LIfe Insurance & PPF

Disaster at work has left me miserable & with no time to do proper research for my tax planning.

Came across this article the other day, think its quite informative. http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/feb/05tax-planning-tips-for-salaried-people.htm

This article helps in understanding sections under which we can claim decuctions and also gives good suggestions.

Due to paucity of time & approaching deadlineam investing my money in PPF, which seems to be the safest bet now. I read about LIC launching a new plan, but don't want to blindly invest without understanding the product correctly. With so many life insurance products floating, one really needs to know exactly what will be the right product and not get fooled by an agent. So often I have come across people who have policies that they dont even understand or know benefits of. And off course I can say this from personal experience too! In my case my parents suggested a policy, but honestly i don't know the details even after paying premiums for the past 4 years. Sad but true.

However for the new financial year am going to work out my financial goals and work towards fulfilling them. I realise like most people I keep putting off financial planning through the year and wake up only in the month of February to arbitarily invest in products to save tax. Its a very wrong thing to do and something I won't recommend to youngsters starting out now.

Am taking some time off tomorrow to go to the bank SBI to start my PPF account. I read on one of the sites that PPF accounts can be opened at ICICI, but can't see any link on their website and have no time to go bank hopping tomorrow. So it's got to be my local SBI bank.

Will give an update on how good / bad my experience was!