How to Use Headphones With Your TV

So you’ve got a nice big widescreen TV and an amazing home theater setup. Your speakers offer excellent sound — there’s just one problem. You want to use it while people are sleeping or otherwise busy. That means turning to headphones.

Unfortunately, you won’t find a clearly marked headphone jack on most TVs. But you can connect any old pair of headphones to your TV if you know what you’re doing.

A Remote or Controller With a Headphone Jack

Depending on the device you’re currently using on your TV, there are a number of ways to connect headphones to it.

For example, if you have the Roku 3, it includes a remote with a built-in headphone jack. While watching anything on the Roku 3, you can plug any old pair of headphones into the Roku 3’s remote and it will be transmitted wirelessly to you.

Many game consoles offer similar features. The PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 wireless controller offers a built-in headphone jack you can plug any pair of headphones into, although you’ll have to go into your PlayStation 4’s settings screen and configure it to send all audio to the controller’s headset — not just voice chat. The Nintendo Wii U’s GamePad also has a built-in headphone jack.

Microsoft’s Xbox One controllers don’t, so you’ll need a special headset jack adapter. Whether you’re playing console games or watching videos on a service like Netflix, YouTube, or Hulu, any audio your console outputs can be sent to those headphones.

The PlayStation 4 also supports USB headsets if you plug them into any of its USB ports, although the Xbox One does not.

Your TV or Another Device Might Offer a Headphone Jack

Some TVs actually have headphone jacks, allowing to connect any headphones with the typical 3.5mm audio connector to them. Just plug the headphones in and go — you may need to change your audio output settings to have the TV send the audio over the headphone port, however. This solution is convenient because it sends all the TV’s audio over the headphones, no matter what device they come from.

If you’re watching TV coming from a cable set-top box, that cable box itself may have a headphone jack. Check your devices and see what they offer.

Get an Adapter or Converter

Your TV probably doesn’t offer a headphone jack, so you’ll need an adapter that can connect your headphones to the type of audio output it offers. Check which types of audio output your TV supports for this — examine its specifications or just peek at the back of your TV set and see what’s there.

Old-style RCA audio output is becoming less common, but it’ll work really well if your TV has it. RCA audio is analog, just like a standard pair of headphonse with a 3.5mm audio jack. This means you can just purchase a cheap RCA-to-3.5mm adapter and use it to connect a pair of headphones to the back of your TV.

Modern TVs may no longer have analog RCA audio outputs. They may just have digital audio output. In this case, you can’t just get an adapter- – you’ll need a converter that will convert the digital signal to an analog one as well as provide the appropriate jack. You’ll want to look for something like this digital-to-analog audio converter that will take a digital audio signal from your TV, convert it to an analog signal, and provide a 3.5mm headset jack.

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For a wireless solution, you can get a pair of wireless headphones with a transmitter that plugs into the audio jack on your television. You can then listen to any audio that would normally come out of your TV entirely wirelessly with no cables getting in the way. Wireless headphones make a lot of sense for a home theater system, especially if the cable would otherwise coming from the back of your TV all the way across the room.

Why You Can’t Undo Sending an Email (and When You Can)

You can’t normally “undo” an email sent by mistake. Some email clients have undo-like features, such as the “Recall” feature in Microsoft Outlook, but these won’t work most of the time.

When sending emails, don’t click the Send button until you’re absolutely sure you want to send the email. Whether it’s a message you wish you hadn’t sent or just an embarrassing typo, you can’t usually take it back.

A Sent Email is Out of Your Control

An email isn’t like a comment on a website, which you can delete or edit after-the-fact because it’s stored in a single place that allows editing — on that website. When you send an email, your email client sends a copy of the email message to everyone you email. Their email server receives it and shows it in their email client.

There’s no way to go back and undo an email that’s already sent out. The copy is on someone else’s mail server, completely out of your control.

Microsoft Outlook does contain a “Recall” feature that allows you to recall email messages in certain cases. Other email clients — including Gmail with its “Undo Send” labs feature — also allow you to “undo” an email you’ve already sent, but this feature is just sleight-of-hand.

How Outlook’s Recall Feature Works

Microsoft Outlook only allows you to recall or retract messages in limited circumstances. You must be using a Microsoft Exchange email system, and you must be on the same Exchange server as the recipient. This feature may work when you’re emailing your coworkers, but you can’t use it when you’re emailing someone with a home email account or sending emails to addresses outside of your organization.

Outlook’s recall feature works by sending a message to the other person’s inbox. The message asks their email client to please delete the email you just sent. By default, Outlook will delete the email message if they haven’t read it yet. However, it’s possible for a user to disable this feature so Outlook will ignore these requests. The Recall feature is just a way of asking nicely if their email client would do you the favor of deleting an email message you already sent.

