Simple Steps To Secure Your Child’s Future Goals

In my 10 years of profession as a financial advisor, I have always been a firm believer and advocated SIP as a form of investment for long term wealth creation. I have recommended clients to invest in SIP and align their investments to goals. What I have observed is that through this path of wealth creation there will be obstacles like job loss/switch, new house purchase, unexpected expenses etc. when wealth creation takes a back seat.

With my experience, I’d say that it is not a loss but a postponement in saving and investing; and yes, it does take time to get back that good habit. We can’t blame the investor as mutual fund is the most liquid option available and so unfortunately becomes the 1st choice, and an advantage of easy liquidity as compared to PPF and other saving instruments becomes a disadvantage. As an advisor, I cannot be the villain and stop the client from doing it. But I can certainly try to get them back on track after such postponement.

However, there is one thing I observe and has been consistent with my clients and that has been the SIPs which have been made under their child’s name. You can call it emotional attachment but nobody stops anything which is invested in their child’s name. It’s just that guilty feeling that the child’s future will be disturbed by liquidating the funds set aside for him, and trust me no parent wants to go through that guilt.

Therefore, I try and recommend a plan of action which would help a parent set aside funds for his child’s needs in future.

The First Steps

Firstly, I started investing in Mutual Funds via SIP in my child’s name. But only starting it does not make it right, there are a few things we need to do.

  1. Once you have the birth certificate which is your child’s first proof of existence, apply for a PAN. A PAN is issued to a minor too and just need your child’s birth certificate, photograph along with your KYC documents.
  2. Once the PAN is allotted along with the birth certificate open a bank account in his/her name and you as guardian. You’ll receive the cheque book bearing your child’s name. Start with the SIP investments.

This exercise creates a financial life by a separate account altogether. Yes, it is not your financial life; it is your child’s financial life. This helps you to keep a tab on both financial lives’ progress individually. The chances of you liquidating are less as it is in your child’s name.

Start Somewhere and Keep Growing

Allocate an amount which you think you can set aside for the first 2 years. I chose aggressive funds because I knew my timeline is definitely more than 10 years and aggressive funds will allow me to maximize my returns. Moreover, I review it once a year to see if any changes/additions are required.

There are many financial calculators apps for Android/Mac are available which help you determine the amount you need to set aside per month for your child’s goal. But initially, concentrate on setting aside and avoid the complexities. It’s about the habit of investing rather than investing. Have a long term view for your child; yes the numbers are important but more than that it’s important to start and after a couple of years assess and then keep increasing SIP amount. There will be ups and downs but eventually because the time horizon is more for your child, you will invariably end up creating wealth and contribute to your child’s future.

Drop by Drop

India has many festivals and everybody blesses the child, be it relatives or friends. Keep depositing them in his account and you will notice that you don’t even need to fund his SIP, it takes care of itself. The money which you would have otherwise spent is put to good use and if there is windfall in future, then just increase the SIP amount or invest as a lump sum by making additional purchase and let it grow. It helps in purchase of toys and gold which you anyway as a parent buy, so whatever your child gets in kind should be from you and whatever he get form relatives and friend should go straight into his bank account.

So if you have a birthday party of a friend’s child or when he is born and you see him/her for the first time, avoid buying gift unless you are absolutely sure that the child needs it, else it will just be another toy or gift. At the risk of sounding like a money minded person, I would urge you to please give cash when you are gifting too, as it gives the parent to choose either they buy what the child needs or they invest for his long term goals. You can personally contribute and take a step further by paying all his expenses like school fees and other major expenses from his account.

Benefits of the Journey

When your child is growing up, trust me he/she is smarter than what you were, they will be able to see how the contributions have helped in creating wealth and they too start valuing money. Child get’s exposed too and learns about cheque books, bank account passbook and has cheques with his name printed on it and more importantly when he attains 18 with updated PAN he is ready to take charge of his financial life. You don’t have to go through changing bank accounts and transferring funds then. This way you will also contribute creating a generation of informed investor.

Conclusion

Once again, I am repeating the importance to save and invest for your child. Be it PPF or FD but the logic is to start and see the long term benefits. At the same time Mutual Fund will give a better return compared to any of the other investments.

It’s like when you tell your child to drink milk and then you urge and persuade him to drink it SIP by SIP, the same urge and persuasion is required from you in this journey with SIP.

