Even before we get used to high-definition TV, researchers are planning to place "3D" TV in our homes - but without the funny glasses.
Philips Electronics NV gave a peek into its research pipeline on Tuesday, demonstrating a prototype that was still fuzzy around the edges.
Operating like a holographic greeting card, it combines slightly different angles of the same image to create video that appears to have different depths as your eyes scan it.
The result is uneven, at some moments blurry, and at others merely two dimensional. But sometimes the apparent depth or protrusion can be startling.
"We say the market progression is black and white, to color, to high definition, to 3D," said Bjorn Teuwsen, demonstrating the product. "We estimate in a few years these will be in homes."
Specialised models have been sold to corporations - mostly movie theatres and casinos - where they are usually used for advertising signs, since 2006. But Philips said the product is not yet ready for consumer rollout.
Samsung is demonstrating its own no-glasses 3D television concept model this week in Las Vegas.
Philips' 3D television is one of several products shown to reporters Tuesday, ranging from space-age lighting for shop windows to energy efficient water purifiers intended for the developing world.
The company has sold more than 2 million televisions with "ambient" backlighting to heighten mood effects. The company's vice president for research, Fred Boekhorst, said Tuesday that Philips plans similar features that would involve "other senses."
Such as smell-o-vision? A TV that reaches out and punches you in the nose? Boekhorst wouldn't say, other than that it would "involve emotions."
"What next step could you take in the area of relaxation and emotion?" he said, in answer to questions.
Philips showed off lighting products in early stages of development on Tuesday, including one using light-emitting diodes that is transparent like ordinary glass until it is turned on and then its entire surface turns into a light.
"You can imagine a lot of uses for this, for instance being used in an office wall to create an instant private space," said researcher Coen Verscheuren.
For emerging markets, Philips has developed a water purification system based on ultraviolet light, which fries away organic material such as bacteria. It is quicker and uses less energy than boiling water, said researcher Georg Greuel.
Other companies also are using ultraviolet light for water purification. Philips claims its next generation will be capable of cleaning 6 litres of water per minute, using 30 watts of electricity.
Philips already has introduced a household model in India, but the technology could also be used for bottle-sized versions for individuals, and in larger installations for cities.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Top 10 Car Maintenance Tips
Top 10 Car Maintenance Mistakes
Some simple tips to save money and add life to your ride.
By Tom Wilson
Shrewdly following the maintenance schedule provided in your car's owner's manual can prevent lengthy or more expensive visits to the service shop.
Compared to the family trucksters of a generation ago, modern cars require about as much maintenance as a toaster. This is a real liberation from the oil, lube and tune merry-go-round that ruled not so long ago.
Curiously, many people haven't adjusted their thinking to keep pace with new car maintenance schedules. The preoccupied still run their daily drivers without service until the dash warning lights burn out, while over-achievers fret about running synthetic oil more than 2,500 miles without a change.
Although maintenance intervals are now more widely spaced, even the newest cars require scheduled service to live long, productive lives. Whether yours is the latest model or you paid it off years ago, the trick is giving your car the maintenance it was designed to receive.
Surprisingly, the answer to what maintenance is required is hiding no farther away than the glove box. Every car is supplied with a maintenance schedule — in the owner's manual or in a separate maintenance log book — that details that vehicle's needs. A few minutes assimilating these requirements will help you avoid the following common car-maintenance pitfalls.
Proper Tire Inflation and Rotation
Tires leak naturally and need the occasional check. Figuratively speaking, underinflated tires suck up gasoline. Under- or overinflated tires wear out sooner, and deliver the same emergency maneuver handling as marshmallows. You probably aren't going to check tire pressures monthly, but how about twice a year?
Furthermore, front and rear tires wear differently and should be rotated to even that wear. Your owner's manual will have a recommendation on both pressure and rotation periods.
Discuss: What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?
Wiper Tales
Here's a news flash: It's much easier to avoid hitting things you can see. Simple as it is, that's the concept behind replacing your windshield wipers before they fossilize into noisy uselessness.
Fall is the ideal wiper replacement time: after the blade-baking summer and before the fall and winter nastiness. Depending on location, wiper replacement may be an annual affair in the Southwest to a biannual chore in northern climes.
Tune-Up Anachronism
There are no more "tune-ups." Valves no longer need adjusting, ignition timing is computer controlled and there are no carburetors to fiddle with. About all that's left of the old tune-up drill are the spark plugs. These are often good for 100,000 miles, so don't change parts just to change parts. Instead, save up for those big 60,000- and 120,000-mile services when the timing belt, spark plug wires and coolant are due for replacement.
Octane Overdose
"If some is good, more is better" thinking does not apply to octane. Here the rule is to supply whatever octane the engine is rated for and call it done. Higher-than-required octane does not yield more power or mileage, only oil company profits.
Some engines are rated for premium 91 octane fuel but can burn 87 octane regular, thanks to the magic of knock sensors. In that case, run regular gas if puttering around surface streets, and premium fuel if full-throttle driving is part of your daily repertoire.
Oil Change Timing
Oil changes every 3,000 miles used to be required jobs, just like cleaning the accumulated fuzz from record player needles or defrosting freezers. Today, advances in engine design and lubricants make oil changes something to be done when the schedule calls for it, not when granddad says it's time. Some cars call for 5,000-mile change intervals, some up to 15,000-mile stints. Others have a variable timer. Follow the schedule and use the oil called for by the manufacturer.
Tired Tires
Tires wear out, but they also time out. The tire industry says tires are toast after five years, but they're selling tires. It all depends on heat, sunlight and ozone conditions. There's little argument from any pundits that after seven years those black donuts are dried and better off holding down a farmer's tarp than carrying your family around. If you're not sure how old your tires are, a tire shop can read the date code stamped into the sidewall.
Dirty Air Filter
Semi-clogged air filters hurt fuel economy for the same reason you don't like to run with a potato in your mouth. The question is, when is your filter dirty? Under a Norman Rockwell schedule of small-town errand running and church duty, an air filter might not see much grit. But grimy city surface streets or just looking at a dirt road on a map are often enough to overwhelm air filters. This one is about conditions. If you go near dirt, the air filter may need changing twice as often as the schedule calls for.
Discuss: What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?
Ignoring Your Brakes
Note to the Wandering Unconscious: If you notice anything different about your brakes — sound, feel or response — they are telling you to visit a mechanic. Now.
Tighten Your Gas Cap
Is the Check Engine light on? Then make sure the gas cap is on tightly before calling the dealer. No joke, this is one of the most common ways of setting off your car's diagnostic system, since a loose gas cap defeats the fuel system's venting arrangement.
The Garage Is for Parking
Let's review. Your house is your most valuable investment. Your car is likely your second most valuable investment. If you're paying all that money, then why are you storing empty cardboard boxes, broken skateboards and plastic holiday wreaths in the garage? Pitch that junk and get the car in the garage!
If it has an engine and moves, Tom Wilson is interested in it. Now a freelance auto writer, Tom tries to ride, drive, fly and float everything he can wiggle into. His credits include a few local racing championships, a decade of magazine editing, three technical engine books and many hundreds of magazine articles. Current interests include new fuels and vehicle technology.
Some simple tips to save money and add life to your ride.
By Tom Wilson
Shrewdly following the maintenance schedule provided in your car's owner's manual can prevent lengthy or more expensive visits to the service shop.
Compared to the family trucksters of a generation ago, modern cars require about as much maintenance as a toaster. This is a real liberation from the oil, lube and tune merry-go-round that ruled not so long ago.
Curiously, many people haven't adjusted their thinking to keep pace with new car maintenance schedules. The preoccupied still run their daily drivers without service until the dash warning lights burn out, while over-achievers fret about running synthetic oil more than 2,500 miles without a change.
Although maintenance intervals are now more widely spaced, even the newest cars require scheduled service to live long, productive lives. Whether yours is the latest model or you paid it off years ago, the trick is giving your car the maintenance it was designed to receive.