If the person has already read your message, your message will not be erased but the recipient will be informed that you want to delete the message. If you send a particularly embarrassing email, both the email and the follow-up request to delete it may be visible in a person’s inbox. If your original email contained an amusing typo or error, the follow-up request to delete it may make the situation all the more amusing.

While this feature can be useful to delete messages with typos or other errors and send along an updated copy, reducing the clutter in your coworkers’ inboxes, you can’t count on it to retract emails you wish you never sent.

Time Delays Can Give You an “Undo” Button

Some mail clients can give you the ability to press “undo” after sending an email — perhaps you’ve just noticed a typo or another embarrassing mistake, or perhaps you sent the email in a moment of passion and you’re now regretting the language you chose.

This works not by actually retracting a sent email, but by adding a delay before your email client actually sends the message out.

For example, if you’re a Gmail user, you can open Gmail’s settings, click Labs, and enable the “Undo Send” lab feature. It will give you a few seconds after you send an email, allowing you to click Undo to stop the email from being sent. Gmail is just waiting a few extra seconds after you click the Send button, giving you some time to change your mind.

Other email clients may have features that can work in a similar way. For example, you can uncheck the “Send Immediately When Connected” option in the Advanced section on Outlook’s Options screen. This may give you a few minutes to “undo” the message by cancelling the outgoing send operation before the next timed send/receive operation, when the message will be sent out.

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Outlook and Gmail may have features that try to give you additional peace of mind, but don’t be deceived. They don’t work perfectly — even in the case of Gmail, if you’re a second late, that email will be gone and you can’t take it back. When sending email, pause before clicking the Send button and be sure you’re ready for that email to go out.

How to Extend Your Android Tablet’s Battery Life When You’re Not Using it

Fewer things annoy us than when we set our Android tablet aside for a few days only to return to a low or even dead battery. This shouldn’t be happening, so it’s time to try to fix it.

Every device has its Achille’s heel of sorts. Sometimes it’s a poor camera, others it’s a terrible user interface, but most of the time it’s battery life. We’ve come to expect more of batteries. They should last days. Having to go everywhere with a charger should be a thing of the past, or at least fading in the rearview.

A tablet’s battery should last for much longer simply because they’re typically far larger than a phone’s. We also use tablets differently. We use tablets in spurts, such as at night when we’re watching TV or lying in bed shopping. Tablets are more tailored toward consuming than productivity (that’s not a universal truth, just our experience) so you might use them for a few hours a week. Mostly, however, our tablets lie idle, waiting for us to take a break.

To that end, with all that time just sitting there, why do we keep finding our tablet’s batteries down to nothing? If we set it aside and don’t pick it up for a few days, should we really have to charge it before we can use it again?

The Scourge of Background Data Sync

The answer typically has to do with background data, which means that even though the tablet is lying there seemingly dormant, it’s still receiving notifications from the various apps you’ve installed. If you’ve ever opened up your tablet to see alerts from Facebook, Gmail and so forth, that’s what we’re talking about.

Most of the time we don’t need those notifications. Not when we’re using our phones or checking from our laptops all day.

If you’re using Android 5 Lollipop, there are a couple things you can do. You might try disabling busy app notifications, which may help extend battery life.

While these tricks may help, it is unclear whether or not they do as thorough a job as simply turning off background data completely. Also, these features do nothing to help the millions using pre-Lollipop Android.

The Venerable Power Control Widget to the Rescue

We’ve done a lot of searching through the settings to give you one good way to save your tablet’s idle battery life and none of them do the job like the time-honored power control widget, which has been around for what seems like forever.

Power control is still there, and if you have a 4×1 spot on your home screen, then you should definitely use it.

The power control widget is very useful because it allows you to easily enable, disable, or adjust, the five features on your device that are the most notorious battery wasters: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, background data sync, and screen brightness.

Once it occupies a spot on your home screen, you can use it to toggle those aforementioned battery wasters. Note, background data sync is the symbol with two arrows between GPS and brightness. In this screenshot, we have it off, which means the tablet will not receive any updates or notifications unless we explicitly check.

Power controls (left to right): Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS (location), background data sync, and brightness

Another advantage to this widget is it works just as well on phones, so you’ve got the same kind of instant control over things even if you use your phone differently from your tablet.

Your use of the power controls will likely vary from tablet to phone, but will be no less useful.