 

 

 

All About Dematerialisation of Physical Shares

There is a lot of confusion, rather lack of clarity with regards to Dematerialisation of physical shares. With this article I have tried to give a gist of the process and provide a solution to common problems an investor might face who has physical shares and wants them to be dematerialised.

There is lot of confusion, rather lack of clarity with regards to dematerilisation of physical share

BACKGROUND

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on June 08, 2018, issued regulations pertaining to the mandatory dematerialization of securities for effecting transfers. The guidelines will be effective from December 05, 2018. This means post 5th December, all requests for transfer of shares will have to be in the demat form only.

Any transfer of shares in physical form will not be allowed after December 05 2018.

Having said that, this rule has 2 exceptions:

  1. It is not applicable for transfer of title of shares by way of inheritance or succession and
  2. Transposition of shares i.e. interchanging of the order of name of shareholders will still be allowed after 5th December, 2018.

PROCESS OF TRANSFER

The physical transfer of shares follows a process where the transferor and the transferee have to fill up a share transfer form (SH – 4). Share transfer forms have to be duly affixed of the value of 0.25% for consideration of shares i.e. the stamp duty has to be paid @0.25 % of the value of the shares of the day the franking is done.

The stamp duty value of 0.25% has to be paid Online on https://gras.mahakosh.gov.in/echallan/  if the amount of duty is less than Rs. 5,000/-. In case of higher amounts the stamp duty is to be paid through E-SBTR at the respective bank branches. Then the form has to be submitted to respective local branch.

Once the SH4 form has the stamps affixed it has to be submitted to the respective registrars of the company along with the original share certificate, PAN of both the transferor and the transferee along with the supporting documents.

Please note that every round of communication with the registrar takes around 1 to 1.5 months, hence do ensure that the documentation should be in order for the smooth transfer of shares.

This process gets completed in 2 months if all the documents and shares are in order.

SOME SCENARIOS TO DISCUSS

Let’s consider situations other than transfer.

  • LOSS OF SHARE CERTIFICATE

If one does not know the status of the shares or the holding or has lost his share certificates the process becomes challenging and time consuming.

The status of the shares mainly includes the number of shares which change due to corporate actions like bonus, splits, merger or demerger or the shares may have been transferred to the IEPF A/c.

The basic status of these shares can be collected by asking the registrars. But generally the registrars do not entertain such questions via phone call or personal visit. They are instructed not to give out any information on the phone calls due to security reasons.

In such case the shareholder is advised to write a request letter for any query regarding the shares. The same goes through a long process and the revert is sent at the registered address of the shareholder.

The same process can be time consuming as it takes around 25 to 35 days for any reply. If one does not receive the letter he has to write back to them asking them to dispatch the same again. It is advisable that the letter of enquiry should be furnished with self-attested copies of PAN and aadhar for registrar’s verification.

Once the registrars have tallied and verified the applicant’s documents the reply is sent. In case the signature of the shareholder does not match as per their records or in case of any other discrepancies the registrar might ask for supporting documents like a banker’s verification or affidavit.

In case of loss of certificates, missing certificates or to apply for a duplicate share certificate the process may also involve FIRs, Affidavits, Indemnity Bonds and Declaration by surety.

  • DEATH OF SHARE HOLDER

In case of death of a Shareholder the joint holder needs to write to the registrar notifying the demise of the joint holder by attaching the death certificate along with the above mentioned documents and request for the process to be initiated.

However in case of death of the shareholder who was a single holder of the shares, the beneficiaries need to prove their succession.

The documentation will differ and will be dependent on the value of the shares, the registrar of the company and whether there is a will in place or not.

ALL ABOUT IEPF

MCA has issued Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority Rules, 2017. As per these rules “Any money as dividend not claimed by investor within 7 year and 37 days from the date of declaration of dividend, shall be transferred by the company along with interest accrued, if any, thereon to Investor education and protection fund.

After 2017 even all Shares in respect of which dividend has not been paid or claimed for seven consecutive years or more have been transferred by the company in the name of Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).There is a separate online procedure which has to be done to claim the dividend and shares from IEPF.

First and foremost you have to make sure if the shares are in IEPF by enquiring with the registrar by using any of the above mentioned ways. Once confirmed than start with the process at the earliest.

