72 There are times when one comes across a financial services agent, an insurance a gent or one needs to calculate

figures out of curiosity. You might have faced a situation when you are promised a (X %) rate of interest on your investments and double the funds in (Y) number of years? Is it true or a bluff? To verify, isn't rocket Science, it's harder. You will ha ve to battle excel sheets to know the real answer. Or, look for a financial calc ulator and first figure out how on Earth it works, and which mode you should cho ose - begin or end. Of course, you could log-on to the net on your mobile and tr y to punch in the details on an online calculator website . Instead, you could do all of the above mentioned things or simply use the magic number 72. Years: If you divide the number 72 by the rate of interest, you get to know the number of years it will take for you to double the money. For instance, if the r ate of interest is 9%, simply divide the number 72 by 9 and the answer is eight. This (Eight) is the number of years it will take to double your money if you in vest it at 9% rate of interest. Interest: This rule works in reverse order as well. Let s say, you know the number o f years you want to double your money in and want to know the minimum rate of in terest which you need to achieve that goal. So let's say, you have Rs 2.5 lakh t oday and need to fund your son s college education with Rs 5 lakh in five years. Jus t divide the number 72 by 5 and the answer is 14.41%. This shows that you will n eed to invest your money in an instrument where you earn at least 14.4% as rate of interest, if you want to double the funds in five years. Inflation: This rule also helps you understand a thing or two about inflation. I t helps you calculate the amount of time it will take for inflation to make the real value of money half. So, let s say that the average inflation is 7%.When you di vide 72 by 7, the answer is 10.28. If you have Rs 1 lakh in your kitty today, it would take around 10.28 year for the value of the money to be halved. Keep in mind, that this is a rule of thumb and can be used to get a rough result s on money related calculations. Please use your discretion while investing rather than following this blindly. let us CHANGE INDIA for INDIA OF TOMORROW.

This was sent to me by my banker cousin. blog.chowla.in