Best of all, no matter your Android version, be it Lollipop, Kit Kat, Key Lime Pie, or Gingerbread, the power control widget’s appearance and features remain consistent. And, while we don’t expect a great deal of Android users to be running a version as old as 2.x, its nice to know there’s one reliable way to alleviate battery woes.

Other Possible Idle Battery Wasters

So, it’s a good idea to disable background data syncing (and while you’re at it Bluetooth) on a tablet. But what about other battery wasters like Wi-Fi and apps?

As far as Wi-Fi is concerned, that’s a personal call. The power control widget makes turning Wi-Fi on and off a cinch, so there’s no reason not to turn it off if your tablet remains idle for extended periods. On the other hand, if you’re wont to pick it up at various points in the day, then it might be a bother to keep turning Wi-Fi on and off whenever you use it.

Important Note: if your tablet has 3G or LTE and a data plan, disabling Wi-Fi is probably going to be a bad idea for your battery life, because instead of using fast Wi-Fi to transfer data, your tablet will start using the much slower 3G/4G data connection. In that case you could turn on Airplane mode to disable those connections as well.

There’s another way that’s a little more advantageous because it turns W-iFi on and off for you. Open the Wi-Fi settings in Android (we’re showing the screens from Lollipop, but they’re the same on Kit Kat), then click “Advanced.”

On the Advanced screen, note there’s a setting to “keep Wi-Fi on during sleep.” Change this to “Never” and Wi-Fi will automatically turn off once your device enters sleep mode.

When you wake your device such as by pressing the power button, Wi-Fi will turn back on and automatically reconnect.

Often another likely culprit of idle battery drain are apps that don’t allow the device to sleep. It’s hard to say which apps those might be but if you come back to your tablet after a day or two and find it needs charging, and you’ve disabled background syncing, turned off Bluetooth, and WiFi only works while the device is on, it could be a problem application.

At that point, it’s a good idea to open your battery settings and take a look at what’s going on. This will be your best way of diagnosing which apps are sucking your battery dry.

The battery settings are a reliable way to see if there are any apps using an inordinate amount of battery.

We should take a moment to stress that if your device is old and has endured hundreds of charge cycles, then its capacity will be much diminished. Regardless, even with an older device, you should be able to set it aside and not return to find it dead.

Using Lollipop’s Battery Saver

Starting with Android 5, Google added a battery saver feature, which will reduce Android’s energy footprint even further. While in the Battery settings, you want to tap the three dots in the upper-right corner and select “battery saver.”

Once enabled, battery saver will disable animations and transparent effects, turn off syncing (if you haven’t already), and limit vibration, thus allowing you to possibly eke out a few more hours.

Battery saver is really intended to be a last gasp type feature and not something that you’d use all the time. You can configure it to kick on automatically when your tablet’s battery gets down to either fifteen or five percent, but to actually turn it on, you have to keep opening the battery settings so it’s not really convenient.

We do recommend enabling the saver to come on in low battery situations to avoid total depletion. If you do enable battery saver, or it comes on automatically, you can turn it off by plugging the device in, or from the the notification system.

If you’re using a device with Lollipop installed, make sure you enable battery saver, but try the more nuanced approaches before severely reducing your device’s capabilities.

5 Safe Investment Options Other Than Bank Deposits

Individuals who are risk averse always look to invest in safe instruments as the returns are fixed and will get back the principal on time.

Other than bank fixed deposits there are few other risk free and safe investment options for risk averse individuals.

However, in recent times, there has been fall in interest rates in bank deposits, so one can consider these options for better returns.

1) Tax free bonds

Tax free bonds when issued come with the coupon rate of between 7-9.05 per cent and the interest earned on the bond is tax free. For those who missed these tax free opportunities, can still buy the same from the secondary markets.

One should always remember that bond prices are inversely proportional to interest rates.

As most of the bonds are backed by government institutions and are hence very safe to buy.

2) Debt mutual Funds

Debt mutual funds can give better returns then bank deposits, as the amount will be parked into different government securities and safe corporate bonds.

However, one should consider the risk with respect to interest rate fluctuation as it can be higher.

Also, considering the tax aspect, debt mutual funds are better as interest earned on a bank deposit is added to your total income and taxed accordingly. while, in debt funds you can opt for dividends distribution which is tax free in the hands of the investor.

3) Monthly Income Scheme

Monthly Income Plan (MIP) is debt-oriented mutual fund scheme with income generation. Major part of investment here are made in debt funds which provide returns and stability and some amount in equity related instruments which will help in generating higher returns.

It generally has 75-80 per cent of its corpus in debt and rest in equity and cash.

4) Corporate NCD

One can look for investment in corporate bonds which are high rated which makes there investment comparatively safe.