Surprisingly, the answer to what maintenance is required is hiding no farther away than the glove box. Every car is supplied with a maintenance schedule — in the owner's manual or in a separate maintenance log book — that details that vehicle's needs. A few minutes assimilating these requirements will help you avoid the following common car-maintenance pitfalls.
Proper Tire Inflation and Rotation
Tires leak naturally and need the occasional check. Figuratively speaking, underinflated tires suck up gasoline. Under- or overinflated tires wear out sooner, and deliver the same emergency maneuver handling as marshmallows. You probably aren't going to check tire pressures monthly, but how about twice a year?
Furthermore, front and rear tires wear differently and should be rotated to even that wear. Your owner's manual will have a recommendation on both pressure and rotation periods.
Discuss: What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?
Wiper Tales
Here's a news flash: It's much easier to avoid hitting things you can see. Simple as it is, that's the concept behind replacing your windshield wipers before they fossilize into noisy uselessness.
Fall is the ideal wiper replacement time: after the blade-baking summer and before the fall and winter nastiness. Depending on location, wiper replacement may be an annual affair in the Southwest to a biannual chore in northern climes.
Tune-Up Anachronism
There are no more "tune-ups." Valves no longer need adjusting, ignition timing is computer controlled and there are no carburetors to fiddle with. About all that's left of the old tune-up drill are the spark plugs. These are often good for 100,000 miles, so don't change parts just to change parts. Instead, save up for those big 60,000- and 120,000-mile services when the timing belt, spark plug wires and coolant are due for replacement.
Octane Overdose
"If some is good, more is better" thinking does not apply to octane. Here the rule is to supply whatever octane the engine is rated for and call it done. Higher-than-required octane does not yield more power or mileage, only oil company profits.
Some engines are rated for premium 91 octane fuel but can burn 87 octane regular, thanks to the magic of knock sensors. In that case, run regular gas if puttering around surface streets, and premium fuel if full-throttle driving is part of your daily repertoire.
Oil Change Timing
Oil changes every 3,000 miles used to be required jobs, just like cleaning the accumulated fuzz from record player needles or defrosting freezers. Today, advances in engine design and lubricants make oil changes something to be done when the schedule calls for it, not when granddad says it's time. Some cars call for 5,000-mile change intervals, some up to 15,000-mile stints. Others have a variable timer. Follow the schedule and use the oil called for by the manufacturer.
Tired Tires
Tires wear out, but they also time out. The tire industry says tires are toast after five years, but they're selling tires. It all depends on heat, sunlight and ozone conditions. There's little argument from any pundits that after seven years those black donuts are dried and better off holding down a farmer's tarp than carrying your family around. If you're not sure how old your tires are, a tire shop can read the date code stamped into the sidewall.
Dirty Air Filter
Semi-clogged air filters hurt fuel economy for the same reason you don't like to run with a potato in your mouth. The question is, when is your filter dirty? Under a Norman Rockwell schedule of small-town errand running and church duty, an air filter might not see much grit. But grimy city surface streets or just looking at a dirt road on a map are often enough to overwhelm air filters. This one is about conditions. If you go near dirt, the air filter may need changing twice as often as the schedule calls for.
Discuss: What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?
Ignoring Your Brakes
Note to the Wandering Unconscious: If you notice anything different about your brakes — sound, feel or response — they are telling you to visit a mechanic. Now.
Tighten Your Gas Cap
Is the Check Engine light on? Then make sure the gas cap is on tightly before calling the dealer. No joke, this is one of the most common ways of setting off your car's diagnostic system, since a loose gas cap defeats the fuel system's venting arrangement.
The Garage Is for Parking
Let's review. Your house is your most valuable investment. Your car is likely your second most valuable investment. If you're paying all that money, then why are you storing empty cardboard boxes, broken skateboards and plastic holiday wreaths in the garage? Pitch that junk and get the car in the garage!
If it has an engine and moves, Tom Wilson is interested in it. Now a freelance auto writer, Tom tries to ride, drive, fly and float everything he can wiggle into. His credits include a few local racing championships, a decade of magazine editing, three technical engine books and many hundreds of magazine articles. Current interests include new fuels and vehicle technology.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Retirement Planning
Why plan
You’re young and healthy, you have a good job, you earn well, and no liabilities threaten to attack from over the horizon. Your life is great, right? And it’s just the reason that you don’t ever think about the time you’re not so young, not so healthy, and virtually don’t earn anymore. But not planning for the last decades of your life is like letting the golden years go to rust.
We believe that the fundamental right of every retired person is to do little more than chat with his chrysanthemums and philosophise with the dog. But a heedless youth can mean an old age spent battling financial insecurity and personal anxiety. There’s a simple way to avoid a painful transition from active working life to retirement: plan your retirement.
Planning for your retired years largely means determining how much money you need to live comfortably when you finally hang up your boots -- and ensuring you have it at the time. Retirement planning also helps you weigh your options and identify the best ways to save for retirement, given your financial situation and your capacity for risk.
The government-commissioned Old Age Social and Income Security (Oasis) report presented four very compelling reasons to plan for your retirement:
Life expectancy is going up. With advances in medicine and technology, the average life expectancy of an Indian is expected to rise to 75 years. And with time, will only rise further.
Your savings at work’ may not be enough. A longer life does not necessarily mean a healthier life -- it’s likely that your dependence on health support systems will increase. However, the income-earning vocations available to you as you get older, don’t.
Societal and cultural changes. As the joint family totters on its last legs, within-family support systems for the elderly are likely to be little more than an item for nostalgia. As an elderly person, it is likely that you will have to fend for yourself.
The implication: you are likely to live at least 15-20 years in retirement with nothing but your investments to see you through. Remember that you are never too young or too old to start saving. Starting to save now is the smart thing to do and a good habit to get into. More importantly, if you wait until later, you may find yourself playing catch up in a race that never ends.
Why now
It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement. In fact, the sooner you begin the better your chance of having a secure, stress-free old age. Because the sooner you start investing, the more your investments will benefit from the power of compounding and tax-deferred growth.
Compounding simply means that, over time, the interest you earn on your original investment (your principal) also earns money. The longer you let your money grow, the more powerful the effect of compounding.
An example will help you understand this. Visualise 25-year-old colleagues Whynow and Rightnow, who earn excellent salaries in a freshly minted dotcom. Whynow likes the good things of life and spends easily and liberally. Pushy and ambitious, he knows he is headed up the career ladder fast and, so, postpones his investment plans for when he turns 35. At 35, he decides, he will invest Rs 2,000 every month till his retirement at 58.
Rightnow matches his colleague for professional ability, but believes in putting away something for his retirement, without any delay, even if it means investing only Rs 1,000 every month. Their colleague, Later, does not share the concerns of his friends but thinks himself secure in his plan to allocate a larger sum (Rs 5,000 a month) -- but when he turns 45. Life’s too good to worry about retirement in your youth, you often catch him saying.
Let’s see where these gentlemen stand at a considerably greyer, feebler 58:
Assuming an interest rate of 10 per cent for all investments, Later’s investment of Rs 7,80,000 gives him Rs 15,89,751 on retirement. Whynow’s Rs 5,52,000 has grown to a more substantive Rs 21,31,098. But Rightnow is the runaway winner -- his much smaller amount of Rs 3,96,000 has rewarded him with a stupendous Rs 30,89,331. The sum of the little bits of money he invested over the years has multiplied almost 10 times!
The phenomenal power of compounding bares itself when spread across over a period of 25 years or so. However, too many of us begin thinking of a retirement plan only when we hit our forties, when the first signs of ageing -- a paunch, a receding hairline and slowing reflexes -- begin their inexorable daily-reminder exercise. Rightnow’s single, huge advantage: beginning early.
Here’s how you can replicate his formula.
Reinvest returns. Invest in schemes in which the dividend/interest can be reinvested and which is available only at maturity. This will help you save for your long-term needs and your savings will benefit from a tax-deferred growth i.e. your investment is only taxed at maturity, when you withdraw.
How do you do this? Instead of taking your mutual fund's distributions in cash as dividend, instruct your fund to let them remain in your account under a growth option or as a dividend reinvestment option.
