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It’s not advisable that you keep your surplus funds in a regular savings account for long. In that case, you can’t just expect a high ROI against this fund. You may choose to go with multiple options like mutual funds and shares, but they have an element of risk. The risks are much lower with FD investments as they’re regulated.

What’s so special about Fixed Deposits?

You may open FD account while you’re looking for some safe and sound investment option. Besides being safe, FDs yield a lucrative rate of interest for the investors. You may earn quality interests on the amount that goes out in your FD account for a certain period.

1. Fixed Deposits create earning opportunities by compounding interests

FDs yield interest for over a uniform period when issued by banks. If you don’t need the amount of interest to come as regular quarterly or monthly income, you may consider reinvesting in your FD account. You’re likely to witness a growth of the principal amount and the interest of the upcoming period will be ascertained on the new value. In this way, you’ll end up earning more on the invested amount. All you need to do is to pick your payment option besides opting for the compounded FD option. You may use any FD calculator online to check the returns.

2. Sound investment option for senior citizens

You may consider an FD among the most lucrative investment options when you don’t have a source of steady income, especially when you’re old and retired. Many of the Indian banks provide you with an FD account and abide by the safety norms laid out for protecting your invested principal. The rates of interest might not be very high, but you may still gain something on these deposits. Under circumstances when you’re heading towards a financial crisis, you may close all FDs even if they haven’t matured.

3. Fixed Deposits yield tax-saving opportunities

FDs come with great tax saving options when you’re specifically interested in investing a portion of your funds for a long term. You may avail them in the form of a 5-year term deposit and set your money to be locked in for those 5 years. Until the maturity of your FD, you won’t be able to achieve credits or loans on your fixed deposits and can’t break them. With tax saver FDs, you may enjoy tax exemption on the principal amount invested by you. Depending on the tax slab, taxes are levied on the interest.

4. Fixed Deposits are much safer

The RBI governs all FD schemes that are issued by the NBFC and Indian banks. Issuers of these schemes are required to follow certain stringent regulations and rules from time to time. In India, the banking industry is safer for the investors as most saving schemes yield adequate protection towards the principal.

If you’re not among those who looks for a high ROI then you may be in need of a more secure investment. FDs are certainly one of those safer schemes that you’ve been looking for. All of your capital is in safe hands as the FDs are regulated by stringent norms laid down by the government authorities. That is also the reason why FDs are considered so safe for the members of low-income groups that don’t possess any alternative source of income.

In a sharp contrast with your domestic bank accounts, your offshore banking service will provide you with the option of choosing currencies to be held in your accounts. It’s really a valuable feature for all your offshore accounts as it provides you with the option of maintaining funds in a different currency than your domestic one. It’s of great help when the domestic currency is likely to get depreciated. It’s important for you to identify the factors that drive exchange rates. You must also understand the effects of maintaining your account with various currencies. Your deposits may yield considerable interest when you pick certain currencies for holding currencies. It might even contribute towards foreign tax liability. Depending on exchange rates and fee structure, you might need to bear the expense of exchanging currencies for making withdrawals and deposits.

Depositing with your Offshore Bank

International wire transfers are very effective in funding offshore bank accounts. Systems that make it easier for you to perform free electronic fund transfers through domestic banks prevent international money transfers. Sending or receiving funds compel you to pay your banks for international wire transfers. In comparison, it seems much simpler to opt for a wire transfer. Banks charge different amounts for wire transfers; that’s why it’s important for you to check out various deals. You have only a few good alternatives. Jurisdictions in foreign countries don’t allow you to accept domestic checks. It’s not a practical idea to carry funds on your own.

Withdrawing from your Offshore Account

In order to turn their services more convenient to users, a number of options to withdraw funds have been introduced by offshore banks. You may be allowed to access funds worldwide by any offshore banking concern that provides you with an ATM or debit card. You might need to bear a certain amount as fees for using international ATMs. That’s why it is essential for you to check out fees before opting for this method. These fees may even be minimized when you withdraw bigger amounts of cash for a single time.

Checking accounts are even allowed by a few offshore banks. A good number of customers don’t prefer this method as it demands a high degree of confidentiality. When you draw checks on foreign accounts, you may experience certain problems regarding their acceptance at foreign outlets.

You may consider using two accounts simultaneously – one could be your domestic account and the other one could be the offshore one. Offshore banking funds worth higher amounts can thus be transferred to your domestic account, so that you may access them easily. By following this method, you may actually ensure more security and privacy besides availing the convenience of services offered by local banks.

Almost everything has become available online since the rise of the internet, and from apartment hunting to food shopping, going online has become a daily aspect of people’s lives. It quickly became apparent that banking customers should be able to access their finances online instead of having to find the nearest ATM for a statement, and thus internet banking was born. Some people were sceptical, and others wholly embraced the technology, but there was no doubt that internet banking was the future.

Nowadays, nearly 70 per cent of banking customers are registered to manage their finances online, and there are many reasons why internet banking has emerged as a staple of everyday life. Apart from being safe, convenient and secure, online banking is available 24 hours a day,and you can also transfer money to a friend or loved one whenever you want. Furthermore, online banking allows you to access your statement anytime you like, and from the comfort of your home. Here’s a list of the pros and cons of internet banking compiled by the people who love and hate it the most.

Pro – It’s Cost Effective

Internet banking means that you don’t have to travel to your nearest branch or ATM machine to access your finances. That means that you’re reducing your carbon footprint, especially when you think how many times you would have to travel every month to see your finances if internet banking wasn’t available. Furthermore, internet banking means millions of customers can be served at the same time, meaning less queues in branches, and more happy customers.

Pro – It’s Paperless

One of the most important advantages of internet banking is that it is paperless – gone are the days where your monthly statement is posted through your door! Banks have reported to have saved millions of pounds in printing since the introduction of internet banking, and many have donated a proportion of their savings to sustaining the green environment.

Pro – Easy Loan Applications

Before internet banking, customers who wanted to apply for a loan or IVAshad to make an appointment with their local bank. Depending on where a person lived, that could be a long journey, and even worse, some banks couldn’t provide appointments until months after the initial application. Nowadays, people who are registered for internet banking can simply apply for a loan online! In just a few clicks, a customer can fill in some details and get an answer to their loan application in a matter of minutes.

Con – Bank Relationship

Internet banking may be convenient, but customers used to be able to build up a trusting relationship with their bank manager. If personal circumstances changed, people could ask to talk to their account handler and explain their financial situation. Apart from providing the customer with peace of mind, bank managers could use their discretion in changing the terms of an account to help a person with repayments. However nowadays, this relationship has been lost.

Con – The Internet

This may sound simple, but what if a banking customer does not have access to the internet, or they are blind? In these circumstances, a person will have to go to a bank directly and organise their finances in person.