The payment of interest and maturity on these bonds will be backed by the company from the revenue stream of the company.

5) PPF, SSC and NSC

These instruments are safe and can be considered if one is looking for long term investments. The main issue with these investment option is liquidity, as it is not suggested to liquidate before maturity.

Conclusion

Before investing one needs to look at various factors such as tenure, taxation part and liquidity. These mentioned instruments can be a part of portfolio to mitigate risk from other riskier investment made.

Where And How To Buy A Tax Free Bond In India?

There are many individuals who wish to purchase a tax free bond in India to save tax on interest amount. Many do not have an idea on how to go about purchasing the same.

A few years ago we had many companies that came with these tax free bonds. These included the likes of Indian Railways Finance Corporation Tax Free Bonds, HUDCO Tax Free Bonds, National Highways Authority of India etc.

What Are The Benefits of Buying A Tax Free Bond?

When you buy a tax free bond, the interest that you receive from this tax free bond is exempt from tax. This means that the interest does not have to be added to total income for the computation of tax.

Let's take an example. If you invest in a bank fixed deposit and you get an interest of Rs 10,000. This has to be added to total income and the tax computed accordingly.

In the case of a tax free bond the same need not be added to the total income. What this means is that the income is totally exempt from tax.

Where can You Buy Tax Free Bonds in India?

You can buy tax free bonds from your trading account, just as you buy shares. You can either call your broker and place an order or you can buy it yourself if you are trading online.

Before buying the bond it is better to check the price, interest rate, book closure date. You can do so by visiting, www.nseindia.com. In the box just click the security you wish to purchase.

After that click securities information. You will get all of the possible information including the interest rate, book closure, expiry of the bond date etc.

What is most important to note is the price and the interest rate. If you are getting an interest rate of 8.1 per cent and if you buy the bond at Rs 1100, the original price of which was Rs 1000, your yield is going to fall.

Therefore, while you may get an interest rate of 8.1 per cent your overall returns would be lower, because you are not paying Rs 1000 like the original owner, but Rs 1100.

Most of the listed bonds in India are AAA rated and are government owned. The expiry date is generally 10, 15 and 20 years from the date of issue.

So, the next time you are buying a bond make sure that you check all the details, the most important being interest rates and the bond price.

Does your Home Insurance Cover Natural Calamities Like Earthquake and Tsunami?

Individuals take so much pain in building their dream home and decorating with expensive items, but fail to take insurance for the same.

As one spends huge amount on the home and other necessary things insuring the same will only help you stay peacefully.

With the recent Nepal earthquake which has shocked the entire world, one needs to be prepared to face such calamities and its aftermath.

Some insurance not only covers earthquake, tsunami and floods but also the contents in the home. So before buying a home insurance policy one needs to check various aspects.

While looking for home loan, banks do not offer the insurance on your home, however, one needs to make extra effort on what needs to be included or any add on are needed.

If the general home insurance does not cover the contents in the home, you need to make a separate policy.

Insurance Against Natural Disaster

Fire, earthquake, flood, cyclone, storm, landslide can be some of the natural disasters.

Here are some insurance companies which provide insurances against natural calamities.

ICICI Lombard's Home Insurance

ICICI Lombard's Home Insurance, comprehensive cover, covers both structure and contents of your home. It also provides cover against Fire and allied perils, Burglary & Theft.

Optional cover for Terrorism and Additional expenses of rent for alternative accommodation.

Content Insurance includes Clothes, kitchen appliances, electronic gadgets, furniture, jewelery, paintings, etc. Any article that you would take while shifting your residence should be covered under the Contents Policy.

The policy excludes, acts of war and nuclear accidents, willful destruction of property, weather-related damage to exposed wood such as fences.

HDFC Ergo's Home Insurance

This policy covers fire, lightning, explosion and implosion, storm, cyclone, typhoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado, flood and inundation, earthquake, volcanic eruption and other convulsions of nature.

HDFC Ergo's Standard Fire and Special Perils covers fire, lightning, explosion, storm, tempest, flood, inundation group of perils.

FIR is mandatory in case of malicious damage, riot and strike, terrorism, burglary and theft.

Tata AIG's Standard Fire and Special Perils

Under this insurance, the perils insured are fire, lightning, explosion or implosion, impact damage, aircraft impact, bursting, overflowing of water tanks, storm, cyclone, typhoon, hurricane, tempest, tornado, flood, inundation, subsidence, landslide, riots, strikes, malicious damage, missile testing operations.

Additionally, there are options to insure Earthquake and Terrorism risks and a host of other add-on covers.

Bharti AXA's Standard Fire and Special Perils

It covers fire, lightning, riot,strike and Malicious Damage, Explosion or Implosion.