Invest regularly. Develop the habit of investing on a regular basis, perhaps monthly or quarterly. You can do this by setting up a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) with your mutual fund. By investing regularly you take advantage of a strategy called rupee cost averaging. Regular investing in the stock market , however, does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in declining markets.
Make friends with time. The longer your money works for you, the better the effect of compounding. Rs 1,000 invested at 8 per cent interest rate earns Rs 80 in a year. Left to compound, the original Rs 1,000, plus accumulated interest, will earn Rs 172 in the 10th year and Rs 1,700 in the 40th year. All this without further investments beyond the initial Rs 1,000. Such is the power of compounding.
Don’t unlock your investments. When you have set aside funds for the long term and have invested them with that longer perspective, avoid the temptation to break the deposit for less-than-urgent needs. Doing so severely dilutes the effect of compounding. And starting from scratch denies you the benefit of the headstart you had earlier.
Coping with inflation
Inflation is often described as the ‘silent enemy’ -- it creeps up stealthily on you to erode the value of your retirement portfolio, irrespective of the instruments you chose. As a prudent investor you ought to ensure that your investments factor in inflation in the long term.
The most important -- and most visible -- impact of inflation is the way it erodes your purchasing power. Let’s say you spend Rs 500 a month on food for your household. If the annual rate of inflation on food is 5 per cent, the price of your bill for the same purchases will have increased to more than Rs 638 per month after five years.
In order to maintain your standard of living, the growth of your income must beat -- or at least keep pace with -- inflation. This is especially important for those investing for their retirement or are already retired, when the bulk of your income will likely come from the price appreciation and current income provided by your investments.
Many investors, particularly retirement investors, postpone consumption today in order to pay for something in the future. However, inflation may make your goal a moving target: a house that costs Rs 2 lakh today may cost more than Rs 2.5 lakh in five years at an inflation rate of 5 per cent.
If you are a conservative investor you may not earn enough to beat inflation, which actually means you will be unable to accumulate enough savings on retirement to cover even your monthly expenses. Consider this example. Let’s assume inflation at 8 per cent and that the monthly basket of goods requires an expenditure of Rs 15,000. Twenty-five years hence you will need Rs 1.7 lakh to buy the same basket of goods.
Beating inflation, as you can see, is a lot like running up a down-escalator -- it takes quite a bit of running to stay in the same place; to move up, therefore, you must run extra hard.
Mix your investments. The purchasing power concept extends to interest rates too. The returns you get from financial instruments -- your bank deposits, company deposits and such like -- are pegged to nominal interest rates, and are not adjusted for inflation. To know what your investment is really worth, you must look at real returns (which is the nominal interest rate minus the rate of inflation). Given the high rate of inflation, real returns from fixed-income instruments are abysmally low.
Usually, your post-tax returns from fixed-income instruments will just about offset inflation. As a result, every year, you'll have to dig into your capital base. That’s a bit like gradually dismembering the goose that lays the golden egg. What's more, since the purchasing power is falling forever, you'll end up digging deeper and deeper into this base. Your retirement funds, therefore, need to be invested in such a manner that it not only matches the withdrawal rate, but exceeds it. This is particularly important for people who expect to lead a longer retired life.
To protect your retirement savings against inflation, maintain a diversified investment portfolio. Your portfolio should consist of instruments that give regular returns, as well as those that offer growth potential. The first category of instruments (fixed deposits, bonds, debt schemes of mutual funds) will provide you with regular income at low levels of risk, while the latter (equities and equity-oriented mutual fund schemes) will provide the cushion against inflation.
How much you should invest in each category should be a function of the stage of life you are in and your risk-taking capacity. In your early years, your investment strategy should be weighted in favour of growth. As you approach retirement, switch to less risky investments.
You’re young and healthy, you have a good job, you earn well, and no liabilities threaten to attack from over the horizon. Your life is great, right? And it’s just the reason that you don’t ever think about the time you’re not so young, not so healthy, and virtually don’t earn anymore. But not planning for the last decades of your life is like letting the golden years go to rust.
We believe that the fundamental right of every retired person is to do little more than chat with his chrysanthemums and philosophise with the dog. But a heedless youth can mean an old age spent battling financial insecurity and personal anxiety. There’s a simple way to avoid a painful transition from active working life to retirement: plan your retirement.
Planning for your retired years largely means determining how much money you need to live comfortably when you finally hang up your boots -- and ensuring you have it at the time. Retirement planning also helps you weigh your options and identify the best ways to save for retirement, given your financial situation and your capacity for risk.
The government-commissioned Old Age Social and Income Security (Oasis) report presented four very compelling reasons to plan for your retirement:
Life expectancy is going up. With advances in medicine and technology, the average life expectancy of an Indian is expected to rise to 75 years. And with time, will only rise further.
Your savings at work’ may not be enough. A longer life does not necessarily mean a healthier life -- it’s likely that your dependence on health support systems will increase. However, the income-earning vocations available to you as you get older, don’t.
Societal and cultural changes. As the joint family totters on its last legs, within-family support systems for the elderly are likely to be little more than an item for nostalgia. As an elderly person, it is likely that you will have to fend for yourself.
The implication: you are likely to live at least 15-20 years in retirement with nothing but your investments to see you through. Remember that you are never too young or too old to start saving. Starting to save now is the smart thing to do and a good habit to get into. More importantly, if you wait until later, you may find yourself playing catch up in a race that never ends.
Why now
It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement. In fact, the sooner you begin the better your chance of having a secure, stress-free old age. Because the sooner you start investing, the more your investments will benefit from the power of compounding and tax-deferred growth.
Compounding simply means that, over time, the interest you earn on your original investment (your principal) also earns money. The longer you let your money grow, the more powerful the effect of compounding.
An example will help you understand this. Visualise 25-year-old colleagues Whynow and Rightnow, who earn excellent salaries in a freshly minted dotcom. Whynow likes the good things of life and spends easily and liberally. Pushy and ambitious, he knows he is headed up the career ladder fast and, so, postpones his investment plans for when he turns 35. At 35, he decides, he will invest Rs 2,000 every month till his retirement at 58.
Rightnow matches his colleague for professional ability, but believes in putting away something for his retirement, without any delay, even if it means investing only Rs 1,000 every month. Their colleague, Later, does not share the concerns of his friends but thinks himself secure in his plan to allocate a larger sum (Rs 5,000 a month) -- but when he turns 45. Life’s too good to worry about retirement in your youth, you often catch him saying.
Let’s see where these gentlemen stand at a considerably greyer, feebler 58:
Assuming an interest rate of 10 per cent for all investments, Later’s investment of Rs 7,80,000 gives him Rs 15,89,751 on retirement. Whynow’s Rs 5,52,000 has grown to a more substantive Rs 21,31,098. But Rightnow is the runaway winner -- his much smaller amount of Rs 3,96,000 has rewarded him with a stupendous Rs 30,89,331. The sum of the little bits of money he invested over the years has multiplied almost 10 times!
The phenomenal power of compounding bares itself when spread across over a period of 25 years or so. However, too many of us begin thinking of a retirement plan only when we hit our forties, when the first signs of ageing -- a paunch, a receding hairline and slowing reflexes -- begin their inexorable daily-reminder exercise. Rightnow’s single, huge advantage: beginning early.
Here’s how you can replicate his formula.
Reinvest returns. Invest in schemes in which the dividend/interest can be reinvested and which is available only at maturity. This will help you save for your long-term needs and your savings will benefit from a tax-deferred growth i.e. your investment is only taxed at maturity, when you withdraw.
How do you do this? Instead of taking your mutual fund's distributions in cash as dividend, instruct your fund to let them remain in your account under a growth option or as a dividend reinvestment option.
Invest regularly. Develop the habit of investing on a regular basis, perhaps monthly or quarterly. You can do this by setting up a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) with your mutual fund. By investing regularly you take advantage of a strategy called rupee cost averaging. Regular investing in the stock market , however, does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in declining markets.