It is tedious which involves regulatory compliances to be done. The shareholder has to make an application in e-form IEPF 5 and mention all the details of shares and pending dividends an file with the Ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) and the company.  This process of such transfer/ transmission / deletion takes more than 6 months and the shares are directly transferred to the demat account.

UNLISTED / DELISTED / SUSPENDED SHARES

There may be some shares where trading is suspended or they may be delisted. It is advisable to check the last traded price and if the value is not much then one can ignore them.

If such companies are unlisted / delisted /suspended but still giving dividends, then It is recommended that these shares should be dematerialised.

CONCLUSION

It is a lengthy process but if the process is followed with discipline with proper follow-up you will be getting a value for the physical paper in hand which is worth the effort. You may get frustrated and also get offers from 3rd parties who are willing to buy them at a percentage of the value but it is advisable not to exercise that option as there are chances that the shareholders might burn their hands and lose the shares in the bargain. Beware of sharks and stay informed.

Hope this article is helpful in understanding the process and dealing with physical shares.

The Value of Experience !!!

I am sharing a recent experience and learnings from it.

You might have read about similar story on Facebook or WhatsApp but when something of this sort happens to us… is when we understand and give importance.

It was a normal day at office and as usual I reached at 9 a.m. While trying to open the door, to my surprise, the key wasn’t getting the right revolution so the door wouldn’t open. In my over enthusiasm, to try and get things going, and after a number of unsuccessful attempts of about 30 minutes, I successfully managed to get the key stuck in the keyhole. The key wouldn’t come out of the lock which was embedded in the door.

Frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t start my day on time, I went down the in search of a keysmith, who could help. Finally I found one who would sit below a tree near my office. He came at about 10 a.m. and I was his 1st customer standing there, waiting for him.

I took him to office where the key was still stuck and requested him to help, he asked some basic questions, started working and within 5 minutes he managed to open the door. I asked him if there is a problem with the key or the lock set and he said no it sometimes gets stuck, I asked him how much I owed him for his services and he said Rs. 350/ -.

For him I was his first customer and for me I was just relieved and wanted to start my day’s work so I paid. I paid his charges and took his number.

After a few days when I was shutting office, again the same thing happened and the door wouldn’t shut this time, again the same dilemma. It was 7.30 pm time to go home, tired and frustrated I was again stranded at night .

I called up the guy and fortunately he was also about to leave, I requested him to come to office and help again. He came he saw he tried and within 3 minutes the key worked again.

I was surprised and asked again if there was any problem with the lock set to which he replied none. This time again he asked for 350 rupees again and I was a little miffed and asked him a question which is very common

“Itna kyun bhai? Sirf 2 minute to lage kholne main aur main pehle bhi to paise de chuka hu! Same key hain same lock hain. Isme naya kuch nahi kiya tumne. 2 min ka 350 rupya???

(Why so much? It took just two minutes to open it and I just paid you this morning as well! It’s the same key and same lock. You haven’t done anything new, 350 rupees for a 2-minute job???)

And then what he said actually was a lesson in hindsight.

He said and I quote “ sir yeh do minute main lock kholne ke liye mujhe 18 saal ka practice laga hain. 350 uska charge hain”
(I managed to open the door in 2 minutes because I practiced for 18 years. I’m charging you for my experience)

Sometimes we always look at the price we pay and seek value in the services provide and always weigh time taken with the service provided. However, the most important thing we forget is the experience of the person providing that service.

Instead of being happy about getting free early and fortunately getting a person who was efficient I started questioning the method.

He was a professional and had a particular skill set which he had mastered over a period of 18 years and it was that experience which allowed him to perform his job efficiently and it was not my place to question it.

When I speak to financial advisors they are always concerned that clients raise questions when a fee is charged the first time or on renewals. The most frequent question being, “ you have not made any changes to the portfolio, then why the fees?” Sometimes it’s not necessary to change if the journey is long and we are on the right path and all you need to do is monitor.

It is the experience of an advisor which is acquired by years of study and learning and gained by harnessing the skills that commands that fee.

We generally don’t question a doctor for the medicine he gives or a lawyer for the fees they charge. The same way one should not question the person who one has been entrusted to handle one’s wealth?