Loss, destruction or damage caused by war, invasion, act of foreign enemy hostilities or war like operations, civil war, mutiny are not covered.

How To Reduce Interest Rate And Charges On Your Loans?

All you need to do to reduce interest rates on your loans is to do a little effort in terms of research and inquiries. There are several ways you could reduce your interest rates on loans as well as overall costs.

Here a few steps to reduce your interest costs on loans.

a) Personal Loans Vs Gold Loans Vs Loans Against Shares

The type of loans you take would make a difference in terms of interest rates. Personal loans could come slightly cheaper than gold loans depending on your own credit worthiness. You could still end-up with personal loan interest rate of around 12 per cent, while gold loans could come slightly more expensive. But, the 12 per cent mentioned above is the best you could get, while personal loans can go as high as 24 per cent interest rate per annum.

Loans against shares is another good option, but, here you would have to have a specified category of good quality stocks, if you wish to avail a loan.

b) Different Interest Rate From Different Banks 

You would also have to do a little more research, if you want to get a competitive interest rate for loans. For example, for home loans at the moment State Bank of India is the best. There are portals that offer you a comparison of interest rates, but those need to be updated at regular intervals.

c) Cheaper Education Loans For Girls 

Remember that education loans are cheaper for girls. Most of the government banks charge reduced rate for education loan for girls. So, if you are looking to raise money for the study of a girl, it's best to look at education loans and not opt for personal loans to raise the required resources.

d) Avoid Personal Loans As There is A Huge pre-payment Charge 

Try and avoid personal loans as they come with huge pre-payment charges. For example, a leading private sector bank charges as much as 4 per cent on the outstanding loan amount as pre-paid charges. Therefore, try and shift to another loan like a loan against shares.

e) Home Loans Comparison A Must 

Since home loans are big ticket loans a small difference of 0.10 per cent can mean a lot. It is best to compare loans before you go in for a home loan. At the moment, HDFC and State Bank of India would be the best around.

f) Do Not Prepay A Loan In Advanced Stage of Completion

In the initial part of the loan the servicing of the interest rate is far higher. So, in the latter part only a small portion of interest and majority of principle amount remains.

Let's give you an example. If your personal loan is for 5 years and you have already completed 4 years, it does not make sense to repay the loan, because bulk of it would now be principle amount. What's the use of paying it back, when your interest component in the loan would almost be negligible. You would hardly save on interest by paying early.

Conclusion

Remember to do adequate research before you go in for a loan. A small saving in interest can actually mean a lot. Use all of the above measures to reduce your loan liability.

Credit Card: 9 Points to Consider Before Buying

Most people don't buy credit card simply because they are unaware of how it works. Understanding how it works enable to come out of your inhibitions. Here is what happens when you give your card to merchant.

Credit cards also known as plastic money comes with advantage that will allow you to purchase now and pay later option.

How it works?

The merchant swipes the card through machine which instantly read all the details pertaining to card with the help of magnetic strip at the back of your credit card. The merchandiser than feeds the purchase amount and after you enter the PIN, the machine connects to the issuing bank of the card via telephone lines. Verification is done at this stage such as limit of the customer, whether it has been reported as lost or stolen. Once verified, it sends the two transaction slips, one needs to be signed by you and return to merchant and other copy is given to you for your reference.

Credit cards are issued on individual capacity depending on his age and his monthly income. Before buying one should confirm the interest rate they charge. Credit cards are usually charged at a rate of 3.35 - 3.49% per month. However, it varies from bank to bank.

Here are 9 points which one should consider before buying a credit card

1 Credit card can be used alternative to hard cash
2 Every Credit card has different limit, depending on individual income and request.
3 Credit statement helps in maintaining record for all transactions
4 There are regular credit card charges(usually yearly, or on lost cards)
5 One can make use of grace period offered by banks to make payment.
6 Delay in payment of bills after the due date will attract late payment fees, which will added to your next billing amount.
7 In case of withdrawal higher fees are charged
8 Credit cards offer exciting offers, rewards points and discounts
9 Service tax is applicable.

7 Financial Commitments For Individuals in 30s

It is never too early too start planning your finances, its better you start early and reap the benefits of power of compounding.

Managing finances comes only with experience as each individuals financial commitments and earning capacity defers.

Individuals in 30s are financial stable and can bear some risk, long term investments can work well for them.

1) Importance of Inflation

Do not just blindly invest, understand the inflation rate and compare them with your financial goals. Say for example, just by merely putting your money in bank deposits will not help in reaching bigger goals.