Make friends with time. The longer your money works for you, the better the effect of compounding. Rs 1,000 invested at 8 per cent interest rate earns Rs 80 in a year. Left to compound, the original Rs 1,000, plus accumulated interest, will earn Rs 172 in the 10th year and Rs 1,700 in the 40th year. All this without further investments beyond the initial Rs 1,000. Such is the power of compounding.
Don’t unlock your investments. When you have set aside funds for the long term and have invested them with that longer perspective, avoid the temptation to break the deposit for less-than-urgent needs. Doing so severely dilutes the effect of compounding. And starting from scratch denies you the benefit of the headstart you had earlier.
Coping with inflation
Inflation is often described as the ‘silent enemy’ -- it creeps up stealthily on you to erode the value of your retirement portfolio, irrespective of the instruments you chose. As a prudent investor you ought to ensure that your investments factor in inflation in the long term.
The most important -- and most visible -- impact of inflation is the way it erodes your purchasing power. Let’s say you spend Rs 500 a month on food for your household. If the annual rate of inflation on food is 5 per cent, the price of your bill for the same purchases will have increased to more than Rs 638 per month after five years.
In order to maintain your standard of living, the growth of your income must beat -- or at least keep pace with -- inflation. This is especially important for those investing for their retirement or are already retired, when the bulk of your income will likely come from the price appreciation and current income provided by your investments.
Many investors, particularly retirement investors, postpone consumption today in order to pay for something in the future. However, inflation may make your goal a moving target: a house that costs Rs 2 lakh today may cost more than Rs 2.5 lakh in five years at an inflation rate of 5 per cent.
If you are a conservative investor you may not earn enough to beat inflation, which actually means you will be unable to accumulate enough savings on retirement to cover even your monthly expenses. Consider this example. Let’s assume inflation at 8 per cent and that the monthly basket of goods requires an expenditure of Rs 15,000. Twenty-five years hence you will need Rs 1.7 lakh to buy the same basket of goods.
Beating inflation, as you can see, is a lot like running up a down-escalator -- it takes quite a bit of running to stay in the same place; to move up, therefore, you must run extra hard.
Mix your investments. The purchasing power concept extends to interest rates too. The returns you get from financial instruments -- your bank deposits, company deposits and such like -- are pegged to nominal interest rates, and are not adjusted for inflation. To know what your investment is really worth, you must look at real returns (which is the nominal interest rate minus the rate of inflation). Given the high rate of inflation, real returns from fixed-income instruments are abysmally low.
Usually, your post-tax returns from fixed-income instruments will just about offset inflation. As a result, every year, you'll have to dig into your capital base. That’s a bit like gradually dismembering the goose that lays the golden egg. What's more, since the purchasing power is falling forever, you'll end up digging deeper and deeper into this base. Your retirement funds, therefore, need to be invested in such a manner that it not only matches the withdrawal rate, but exceeds it. This is particularly important for people who expect to lead a longer retired life.
To protect your retirement savings against inflation, maintain a diversified investment portfolio. Your portfolio should consist of instruments that give regular returns, as well as those that offer growth potential. The first category of instruments (fixed deposits, bonds, debt schemes of mutual funds) will provide you with regular income at low levels of risk, while the latter (equities and equity-oriented mutual fund schemes) will provide the cushion against inflation.
How much you should invest in each category should be a function of the stage of life you are in and your risk-taking capacity. In your early years, your investment strategy should be weighted in favour of growth. As you approach retirement, switch to less risky investments.
Financial Planning for Women
Financial Plannings for Women...!
The most arduous of journeys begin with a small step. When it comes to something as important as planning for child's education and marriage, that small step means setting yourself an important objective.
To put it plainly, the fundamentals of investing are no different for men or women; so you have to plan your investments, execute the investment plan and track it regularly. If this sounds a little complicated, don't worry, we have simplified the process for you.
Step 1: Define your objectives
The most important thing to do while you sit down to plan your finances is ask yourself why you want to invest. For a married woman with children, the answer could be the child's education or marriage.
For a woman whose children are already married, the desire to invest could stem from a dream to set up a small boutique, for instance. For a woman who is yet to get married, it could be for her marriage. So you could have a variety of objectives; when you get down to penning them down you will notice that the list is a lot longer than what you had bargained for.
When we began compiling a list of likely objectives for women we came up with some interesting options:
Saving for your own marriage 5 years from today.
Saving for your child's education 15 years from today.
Saving for your child's marriage 20 years from today.
Saving for a small business that you want to set up at a later date
Saving for an overseas trip, maybe even a pilgrimage 5 years from today.
Saving for a gift for your spouse or parents
Saving for your retirement 30 years from today.
This seemingly long list could be even longer when you take into consideration objectives that are peculiar to you.
Once you have the investment objectives in place, the next step is to prepare an investment plan to achieve those objectives. This may sound daunting, but it isn't, when you consider that it's your investment consultant who has to draw up the investment plan and your role is limited to giving him inputs in terms of your investment objective, appetite for equity-linked investments, investment time frame, tax-efficient returns and the like.
Step 2: Identify the investment consultant
Since your investment consultant has such an important role to play in helping you achieve your investment objectives, it is important that you 'connect' with the right consultant. To make your job simpler, we have prepared a checklist to help you select the right investment consultant:
Both insurance and mutual fund consultants need certification before they begin advising clients. Insurance agents must be certified by the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), while mutual fund agents must be certified by AMFI (Association Mutual Funds in India). The agent must have the certification on his person, so it's relatively simple to affirm whether your consultant is qualified.
An investment consultant should be competent enough to understand your financial objectives and chalk out an investment plan that can best help you achieve them.
It is critical that investment consultants are objective and unbiased in their advice. Being objective means placing the client's interest over your own. The investment consultant should be faithful to the plan that he has prepared for you and his advice must revolve around it.
Value-add investment services is another area that your consultant must treat as priority. Tools and calculators, stock and mutual fund alerts, portfolio tracker, research on mutual fund schemes and life insurance plans are some of the value-added services that investment consultants provide. Of course, there are few consultants who do this, but those are the ones you must identify. Some of these tools are web-based and should appeal to women who are net-savvy.
Even after you have taken the insurance policy or invested in a mutual fund scheme, your relationship with the investment consultant continues. You may need feedback on your investment, account statement, premium cheques to be submitted to the life insurance company, follow-up on dividends on your mutual fund investments and the like. It is the responsibility of the mutual fund agent to provide prompt after-sales service and resolve these issues efficiently.
Step 3: Preparing an investment plan
Once you have identified the investment consultant, you must get down to actually implementing the investment plan keeping in mind the investment objectives.
For this you need to bare your 'financial' soul and tell him exactly what you want to achieve, the time frame over which you want to achieve the investment objective, the amount of money you want to invest in equities (this is important because equities can give a push to your savings, but also carry higher risk).
If you find this a little too detailed and even unnecessary, remember it's important for the consultant to know this so that he can prepare a well-defined investment plan. It's a bit like telling your doctor everything so that he can prescribe the right medicine.
Step 4: Executing the investing plan
After preparing the investment plan, your investment consultant will help you execute it. This involves, for instance, taking the child insurance plan for your child's education/marriage, or the diversified equity fund to build a corpus to buy property after 10 years.
All the investments and insurance options that have been outlined in your investment plan have to be bought. Of course your consultant will help you with it, but it pays to be personally involved up to a level.
For instance, to the extent possible fill the application forms yourself so you learn about the relevant details. While filling the insurance application form, you have to give a true and fair picture of your medical history, accurate information on your weight and height and other details of this nature.
Giving inaccurate information on these points could lead to rejection of claim at a later date. Your investment consultant is unlikely to know these details better than you, so personal involvement is necessary. Likewise, appointing a nominee is common across mutual funds and life insurance, so ensure you have those details correctly filled in.
Step 5: Review the investment plan
Setting the investment plan in action is an important step towards achieving your financial goals. But to ensure you stay the course, a regular review of the investment plan is necessary. Of course, this will also be done under the guidance of your investment consultant.
