talking to a relative about real estate investments helped me understand mental accounting in a better way. Let me share it with you. My relatives bought a flat in 1999 for Rs 11 lakhs and they were about to sell it for Rs 30 lakhs. Three times in 10...