Only, investing your money can fetch you higher returns. However, there is risk associated with such instruments.

2) Invest for Retirement

If you still have not planned for the retirement than do not delay further. Saving for retirement must be vital part of investment strategies.

3) Seek help from Technology

Individuals in 30s are mostly tech friendly and one can make use of investing automatically by just subscribing for them. Such as investing regularly in Mutual Funds, SIP, Recurring deposits.

This will help you save unknowingly without much pain.

4) Get Insurance

It is must to have an insurance policy, which will help your family when you are not around.

Having a right insurance will help you in saving tax as well as save the expenses or else which you should shed from your pocket in case of accident or any such need.

5) Home Loan

If you are in higher tax bracket, home loan can save much of your tax and at the same time one can enjoy being in a own home.

6) Emergency Fund

At this stage, emergency fund is a must as any unexpected expense can make dent in the savings.

If you don't have emergency fund then you will be forced to break your FD or remove funds which will have impact on your future commitments and as of now banks levy penalty for premature withdrawal.

7) Make a Will

One may think , preparing Will at this age may be early. Yes, it may be, but life is uncertain.

When you are financially prepared why not this step? Creating a Will is not expensive, however, one can make changes when and so needed.

5 Ways To Financially Secure Your Future

Planning your financial future is very important and your main motive should not only be retirement planning but also to make a financially secure future.

It is always better to start planning your finance early, so that you enjoy the power of compounding.

During the initial years the burden of financial commitments will be less and you can have higher possiblity to save more. With time, income and debt tend to increase.

So, while planning for future one should consider different ways, set goals based on the financial requirement.

Here are few smart ways on how you can financially secure your future.

1) Get Insured

Individuals should have an insurance cover, so that it will protect them as well family during the financial emergency.

It is also better to buy insurance for other assets such as house, auto, business etc as the insurance companies will compensate for the losses incurred. However, one should carefully go through all the terms and conditions.

2) Have a Long term Plan

Long term plan should be specifically meant to meet long term investments. It can be a stock or Mutual funds or any other investments, holding it in a long run will be fruitful. Diversification of investment in different sectors will help you reduce risk.

However, one needs to monitor the funds or stock and check the performance regularly.

3) Retirement Amount

Set a separate account and regular contribution and increase the amount depending on the need. The main thing to consider while planning for the retirement is the lifestyle you want to lead when you are aged. Based on that make your planning. Remember, if you save less now, it will be difficult to maintain the same life style during the retirement period.

4) Avoid Debt

To have a sound financial future, one should try to avoid unnecessary debt. Disciplined habits such as paying your credit card bills on time and not missing EMIs will help not getting into deeper debt.

5) Emergency Fund

Spread your investment, but keep some emergency fund handy. So that you need not lose the interest part on FD or sell your stocks which could give you better return in long run.

Conclusion

Be a financial literate, which will help you in making wise financial decisions. Understanding the concept of the financial product and choosing based on your needwill not make you regret on your decisions.

What Is The Difference Between Sister Company and A Subsidiary?

An individual parent company could hold a number of subsidiary or sister companies so as to facilitate growth of different divisions or a businesses.

Sometimes when there is a need to expand and diversify and many companies would prefer using a subsidiary or a sister company for the purpose.

Parent company could be considered in the same way as a tree with various branches. Some of the bigger corporates can have subsidiaries and sister companies that can easily be even in excess of 100.

Now, let's take a simple example of Mahindra and Mahindra. The flagship company is called Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, which is largely into Tractors, Automobiles etc.

It has as many as 110 subsidiaries. Among these subsidiaries include companies like Mahindra Aerospace, a venture into the Aerospace Industry. It has got many other subsidiaries like Mahindra Forgings, which is into components and other subsidiaries like Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services etc., which is into financial services.

The objective of setting up subsidiaries is largely to engage into expansion or diversification of the business.

It maybe noted that a subsidiary is an independent legal entity that is duly registered. The overall guidance may come from the parent company or maybe independent of the same. What is certain though is that in terms of shareholding the parent company would have majority control or mostly 100 per cent holding in its subsidiary.

Sister companies on the other hand are not very different. They are largely owned by the parent company. Most of the sister companies are engaged in a different line of business, though very rarely they might compete with each other.

Both sister company and subsidiaries are not too different from each other and are often used as a substitute. But, a sister company could often be smaller and could also be a much smaller division of the larger parent company.

What is the Difference Between IFSC and MICR Code?

In the banking world, IFSC and MICR are common terms used for financial transactions such as transferring money through NEFT, RTGS. However, there are many who are still confused about the concept and importance of these terms. Let us try to clarify and understand the difference and importance of both the terms.