There could be several reasons why your investment plan may need to be adjusted from time to time. One instance is when stock markets change course over a period of time and they disturb your asset allocation. So you may have to redeem some of your equity investments or buy more of them depending on how much risk you are willing to take.
As you approach the milestone (child's medical admission or marriage), you need to get out of equity investments since equities are risky in the short-term.
That money should be invested into short-term debt, which is relatively safe. Again, all this may sound very complicated, but your investment consultant is the one who will keep his eye on such events and will make necessary adjustments to your investment plan. On your part it helps to be informed since it's your money on the line.
Step 6: Redeem your investments
As the event you have been saving for, is upon you, you need to redeem your investments. With a mutual fund investment this involves signing on the redemption slip and having your consultant submit the same to the mutual fund. In case of a life insurance policy that you have taken, it involves having your consultant submit the policy documents to the life insurer and follow up for the maturity proceeds.
Then you will need to sit down with your consultant and understand the taxation issues involved with the redemption of your investments.
As you can see, setting financial goals, outlining an investment plan, executing it, reviewing it, is not really a difficult task. It may be time consuming but it's certainly not difficult. With a systematic and disciplined approach to investing and by identifying the right investment consultant, financial nirvana could be closer than you think.
The most arduous of journeys begin with a small step. When it comes to something as important as planning for child's education and marriage, that small step means setting yourself an important objective.
To put it plainly, the fundamentals of investing are no different for men or women; so you have to plan your investments, execute the investment plan and track it regularly. If this sounds a little complicated, don't worry, we have simplified the process for you.
Step 1: Define your objectives
The most important thing to do while you sit down to plan your finances is ask yourself why you want to invest. For a married woman with children, the answer could be the child's education or marriage.
For a woman whose children are already married, the desire to invest could stem from a dream to set up a small boutique, for instance. For a woman who is yet to get married, it could be for her marriage. So you could have a variety of objectives; when you get down to penning them down you will notice that the list is a lot longer than what you had bargained for.
When we began compiling a list of likely objectives for women we came up with some interesting options:
Saving for your own marriage 5 years from today.
Saving for your child's education 15 years from today.
Saving for your child's marriage 20 years from today.
Saving for a small business that you want to set up at a later date
Saving for an overseas trip, maybe even a pilgrimage 5 years from today.
Saving for a gift for your spouse or parents
Saving for your retirement 30 years from today.
This seemingly long list could be even longer when you take into consideration objectives that are peculiar to you.
Once you have the investment objectives in place, the next step is to prepare an investment plan to achieve those objectives. This may sound daunting, but it isn't, when you consider that it's your investment consultant who has to draw up the investment plan and your role is limited to giving him inputs in terms of your investment objective, appetite for equity-linked investments, investment time frame, tax-efficient returns and the like.
Step 2: Identify the investment consultant
Since your investment consultant has such an important role to play in helping you achieve your investment objectives, it is important that you 'connect' with the right consultant. To make your job simpler, we have prepared a checklist to help you select the right investment consultant:
Both insurance and mutual fund consultants need certification before they begin advising clients. Insurance agents must be certified by the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), while mutual fund agents must be certified by AMFI (Association Mutual Funds in India). The agent must have the certification on his person, so it's relatively simple to affirm whether your consultant is qualified.
An investment consultant should be competent enough to understand your financial objectives and chalk out an investment plan that can best help you achieve them.
It is critical that investment consultants are objective and unbiased in their advice. Being objective means placing the client's interest over your own. The investment consultant should be faithful to the plan that he has prepared for you and his advice must revolve around it.
Value-add investment services is another area that your consultant must treat as priority. Tools and calculators, stock and mutual fund alerts, portfolio tracker, research on mutual fund schemes and life insurance plans are some of the value-added services that investment consultants provide. Of course, there are few consultants who do this, but those are the ones you must identify. Some of these tools are web-based and should appeal to women who are net-savvy.
Even after you have taken the insurance policy or invested in a mutual fund scheme, your relationship with the investment consultant continues. You may need feedback on your investment, account statement, premium cheques to be submitted to the life insurance company, follow-up on dividends on your mutual fund investments and the like. It is the responsibility of the mutual fund agent to provide prompt after-sales service and resolve these issues efficiently.
Step 3: Preparing an investment plan
Once you have identified the investment consultant, you must get down to actually implementing the investment plan keeping in mind the investment objectives.
For this you need to bare your 'financial' soul and tell him exactly what you want to achieve, the time frame over which you want to achieve the investment objective, the amount of money you want to invest in equities (this is important because equities can give a push to your savings, but also carry higher risk).
If you find this a little too detailed and even unnecessary, remember it's important for the consultant to know this so that he can prepare a well-defined investment plan. It's a bit like telling your doctor everything so that he can prescribe the right medicine.
Step 4: Executing the investing plan
After preparing the investment plan, your investment consultant will help you execute it. This involves, for instance, taking the child insurance plan for your child's education/marriage, or the diversified equity fund to build a corpus to buy property after 10 years.
All the investments and insurance options that have been outlined in your investment plan have to be bought. Of course your consultant will help you with it, but it pays to be personally involved up to a level.
For instance, to the extent possible fill the application forms yourself so you learn about the relevant details. While filling the insurance application form, you have to give a true and fair picture of your medical history, accurate information on your weight and height and other details of this nature.
Giving inaccurate information on these points could lead to rejection of claim at a later date. Your investment consultant is unlikely to know these details better than you, so personal involvement is necessary. Likewise, appointing a nominee is common across mutual funds and life insurance, so ensure you have those details correctly filled in.
Step 5: Review the investment plan
Setting the investment plan in action is an important step towards achieving your financial goals. But to ensure you stay the course, a regular review of the investment plan is necessary. Of course, this will also be done under the guidance of your investment consultant.
There could be several reasons why your investment plan may need to be adjusted from time to time. One instance is when stock markets change course over a period of time and they disturb your asset allocation. So you may have to redeem some of your equity investments or buy more of them depending on how much risk you are willing to take.
As you approach the milestone (child's medical admission or marriage), you need to get out of equity investments since equities are risky in the short-term.
That money should be invested into short-term debt, which is relatively safe. Again, all this may sound very complicated, but your investment consultant is the one who will keep his eye on such events and will make necessary adjustments to your investment plan. On your part it helps to be informed since it's your money on the line.
Step 6: Redeem your investments
As the event you have been saving for, is upon you, you need to redeem your investments. With a mutual fund investment this involves signing on the redemption slip and having your consultant submit the same to the mutual fund. In case of a life insurance policy that you have taken, it involves having your consultant submit the policy documents to the life insurer and follow up for the maturity proceeds.
Then you will need to sit down with your consultant and understand the taxation issues involved with the redemption of your investments.
As you can see, setting financial goals, outlining an investment plan, executing it, reviewing it, is not really a difficult task. It may be time consuming but it's certainly not difficult. With a systematic and disciplined approach to investing and by identifying the right investment consultant, financial nirvana could be closer than you think.
10 Financial Tips
Keys to Financial Success
Although making resolutions to improve your financial situation is a good thing to do at any time of year, many people find it easier at the beginning of a new year. Regardless of when you begin, the basics remain the same. Here are my top ten keys to getting ahead financially.
1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn
It sounds simplistic, but many people struggle with this first basic rule. Make sure you know what your job is worth in the marketplace, by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks, contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you do. Being underpaid even a thousand dollars a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the course of your working life.
No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in big savings. It doesn't always have to involve making big sacrifices.
2. Stick to a Budget
One of my favorite subjects: budgeting. It's not a four-letter word. How can you know where your money is going if you don't budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don't know where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic are so easy to use, and it's so easy to forget that it's real money we're dealing with when we whip them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off quickly, the reality is that we often don't, and end up paying far more for things than we would have paid if we had used cash.
4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan
If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don't contribute to it, you're walking away from one of the best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up today. If you're already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn't offer a retirement plan, consider an IRA.
5. Have a Savings Plan
You've heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you've met all your other financial obligations before seeing what's left over for saving, chances are you'll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.