To conclude, in our DIY world, we could always do things ourselves. This experience showed me that I tried, but I didn’t have the bandwidth or the requisite skill set and I wasn’t successful. Hiring a professional and trusting him with what he did was the most efficient solution to handle something I couldn’t. So whether it’s something as simple as fixing a lock or fixing one’s financial life it’s good to be informed but it’s always better to trust….

The Author Neeraj Bahal (ACA,CFP, RFC) is founder of Fasttrack Financial Planners, Mumbai. He may be contacted on [email protected] if you have any questions.

Neeraj Bahal
Fasttrackfp

Makar Sankranti- A Festival To Learn

The festival we enjoy the most is just a couple of days away. As a kid, the only festival which I have been passionate about is Makar Sankranti. Don’t know how, and don’t know why, but somewhere there are a lot of emotions which flow throughout that day. Determination to Win, Patience, Fear, Greed, and the list would go on.

I was blessed to spend my childhood growing in the streets of south Mumbai especially Girgaum where the celebrations are at its peak from 7 in the morning to 12 in the night.Today after completing 10 years as a Chartered Accountant & as a Certified Financial Planner, I find a lot of similarities between Makar Sankranti, the festival, and financial planning and what one can learn from this festival and implement in their financial life.

Disclaimer: Some of the terminologies related to kite flying are intentionally used in Hindi as honestly using English would just be an insult.

Some of the glaring similarities found between flying kite and investing are :- 

Choose what you need – The first step when it comes to this festival is choose the right stuff, and your decision will decide how your day goes, It varies from the type of manjha whether it is jada or patla, Bareli or surti, 12 taar etc… or the type of kites you want, so pick the manjha which suits you according to the conditions you are going to fly inevery year.Whenever I fly kites, mornings are always with barik manjha due to less wind and afternoon with jadda manjha when it becomes windy. You might argue that it is the skill of the person that is more important and not the manjha but I always prefer it the other way. Maybe now it has become a habit.

If I have to relate the above with financial planning. Not everyone has the skill to make the right call with regards to his/her financial life, yet a disciplined habit attains satisfactory results. Use the right investment options and choose what you need or ask an advisor, evaluate your risk appetite and I think you should do well.

I did not have anyone to guide me how to use my resources. You will always have.

Prepare yourself

Provisions for emergency – Make provision for Water, have ample no of kites, manjha, cap, sunglasses, tape, set up dhinchak music, and the list is ready. Similarly, if you are planning to fly your financial kite make sure that you have your emergency fund in place so you don’t have to run from pillar to post when any need arises.

Right protection– If you are flying kites and you don’t cover your finger with band aids and tapes then you are in serious trouble my friend. At least that’s what I learned in a year after I started flying. Similarly have all your insurance in place. There is no harm in playing safe and cover the areas which are going to be affected the most.

Standing in the sun – There is no gain without pain, we stand the whole day flying kites, determined to make use of the day and deal with every kite in our own way. Thus being an investor, be prepared to be there for a long time. Not every kite flies high. Some get katofied while some get torn, the one which gives us immense pleasure is the one which flies high (tikli) but for that we have to be prepared to lose some.

Manjha is money

Some have less, some have more, those who have less manjha don’t stop flying their kites. Similar for investing too, you don’t need a lot of money, even small contributions are fine, atleast start flying!!

Those who have a decent flow of manjha can surely give dheel (keep investing)  and set their path to attain high growth, (tikli).Many fly together, many get cut, many torn to pieces, yet the optimist sees many kites flying high in the sky! Set your financial path and make it a habit (Invest in SIP).

Tilgul ghya god god bola (eat sweet and talk sweeter)

Every festival has its flavours and you make sure you enjoy them it starts from tilgul to undhiya and puranpoli gathiya chivda sweet Pongal and the list is never ending. Similarly enjoy your journey and enjoy whatever life gives you financially. Yes money is important but as wise men say “if you are not able to enjoy your wealth then it’s not worth it”.

Pass on the Legacy

I have noticed over the years the craze for this festival is slowly dying. May be due to no bank holiday or high rise building or people have just moved on in life, but it hurts to see when the next generation is not aware about it, I would urge all of you to please enjoy the festival with your family and involve your kids too…Similarly, always make sure that your family is aware about all your investments liability and financial transactions. It will always help in case you are not available.

End the day on a high Every festival comes to an end but what’s important is that you are content when it ends. So enjoy the day and enjoy your life.