MICR Code:

MICR Code, stand for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. This can be found in all the cheques at the bottom white line which is known as MICR Band. This code can be used for international transactions as well. This is used for enhancing the security in the transactions.

MICR is very old system, used for ensuring the safety and security of negotiable instruments, to facilitate the processing of the cheques.

MICR code contains the details of the cheque such as serial number, the 9 digit number. The first three digits represent the city, next three represent the bank and the last three digits indicates the branch. The code was introduced by RBI to make NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) quick and efficient.

As MICR code is written with a special magnetic ink, thus fraud cases can be easily determined through check done by the magnetic scanner.

A typical MICR code is as: 110229003 wherein the first 3 numbers serve to identify the city code, center three identify the bank code and the last digits its branch code.

110 City Code 
229 Bank code
003 Branch Code

IFSC Code:

IFSC code stands for Indian Finance System code. This code identify all the NEFT participating bank branches uniquely.

This code is used by electronic payment system applications such as RTGS ( Real Time Gross Settlement), NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer), CFMS (Centralised Funds Management Systems).

To transfer funds, one needs to know the IFSC code, so that the beneficiary gets the funds directly in his account. There is no physical dispatch of cheques between the clearing house and the banks is involved. This unique code system is used for instant transfer of money using internet.

A typical IFSC code is as : HDFC0000351 wherein the first 4 alphabets serve to identify the bank and the last digits its branch which in this case refers to the branch.

10 Smart Ways To Avoid Cheque Fraud

With internet banking and mobile banking occupying a prominent place in banking transactions, traditional ways still are considered safe for some individuals.

With advancement of technology, fraudsters have many ways to defraud easily. So one should be really careful, while handling any finance related things.

Cheque fraud can happen by forgery or counterfeiting and alteration. Here are 10 smart ways to avoid cheque fraud.

1) Never leave your cheque book in the open. Place your cheques, bank statements and cancelled cheques in safe and secure area.

2) Once you receive your cheque book, make sure that all the leaves are intact, and that none are missing. In case of missing report to the bank immedietly.

3) Never sign a cheque before hand unless you are about to hand over to someone.

4) Destroy cancelled cheque immediately, by properly scribbling the cheque number and MICR code.

5) It is always suggested to look at your bank statement.

6) After writing the payee name draw a line till the end of the place. This is to ensure that you are not giving any space to make any alteration in the name. Write the name intact and do not leave space between letters. 

7) It is always better to cross the cheque at the left corner, if there is no need of cash transaction. By drawing two lines and writing ‘Account Payee' means that the cheque can only be transferred to another account.

8) Suffix the amount for which the cheque is drawn with "/-" For instance, Rs. 25,000 should be quoted as Rs. 25,000/-

9) Keep a record of all details of the drawn cheque including cheque number, date of issue for further reference.

10) In case of account closure, destroy all unused cheques.

7 Differences Between a Cheque and Demand Draft

Cheque and Demand draft(DD) are negotiable instrument, both are mechanism used to make payments.

A cheque is a Bill of Exchange drawn on a specified banker and not expressed to be payable otherwise than on demand.
The Demand Draft is a pre-paid Negotiable Instrument, wherein the drawee bank acts as guarantor to make payment in full when the instrument is presented.

In business transaction cheque is not usually accepted as the drawer and payee and unknown and there will be credit risk. So, in such cases Demand draft where transfer of money is guaranteed.

Here are few basic difference between cheque and DD

1.) Cheque is issued by customer, whereas Demand draft issued by bank

2.) In cheque payment is made after presenting cheque to bank, while in DD is given after making payment to bank.

3.) Cheque can bounce due to insufficient balance . DD cannot be dishonored as amount is paid before hand.

4.) Payment of cheque can be stopped by drawee, whereas payment cannot be stopped in DD.

5.) A cheque can be paid to bearer or order. While, DD is paid to person on order.

6.) In cheque drawer and payee are different person. In DD, both parties are banks.

7.) A cheque needs signature to transfer amount, While DD does not require signature to transfer funds

However, banks do charge certain amount depending on the amount on Demand draft. Outstation cheque are also charged.

How to Crop and Edit Photos with Android or iPhone

Taking photos with your phone is just how people do it nowadays. While this makes it really easy to instantly share them, before you do, you can crop and apply a number of edits to make your photos look their best.

Smartphones are an almost perfect dissemination technology. Take a picture and a few taps later, it’s on the Internet. Before you do that, however, take a few moments to fix up your photos with cropping, color adjustments, and enhancements

Both Android and iOS have a pretty decent set of editing options included with their systems, meaning you can really set your snaps apart if you want to take the time to experiment.