6. Invest!
If you're contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better.
7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits
Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance, etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you're maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses.
8. Review Your Insurance Coverages
Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it's by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it's important that you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or disability.
9. Update Your Will
70% of Americans don't have a will. If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you own, you need a will. If your situation isn't too complicated you can even do your own with software like WillMaker from Nolo Press. Protect your loved ones. Write a will.
10. Keep Good Records
If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.
Reality Check
How are you doing on the top ten list? If you're not doing at least six of the ten, resolve to make improvements. Choose one area at a time and set a goal for incorporating all ten into your lifestyle.
Although making resolutions to improve your financial situation is a good thing to do at any time of year, many people find it easier at the beginning of a new year. Regardless of when you begin, the basics remain the same. Here are my top ten keys to getting ahead financially.
1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn
It sounds simplistic, but many people struggle with this first basic rule. Make sure you know what your job is worth in the marketplace, by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks, contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you do. Being underpaid even a thousand dollars a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the course of your working life.
No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in big savings. It doesn't always have to involve making big sacrifices.
2. Stick to a Budget
One of my favorite subjects: budgeting. It's not a four-letter word. How can you know where your money is going if you don't budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don't know where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic are so easy to use, and it's so easy to forget that it's real money we're dealing with when we whip them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off quickly, the reality is that we often don't, and end up paying far more for things than we would have paid if we had used cash.
4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan
If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don't contribute to it, you're walking away from one of the best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up today. If you're already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn't offer a retirement plan, consider an IRA.
5. Have a Savings Plan
You've heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you've met all your other financial obligations before seeing what's left over for saving, chances are you'll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.
6. Invest!
If you're contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better.
7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits
Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance, etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you're maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses.
8. Review Your Insurance Coverages
Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it's by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it's important that you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or disability.
9. Update Your Will
70% of Americans don't have a will. If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you own, you need a will. If your situation isn't too complicated you can even do your own with software like WillMaker from Nolo Press. Protect your loved ones. Write a will.
10. Keep Good Records
If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.
Reality Check
How are you doing on the top ten list? If you're not doing at least six of the ten, resolve to make improvements. Choose one area at a time and set a goal for incorporating all ten into your lifestyle.
33 Gas saving & Milage tips
1. Keep your tires properly inflated.
Buy a quality tire gauge and check the pressure of your tires before you start.... remember to check while they're cold and do it at least once a month. When your tires are under-inflated, they require much more horsepower to rotate, thus consuming more gas. Most cars have a label that lists proper tire pressure, usually on a plate attached to the drivers door. Your owner's manual has the original tire specifications and required inflation pressures also, as long as you haven't changed tire sizes, these are the numbers you want to target.
2. Lighten up and don't haul anything you don't absolutely need, around with you.
Check your trunk, glove box and front and back seats for belongings that you really don't need on a permanent basis. This won't save you a fortune (unless you have a habit of driving with the full trunk all the time) - but with gas prices headed closer to the $4.00 mark, it does save enough to consider an automotive clean out, and it doesn't cost a dime.
3. When old man winter coats your car with snow and ice, try to remove as much of is as you can, don't just clear a hole in the windshield.
Snow and ice add significant weight to your car, they also increase aerodynamic drag dramatically... which burns even more gas. As a side benefit, clean clear windows improve your ability to see, which improves your margin of safety in dangerous winter driving.
4. Remove bicycle or ski racks in between trips.
It's not really the extra weight that hurts your gas mileage; it's mostly aerodynamic drag.
5. Don’t fly flags on your car.
And don’t fly flags outside your car’s windows. Yep, your guess is correct – it’s aerodynamic drag we are talking about here... and your gas bill.
6. Do not fill your tank up completely.
Instead, keep it half full. Depending on your tank size, your car will have 50-100 pounds less to haul all the time... less weight, less gas.
7. Fill your tank at the coolest time of day.
Fuel is denser when it's cool in the early morning or late night.. Your engine consumes fuel by weight but gas pumps dispense fuel by volume. The colder the fuel is when you pump it, the more of it you get for the same money.
8. Try not to stomp on the gas anymore than you need to.
Aggressive acceleration equals maximum gas consumption. The slower you accelerate, the better your gas mileage will be. On the other hand, if you creep along like a snail, the drivers behind you will get mad. Experiment with how little “pedal” your car needs to move at a reasonable traffic speed and save your gas.
9. Likewise, try not to slam on your brakes.
The more you brake, the more you have to accelerate afterwards, and that costs money. Accelerate smoothly and brake soothly. Ideally you want to accelerate once, and then drive at a constant speed until you arrive at your destination. There are too many moving pieces to get stopping and starting patterns right every time, but the closer you get to constant speeds, the more gas you will save.
10. Use the landscape to your advantage.
If the road goes up and down, don't try to maintain a constant speed. Let your car accelerate down the hill, so its inertia will help it climb up the next hill, and let the speed decrease slightly while you are going up. Of course you have to coordinate this with the traffic flow.
11. If you have several cars, use the one with the best gas mileage for daily commuting.
That car is usually easier to park, too.
12. Plan your route to avoid traffic jams.
Because you can't avoid excessive idling, braking and acceleration while in a traffic, traffic is usually responsible for a big chunk of your gas consumed. You might avoid jams sometimes however, if you learn traffic patterns in your area and use them to your advantage.
13. Optimize your route.
The less distance you drive, the less gas you use. If you have several stops to make, see how you can route your trip to have the minimum number of miles driven. Keep an eye out for traffic jams, however – often you are better off driving more miles (sometimes even several dozens of miles) than sitting in traffic jams.
14. Consider walking or using a bicycle for short trips,
or use public transportation if convenient and cost effective. Yes, you actually save gas (and money) when you are not using your car.
15. Consider carpooling if possible.
Sure, it's inconvenient sometimes, but it's the single most efficient way to save money on your daily commute.
16. Get a credit card with 5% rebates on gas,
use it for all your fuel purchases and guarantee yourself an automatic 5% savings.
17. Should you use low octane fuel?
Maybe. If your owner's manual calls for premium, use premium. If you use regular instead, the cars computer will retard the ignition timing automatically to prevent detonation. This will have a devastating effect on gas mileage, which will more than offset lower fuel price. Detonation occurs only on full or almost full throttle, so you may be safe using lower grade gasoline in this case if you are conservative with your acceleration habits. It all depends on your driving style and how your car's computer handles the changes. It might be worth giving it a try.
18. Do you need to do a tune-up?
Maybe not. You will never recover the cost of a tune-up in fuel savings. However, you should do regular maintenance, not only for gas saving, but also for performance and reliability. Don't go to a garage and buy a tune-up, 10,000 miles before you need it because you think it will help your mileage... it doesn't work that way, sorry.
19. Do you need to switch to synthetic oil?
Maybe. Synthetic oil is great for engines, and does help gas saving a bit, by decreasing parasitic losses in the engine. But it is significantly more expensive than the regular oil, and its gas saving effect is nowhere near a trade off for its price. However, if you are already considering a switch to synthetic oil for any reason, you can surely also count on some gas savings as well.
20. Do you need to quit using A/C?
Not really. If you drive at highway speeds with your windows open, aerodynamic drag will consume more gas than A/C. At lower speeds you may want to open your windows and turn the compressor off, at higher speeds, use the A/C. It's time to close the windows at 50-55 mph for most cars.
21. Should you avoid excessive idling?
Yes, but that doesn't mean you should turn off your car at a red light or when coasting in neutral. Such solutions are unsafe, and you'll consume more gas when you start your engine back up. But do try to avoid parking or idling for any prolonged period with your engine on. Remember that your engine gives you 0 MPG when idling, so when it's running it's costing you money. On the other hand, remember that starting your engine consumes the same amount of fuel as idling for a minute or so and it also puts an extra strain on your battery, starter, and ignition switch, reducing their life and leading to their premature replacement - which will surely cost you money. You just need to apply common sense here.
