Happy 60th Independence Day; Am I Financially Free?

India celebrates it's 60th Independence Day today. It's that time of the year when we take stock of our progress as a nation. Eminent writers will attempt to articulate whether we have made progress and what is the road map ahead.

To my mind, we have made a lot of progress and considering the set of conditions we operate in (democracy, Indian philosophy and work culture), I am not unhappy with what we have done till now. And I'm sanguine about the road ahead.

It is also a time when we should take a look at the financial sector reforms and progress we have made.

Also at an individual level, our personal finance decisions can result in financial freedom or a bondage with debt. The most conspicuous example is credit cards. They promise freedom from carrying money and encourage spending. But they don't tell you whether it is within your means to do the spending. The interests can trap you in a vicious circle.

So while we enjoy the freedom we have as a nation, are you as an individual, financially free? To me financial freedom means the right to do what I want to do. I still have some ground to cover when I achieve that situation.

Does being more intelligent means more money for you?

The answer is No. Read this story which says,

Being more intelligent does not confer any advantage along two of the three key dimensions of financial success (income, net worth and financial distress).

Got the link from BusinessPundit Blog

Update on India's online weekly on personal finance

The weekly update on Personal Finance 2.01 has the following articles other than the update

Will Growth slow Corruption or Corruption slow Growth
Where to find the best financial products in India
Schedule a Money Day for Yourself
Picking up stocks in the Real Estate Sector
Where to invest and Why

How to find the best financial products in India

I have been looking around for a price comparison portal for personal finance products and I found Ecompare

The site looks very promising and Clayton Scott, Director, Ecompare, was very prompt with the answers I was looking for. Yes, its about time the Indian consumer had a quality service that can help them find the right product

1. What is ECompare?

Ecompare is a price comparison service that helps users easily find the best finance products available in the market. We aim to deliver simple to use service to assist our users quickly find the most relevant products.

2. Where did the idea come from? What is the research you have done on the business model?

Ecompare is based upon the success of the price comparison concept in other countries where it has grown over the last few years. We believe that its about time the Indian consumer had a quality service that can help them find the right product. We truly believe there is great potential for our product based upon our own research.

3. Are you planning to add Insurance products and Mutual Fund products?

We will certainly be adding insurance products to our service. However our priority at this stage is to launch mobile tariff comparisons first.

4. Tell us about your team.

We are a small team of 5 based in Hyderabad. We will be expanding over the coming months as we develop a sales team.

5. How has been the response? Can you give some idea about the traffic?

We have recieved a lot of very positive feedback on the concept. One user stated-

"This service is very helpful, it saves a lot of a consumer’s time and
effort. Its one of those services that one can really use and not one
of those that looks good sounds good but does nothing. "

We only launched 4 days ago with no large marketing push. Despite this traffic statistics are very encouraging for us at this very early stage. We are here for the long haul and our business model requires steady traffic growth so that is the key for us at this stage.

6. What are your goals with ECompare? I mean the number of page views daily and the revenue targets.

The goal for ecompare is to develop into the premier price comparison site in India. We truly want to deliver a service that helps our users save time and money and becomes a powerful tool for them in their search for the best financial products.

We believe that if we keep developing a quality information resource with expanding services our traffic and revenue targets will be achieved.

7. How do you market ECI?

SEO will be a major focus for us at this early point. As we expand the concept we will look to use wider marketing campaigns both online and offline.

All the best, Mr. Scott.

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