The best learning which I have learnt from kite flying is “Nazar sada ho uchi sikhati hain Patang!!”
So enjoy the Festival enjoy financial Planning!!!

KAI PO CHE!!!

Life Is a Bike Ride !!!

Hi,

Bike rides / road trips are experiences which everybody should have once in their lifetime. I have tried to put down my experiences/ learnings of my bike ride. Somewhere I found a lot of resemblance with Financial planning and I have tried to point out a few.

 Pre ride tune up: Make sure before you start your ride, you and your beast should be in perfect physical condition to enjoy the journey. Get your bike checked with the mechanic for Oil top up, wires, breaks and buy the necessary riding gear, sadle bags, helmet, etc… After you are sorted make sure that the others are too cause if they are stuck so are you. Discuss the route plane decide on time, Points, breaks well in advance and communicate.

One should also have the necessary stuff like all the relevant documents, estimation of monthly expenses and income, goals at appropriate age. etc. ready. Ideally it should be done by themselves or seek help of an advisor.

The day: Joyous and energetic that’s how a start should be. It’s a cardinal sin to not be on time on the day of the journey especially in a group, it hampers the excitement and morale, so try and set the right tone for the ride.

Start young as early start sets the tone for future, also be punctual while doing their investments. Timely payment of premium or maintaining sufficient balance in the account for deduction of SIP’s are some of the basic rules that should be kept in mind.

Off you go: Make sure you enjoy the ride and take it easy. Mistakes will always happen but sometimes not knowing routes getting confused, missing formation these small hiccups are good as they go on to make wonder full memories.  Enjoy the local delicacies on your way during a break. But make sure you are in pairs, we don’t want to do get stranded alone do we?

Financial Planning is a long journey and many events will occur during the journey. Some may be sweet, others may be bitter. Mistakes are bound to happen, but that doesn’t mean you stop believing. Sometimes Trump may eat away our returns or Brexit will cause a temporary havoc in the economy or one fine day you suddenly enter into a cashless society with fancy purple and green coloured monopoly notes. There may be ups and downs but just hold on to it and everything will fall into place.

Safety First: I know this is the first rule of riding but the context is more psychological than physical, you might wear gears and cover yourself but you need to be mentally strong when you are on a road trip. Stay hydrated mentally by taking breaks, don’t get tempted to speed just because the other guy is, avoid racing on unfamiliar roads, you are not valentinorossi and even if you are these are not the roads you want to drift on.

You might be lured to buy a product just because a colleague just bought it. But you should know your risk appetite and choose investments according your needs and goals. Have their insurance in place and SIP’s going. Avoid investing directly in equities just because the pan wala gave that tip, if you don’t have the necessary time and patience, everybody can’t be Warren Buffet or Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Consult an advisor if you can’t manage on your own.

Formation and consistency: Yes, we all love to speed and everyone has their own style. But it’s important to have the basics intact. Who will lead who will be at the end. Speed range, formation and moreover taking responsibility. It’s actually an excellent team building exercise. Helps some to curb their instincts and be patient and some to come overcome their fears and improve their skills and become better. It’s a visual treat to watch bikes on road in tandem and sync.

Following the plan and achieving your goals, seems like a simple individual task but apparently many variables are involved in it and they affect/ change one’s financial life. It may be spouse, kids parents, relative, friends, work, external environment etc… The more in sync the smoother the journey. Sometimes there is a job loss/change, sickness, birth of child.  life changes the skill is to adopt to these changes and to make others adapt too.

Reach your destination: There is no satisfaction greater then reaching your destination, and the satisfaction is much higher when everything goes according to plan. And even if it doesn’t then all the hiccups becomes memory to cherish for a long time.

There is no satisfaction greater than seeing the goals getting achieved and all the difficulties faced the journey become fruitful experiences.

So enjoy your ride and make the most of your financial life.

Fasttrack Your Vacations Smartly!!!

 

Planning out of country trip with family can be a lot easier with the right approach and some planning. You’ll make your trip a lot cheaper right from fares, accommodation, sightseeing, shopping, travelling etc.… Here’s how to plan your next vacation without any unnecessary spending’s. These tips are useful irrespective of it being a planned trip or not. Hope you will find it useful.

Flight Bookings & VISA Documentation

Most of the apps offer similar features comparing flight options and using filters to change a few fields here and there. You can use Trip advisor, make my trip etc.… I personally use skyscanner.com. Set up price alerts it really helps.