22. Do you need to use cruise control?
Speed control works best on straight roads. If the road you're on has hills, you lose. Experienced drivers will disengage the control, accelerate down the hill and decelerate up the hill. Cruise control will try to maintain the speed, loosing inertia down the hill and guzzling gas up the hill.
23. Should you stop warming up your car on cold mornings and start driving right away?
It depends... a warm up consumes an enormous amount of gas. You won't hurt the vehicle by driving right away... but you will be cold till the heat is working. So this is sort of a climate dependent answer, if you're in Alaska, and the temperature is -20F *inside* your car, by all means let it warm up first.
24. Do you need to shop around for better gas prices?
Sure, just don't overdo this and burn 5 gallons of gas while you search for a better price. The price difference is probably not going to be more than a few cents, so keep this in mind and use your common sense. Use your phone or the Internet instead of driving to every gas station around. Mapquest recently started "Find Gas Prices" service.
25. Do you need to use a fuel injector cleaner?
Maybe... it is definitely beneficial to your engine's well being as well as gas mileage to have your injectors clean. Just don't overdo this and add a bottle of cleaner to every tank of fuel. Do that and you pay more for the cleaner than you can possibly save on fuel, and you are cleaning something that is not dirty enough to require cleaning in the first place. A reasonable mileage interval is 10,000 to 15,000 for injector additives.
26. Should you drive in a higher gear?
Sort of... especially in a standard shift, you want to drive in the highest possible gear, without overloading your engine. Generally an engine is most efficient around the middle of its RPM range. More specifically - slightly lower than the torque peak RPM's. If you are in too high a gear your engine RPM'S will "lug" or drag down the engine. Keeping an engine speed too low (closer to idle) will overload the engine, increasing its wear and seriously hurting gas mileage. Automatics do the thinking for you, but with manual you have to develop this skill for yourself.
27. Do you need to slow down to 55 mph to save fuel?
Not really... every vehicle has its most efficient speed in the highest gear. It differs depending on the design of the car, and things like tire pressure, open windows, bike racks, etc. The 55 mph speed limits come from the 1970s, when a nationwide speed limit was established in an attempt to reduce gas consumption at the time of an energy crisis. This attempt failed miserably by the way, but that's another story. Which does not mean speed does not matter... it does. For modern aerodynamically enhanced cars, the most efficient average speed is more in the range of 65 mph or even higher. You don't want to exceed that speed if you are trying to maximize gas mileage. At higher speeds, the main gas eater is aerodynamic drag, which is proportional to the square of your speed. That means your car needs four times more fuel to overcome the drag when you double your speed.
28. Do you need to buy a more fuel efficient car.
Sure you do! But it is probably not a good idea to dump your gas guzzler below market so you can replace it with a new Corolla. If you are shopping for a new vehicle however, considering a more fuel efficient model will definitely help.
29. Do you need to replace your air filter?
No... because on modern cars, computers compensate for clogged air filters. You lose performance if your filter is clogged, but your gas mileage stays the same.
30. Do you need to replace the fuel filter?
No... if anything, a clogged fuel filter will improve your mileage on older cars. On newer cars, the computer will compensate for most filter issues. On the other hand, if your fuel filter is clogged to the point where your engine starts starving for fuel at full throttle, then you will see... and feel... a serious loss of performance, well before it will affect your gas mileage in any way.
31. Do you need to inflate your tires up to the numbers shown on a tire sidewall?
No... Tire maker stamps *maximum allowed* pressure there. Only your car maker knows what pressure is right for your car. And it is always lower than "maximum allowed". Even though over-inflating your tires will improve your gas mileage, there are a number of major downsides. With over-inflated tires, you will experience much faster tread wear in the middle of your tires. That extra wear will have you buying new set of tires much earlier than you might expect. The cost of new tires will wipe out any savings you might otherwise realize from gas savings. Also, over-inflating your tires makes them much harder and will cause a very uncomfortable ride... rough and bumpy. Finally, if you over inflate your tires, you'll have worse traction, significantly impairing your safety. Marginal savings (if any at all) will not compensate for the significant loss in safety and comfort.
32. Do you need to use gas savers? Tornado, Ramjet, Cyclone, and other gas saving devices?
Nope... gas saving devices are not just a myth – they are an outright scam. Shoot the messenger who suggests you should buy a gas saver. I'm serious. Testing such devices was one of my responsibilities when I worked in car engine research field, and not a single device out of the dozens I happened to test, worked. Federal Trade Commission agrees, too. Do yourself a favor, stay away from such things.
33. Do you need to use higher octane fuel or octane booster?
As a general rule - no... if your owner's manual says to use regular, you are better off using regular. You will not get better mileage with premium. Computers control all of a modern cars' engine functions. Each models computer is programmed to achieve maximum fuel efficiency for that specific design. There are exceptions though. Some European and Japanese car makers install high performance engines, originally designed to run on premium gas, in selected American market models. They then turn around and de-tune those engines to run on regular gas without detonation problems. I don't know why they are doing this - it's probably driven by cheaper production costs, certainly cheaper than modifying the combustion chamber. I haven't seen any of these cars myself, but people do report them on forums. If you feed premium to one of these modified cars, you will get somewhat better mileage, but still, probably not enough to offset the extra cost of premium.
Buy a quality tire gauge and check the pressure of your tires before you start.... remember to check while they're cold and do it at least once a month. When your tires are under-inflated, they require much more horsepower to rotate, thus consuming more gas. Most cars have a label that lists proper tire pressure, usually on a plate attached to the drivers door. Your owner's manual has the original tire specifications and required inflation pressures also, as long as you haven't changed tire sizes, these are the numbers you want to target.
2. Lighten up and don't haul anything you don't absolutely need, around with you.
Check your trunk, glove box and front and back seats for belongings that you really don't need on a permanent basis. This won't save you a fortune (unless you have a habit of driving with the full trunk all the time) - but with gas prices headed closer to the $4.00 mark, it does save enough to consider an automotive clean out, and it doesn't cost a dime.
3. When old man winter coats your car with snow and ice, try to remove as much of is as you can, don't just clear a hole in the windshield.
Snow and ice add significant weight to your car, they also increase aerodynamic drag dramatically... which burns even more gas. As a side benefit, clean clear windows improve your ability to see, which improves your margin of safety in dangerous winter driving.
4. Remove bicycle or ski racks in between trips.
It's not really the extra weight that hurts your gas mileage; it's mostly aerodynamic drag.
5. Don’t fly flags on your car.
And don’t fly flags outside your car’s windows. Yep, your guess is correct – it’s aerodynamic drag we are talking about here... and your gas bill.
6. Do not fill your tank up completely.
Instead, keep it half full. Depending on your tank size, your car will have 50-100 pounds less to haul all the time... less weight, less gas.
7. Fill your tank at the coolest time of day.
Fuel is denser when it's cool in the early morning or late night.. Your engine consumes fuel by weight but gas pumps dispense fuel by volume. The colder the fuel is when you pump it, the more of it you get for the same money.
8. Try not to stomp on the gas anymore than you need to.
Aggressive acceleration equals maximum gas consumption. The slower you accelerate, the better your gas mileage will be. On the other hand, if you creep along like a snail, the drivers behind you will get mad. Experiment with how little “pedal” your car needs to move at a reasonable traffic speed and save your gas.
9. Likewise, try not to slam on your brakes.
The more you brake, the more you have to accelerate afterwards, and that costs money. Accelerate smoothly and brake soothly. Ideally you want to accelerate once, and then drive at a constant speed until you arrive at your destination. There are too many moving pieces to get stopping and starting patterns right every time, but the closer you get to constant speeds, the more gas you will save.
10. Use the landscape to your advantage.
If the road goes up and down, don't try to maintain a constant speed. Let your car accelerate down the hill, so its inertia will help it climb up the next hill, and let the speed decrease slightly while you are going up. Of course you have to coordinate this with the traffic flow.
11. If you have several cars, use the one with the best gas mileage for daily commuting.
That car is usually easier to park, too.