And we do want stress, this is as much about experimenting as knowing what you want to do. There’s a lot you can do to your photos, so it’s a good idea to spend some time just messing around and seeing where your creativity takes you.

Editing Photos on Your iPhone or iPad

Editing photos on your iPhone or iPad is really easy. The Photos app on iOS packs a lot of features into it. When you want to edit one of your photos, you just select it and then tap the “Edit” button in the upper-right corner.

When you open a photo to edit, you’ll see four controls along the right edge. The magic wand at the top automatically make fixes it thinks your photo needs.

The four editing tools squared in red. Whenever you’re happy with your changes, you can tap the “Done” button in the upper-right corner.

The crop tool let’s you freely rotate your photos or drag the corners inward. At the top, next to the “Done” button, you will see an icon to rotate your picture 45 degrees.

If you change your mind, tap the “Reset” button.

Note also, if you want to constrain your crop to a specific ratio, you need to tap the small icon next to the “Cancel” option in the lower-right corner.

Beyond simple crop and rotate controls, Photos also has a few presets you can try out. This is completely non-destructive, so if none of these are appealing, you can simply revert to the original.

Anything you can select from the preset effects can be accomplished using the manual controls, or you can use the manual controls to further edit one of these effects.

Manual adjustments let you change your photos’s lighting (exposure, highlight, shadows, etc.), color (saturation, contrast, cast), and also black and white levels (tone, grain, etc.).

When you make adjustments manually, you can slide the control up or down to flip through changes quickly. If you really want to dig into things and perform fine-grained edits, click the icon below the selector.

Here are the sub-options that we see if we do this with the Color selector. Tapping any of these will let you make even more specific adjustments to the photo’s saturation, contrast, or cast; you make adjustments in this same way to the other two (Light and B&W) as well.

Whenever you’re finished making edits, you need to tap the “Done” button in the upper-right corner. If you decide you want to discard the changes, you can tap “Cancel” in the lower-right corner.

Finally, if you realize you want to undo all your changes, reopen your edited photo and tap “Revert.”

Once you’re finished editing and you’ve saved your changes, you can share your newly reimagined photo and wow your friends with your skills.

Editing Photos on (Most) Android Devices

Android 5 Lollipop (at least how Google distributes it) also comes with an app called “Photos” (part of Google+) and like its iOS counterpart, it too has a pretty extensive set of editing controls.

When you open your photo with the Photos app, you’ll see three buttons along the bottom, tap the pencil to edit.

Editing in Android isn’t remarkably different from iOS. The controls are laid out along the bottom instead of the right edge, and there’s a bit more control immediately at your fingertips, but the functions are largely the same.

Like iOS there is a magic wand auto-fix feature, but crop and rotate are separate controls.

The crop controls also work similar to iOS; you just drag inward from the edges or corners. In the bottom-right, you can choose free crop or constrain it to a square.

There are also quite a few “Looks” you can flip through to alter a photo’s appearance. At any time you want to compare the new look to the original, you tap the rectangle with the vertical line icon (pointed out by our handy red arrow).

To discard changes, tap the “X” and to apply them, the little checkmark.

With many of the editing options such as “Tune Image” and “Selective”, you can choose different controls by sliding your finger up or down, then slide your finger left or right to adjust the selected control.

Sliding your finger up and down lets you select controls while left and right lets you make fine-grained changes with that control.

Remember, you can easily compare your changes with the original by holding the original button (previously mentioned). If you tap the help button (circle with the question mark), Photos will show you how to use each feature.

Android’s Photos app also has a few effects you can play around with (Vintage, Drama, Black & White, etc.) and you can add frames.

Notice in this example, we’ve selected the “Tilt Frame” effect, which you can drag and change to your liking. In the lower-right corner, tap the “Style” button so you can choose different styles within each effect.

There’s a lot to play with and again, we encourage experimentation. If you change your mind you can always go back. To do this, tap the three dots in the upper-right corner and choose “Revert” from the list.

Before we conclude, let’s take a moment to note that many Android users may still be using the older “Gallery” app, such as if you have Android prior to Lollipop. Gallery too has almost the same editing features, which can be opened by tapping on the brush.

And, as with our two “Photos” apps, you’ve got all the same types of functions and controls at your fingertips.

That said, if you’re running a heavily modified version of Android such as a Samsung variant, the photo app on your device may be very different. Don’t worry, it should have all these editing controls and perhaps even a few more.

If you don’t have Google’s Photos app, it can be downloaded as part of Google+ from the Play Store for free, but it’s more than likely the app you have on your phone will do everything you need it to do.