But a word of caution whenever you search try and open in “a New incognito window” (for windows) or “new private window” (for mac users). Search engines like chrome store all your previous searches and accordingly the rates are sometimes hiked up if you visit the same sites regularly.

You need to keep a check on is card/bank offers and discount schemes that can help you save more. If you are a frequent traveller, then check your miles. Have a credit card with miles programs they do help reducing your ticket price to a great extent and you waste less time to get your boarding pass and lounge access is free.

Try and buy a refundable ticket, it’s useful as sometimes you get big discounts if airline is desperate to fill up seats so you can cancel the refundable ticket and buy a new one, and if you feel like extending your vacation and saves a lot of money.

Make sure you do a web check in and select your seats together. Web check-in shows you seat map which helps you take a call on which seat to reserve or whether it’s worth paying extra for a particular seat.

Sometimes its visa on arrival or before travelling, in both cases do make sure that you carry copies of necessary documents with you, Photographs especially. Also keep soft copies handy. You don’t want to pay a hefty amount for clicking your photos and waste your time at the immigration when you land.

Carry your currency but do check the dollar rate v/s local currency v/s INR. Sometime carrying dollars makes a lot of sense then local currency if dollar is stronger. To be safe carry a mix of local currency and dollars if possible.

Organise Your Travel Plan

Once all your bookings are done, you need to organise your travel plan. Ideally you should land around the time where you can directly check in, get fresh have your lunch and utilise the day. Set plans for the rest of the days and keep one-day buffer, but try and keep the last day of your trip light for last minute errands and packing.

You can use apps like TripIt. Or now Google also has their own travel planner called Google Trips these little things really help you get the most out of your trip. Have a checklist of things to do right from things to pack, places to visit, keeping shopping days and what to buy for who etc… Make sure you have all the boxes are ticked when you are back

Hotel Bookings

Most of the flight booking apps also offer hotel bookings. However, if the requirement is only to sleep at night and keep your luggage then I would recommend Air bnb. It has a simple interface where you can either type in or voice search your destination, choose the check in/check-out date and type of room you want. The app then gives you the lowest available price of various places along with their ratings. Just call the owner and take things forward. You save on a lot of taxes too which otherwise you pay when u book hotels.

Getting Ready

Travel light as much as you can, remember you will invariably buy stuff when u travel so try and carry one suitcase and then you can get good deals and new variety at the place you visit, buy bags along with your shopping list and dump all in it.

Make sure your international roaming is activated and has a decent pack for data and calling. There are a lot of cheaper options available now. If not, then still update google maps so that they work on offline mode.

Try reaching the airport well on time and once you get your boarding pass and pass the immigration you have time to shop at the duty free. There are a lot of good deals available on chocolates, perfumes and especially on alcohol and if you are single malt person then you will find yourself in heaven. Even if you are not you can always gift it to your near and dear ones. (if you are reading this and you know me then take this as a hint…)

Sightseeing

There’s no end to websites and forums where you can get travel and destination information. Try clubbing the places to visit according to your itenary. Enjoy the places you visit as you won’t be visiting them soon. You can use sygic travel helps a lot. While travelling buy the local card for computing like NOL Card in Dubai or Euro Rail pass for Europe. It saves a lot of money and makes commuting very easy and fast.

If there are activities to do and places to visit where you need to buy ticket’s, then better take deals online. Sites like group – on, or local sites in destination country give you a great deal on leisure activities, sightseeing or even eating out and they are valid for a week or month.

Shopping

Don’t be a compulsive shopper but looks for things you find interesting or are a speciality. Always try and stick to the purpose of your trip and keep shopping secondary. There are apps like around me, or even ask your friends on face book, it helps. Apps give you details about nearest malls and things to shop around. Another app you should have is the Matrix Travel Companion app. The app is relatively new but offers a clean, tile-based interface to help you find restaurants, tourist attractions, shopping areas and even guides you on best way to reclaim shopping/business VAT if available. There is a considerable amount which one can get refunded from VAT which you can take before you depart from the airport.

Geeta Ka Saar

An international trip with family would cost you a decent amount, just by using technology and preplanning you can save a lot without compromising on any front. You never know you might end up making your trip tickets free.

Hope the above were useful, so start planning and Enjoy your vacations.