12. Plan your route to avoid traffic jams.
Because you can't avoid excessive idling, braking and acceleration while in a traffic, traffic is usually responsible for a big chunk of your gas consumed. You might avoid jams sometimes however, if you learn traffic patterns in your area and use them to your advantage.
13. Optimize your route.
The less distance you drive, the less gas you use. If you have several stops to make, see how you can route your trip to have the minimum number of miles driven. Keep an eye out for traffic jams, however – often you are better off driving more miles (sometimes even several dozens of miles) than sitting in traffic jams.
14. Consider walking or using a bicycle for short trips,
or use public transportation if convenient and cost effective. Yes, you actually save gas (and money) when you are not using your car.
15. Consider carpooling if possible.
Sure, it's inconvenient sometimes, but it's the single most efficient way to save money on your daily commute.
16. Get a credit card with 5% rebates on gas,
use it for all your fuel purchases and guarantee yourself an automatic 5% savings.
17. Should you use low octane fuel?
Maybe. If your owner's manual calls for premium, use premium. If you use regular instead, the cars computer will retard the ignition timing automatically to prevent detonation. This will have a devastating effect on gas mileage, which will more than offset lower fuel price. Detonation occurs only on full or almost full throttle, so you may be safe using lower grade gasoline in this case if you are conservative with your acceleration habits. It all depends on your driving style and how your car's computer handles the changes. It might be worth giving it a try.
18. Do you need to do a tune-up?
Maybe not. You will never recover the cost of a tune-up in fuel savings. However, you should do regular maintenance, not only for gas saving, but also for performance and reliability. Don't go to a garage and buy a tune-up, 10,000 miles before you need it because you think it will help your mileage... it doesn't work that way, sorry.
19. Do you need to switch to synthetic oil?
Maybe. Synthetic oil is great for engines, and does help gas saving a bit, by decreasing parasitic losses in the engine. But it is significantly more expensive than the regular oil, and its gas saving effect is nowhere near a trade off for its price. However, if you are already considering a switch to synthetic oil for any reason, you can surely also count on some gas savings as well.
20. Do you need to quit using A/C?
Not really. If you drive at highway speeds with your windows open, aerodynamic drag will consume more gas than A/C. At lower speeds you may want to open your windows and turn the compressor off, at higher speeds, use the A/C. It's time to close the windows at 50-55 mph for most cars.
21. Should you avoid excessive idling?
Yes, but that doesn't mean you should turn off your car at a red light or when coasting in neutral. Such solutions are unsafe, and you'll consume more gas when you start your engine back up. But do try to avoid parking or idling for any prolonged period with your engine on. Remember that your engine gives you 0 MPG when idling, so when it's running it's costing you money. On the other hand, remember that starting your engine consumes the same amount of fuel as idling for a minute or so and it also puts an extra strain on your battery, starter, and ignition switch, reducing their life and leading to their premature replacement - which will surely cost you money. You just need to apply common sense here.
22. Do you need to use cruise control?
Speed control works best on straight roads. If the road you're on has hills, you lose. Experienced drivers will disengage the control, accelerate down the hill and decelerate up the hill. Cruise control will try to maintain the speed, loosing inertia down the hill and guzzling gas up the hill.
23. Should you stop warming up your car on cold mornings and start driving right away?
It depends... a warm up consumes an enormous amount of gas. You won't hurt the vehicle by driving right away... but you will be cold till the heat is working. So this is sort of a climate dependent answer, if you're in Alaska, and the temperature is -20F *inside* your car, by all means let it warm up first.
24. Do you need to shop around for better gas prices?
Sure, just don't overdo this and burn 5 gallons of gas while you search for a better price. The price difference is probably not going to be more than a few cents, so keep this in mind and use your common sense. Use your phone or the Internet instead of driving to every gas station around. Mapquest recently started "Find Gas Prices" service.
25. Do you need to use a fuel injector cleaner?
Maybe... it is definitely beneficial to your engine's well being as well as gas mileage to have your injectors clean. Just don't overdo this and add a bottle of cleaner to every tank of fuel. Do that and you pay more for the cleaner than you can possibly save on fuel, and you are cleaning something that is not dirty enough to require cleaning in the first place. A reasonable mileage interval is 10,000 to 15,000 for injector additives.
26. Should you drive in a higher gear?
Sort of... especially in a standard shift, you want to drive in the highest possible gear, without overloading your engine. Generally an engine is most efficient around the middle of its RPM range. More specifically - slightly lower than the torque peak RPM's. If you are in too high a gear your engine RPM'S will "lug" or drag down the engine. Keeping an engine speed too low (closer to idle) will overload the engine, increasing its wear and seriously hurting gas mileage. Automatics do the thinking for you, but with manual you have to develop this skill for yourself.
27. Do you need to slow down to 55 mph to save fuel?
Not really... every vehicle has its most efficient speed in the highest gear. It differs depending on the design of the car, and things like tire pressure, open windows, bike racks, etc. The 55 mph speed limits come from the 1970s, when a nationwide speed limit was established in an attempt to reduce gas consumption at the time of an energy crisis. This attempt failed miserably by the way, but that's another story. Which does not mean speed does not matter... it does. For modern aerodynamically enhanced cars, the most efficient average speed is more in the range of 65 mph or even higher. You don't want to exceed that speed if you are trying to maximize gas mileage. At higher speeds, the main gas eater is aerodynamic drag, which is proportional to the square of your speed. That means your car needs four times more fuel to overcome the drag when you double your speed.
28. Do you need to buy a more fuel efficient car.
Sure you do! But it is probably not a good idea to dump your gas guzzler below market so you can replace it with a new Corolla. If you are shopping for a new vehicle however, considering a more fuel efficient model will definitely help.
29. Do you need to replace your air filter?
No... because on modern cars, computers compensate for clogged air filters. You lose performance if your filter is clogged, but your gas mileage stays the same.
30. Do you need to replace the fuel filter?
No... if anything, a clogged fuel filter will improve your mileage on older cars. On newer cars, the computer will compensate for most filter issues. On the other hand, if your fuel filter is clogged to the point where your engine starts starving for fuel at full throttle, then you will see... and feel... a serious loss of performance, well before it will affect your gas mileage in any way.
31. Do you need to inflate your tires up to the numbers shown on a tire sidewall?
No... Tire maker stamps *maximum allowed* pressure there. Only your car maker knows what pressure is right for your car. And it is always lower than "maximum allowed". Even though over-inflating your tires will improve your gas mileage, there are a number of major downsides. With over-inflated tires, you will experience much faster tread wear in the middle of your tires. That extra wear will have you buying new set of tires much earlier than you might expect. The cost of new tires will wipe out any savings you might otherwise realize from gas savings. Also, over-inflating your tires makes them much harder and will cause a very uncomfortable ride... rough and bumpy. Finally, if you over inflate your tires, you'll have worse traction, significantly impairing your safety. Marginal savings (if any at all) will not compensate for the significant loss in safety and comfort.
32. Do you need to use gas savers? Tornado, Ramjet, Cyclone, and other gas saving devices?
Nope... gas saving devices are not just a myth – they are an outright scam. Shoot the messenger who suggests you should buy a gas saver. I'm serious. Testing such devices was one of my responsibilities when I worked in car engine research field, and not a single device out of the dozens I happened to test, worked. Federal Trade Commission agrees, too. Do yourself a favor, stay away from such things.
33. Do you need to use higher octane fuel or octane booster?
As a general rule - no... if your owner's manual says to use regular, you are better off using regular. You will not get better mileage with premium. Computers control all of a modern cars' engine functions. Each models computer is programmed to achieve maximum fuel efficiency for that specific design. There are exceptions though. Some European and Japanese car makers install high performance engines, originally designed to run on premium gas, in selected American market models. They then turn around and de-tune those engines to run on regular gas without detonation problems. I don't know why they are doing this - it's probably driven by cheaper production costs, certainly cheaper than modifying the combustion chamber. I haven't seen any of these cars myself, but people do report them on forums. If you feed premium to one of these modified cars, you will get somewhat better mileage, but still, probably not enough to offset the extra cost of premium.
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