The various benefits of your Employee Provident Fund

Here are some of these which every subscriber should know-

PF Entitles for Pension Too

There are two elements in EPF- Provident Fund and EPS or Employee Pension Scheme introduced in 1995. The entire contribution of subscriber (12% of basic +DA) goes towards provident fund but from the employer contribution of 12%, 8.33% goes towards EPS (subject to max. Rs 541) and rest added to your provident fund account. The pension on retirement is linked to the number of years in service and the average salary drawn in the year before retirement. This contribution in EPS helps in building a corpus for your pension. Although the maximum pension has been limited to Rs 3500 p.m., it is possible to get a higher pension if employer contributes on basis of employee actual pay and not mandated amount of Rs 6500 p.m. There is also provision in the law where you can receive your EPS money as a lump sum along with your PF. The benefit will be linked to your last year's average salary and number of years in service.  For receiving pension benefits one should be 58 years of age and should have completed 10 years of service without any withdrawal. But there are provisions where if you retire before 58 you will still receive the pension but a reduced amount. Lastly, your family is entitled to the pension if you do not survive the required period, provided they meet some specified conditions.

Insurance Benefit

As per EDLI (Employee Deposit Linked Insurance) scheme, in any organization where group insurance scheme is not available to the employees, the organization has to contribute .5% of monthly basic pay (capped at Maximum Rs 6500) as premium for the life insurance cover. Now, the insurance cover amount is higher of the two: 20 times the average wages of the past 12 months (up to Rs 6,500 per month), i.e. Rs 1,30,000, or the full amount in your PF account up to Rs 50,000 and 40% of the balance amount. For some this may be peanuts but people who work in small enterprises, this amount is good enough to help their family survival.

Special Occasions- EPF at help

There are special occasions in your family or some emergency arises. In case of need of funds and no recourse, EPF comes handy as it gives option to withdraw from the corpus but within a certain limit and by meeting some specified conditions.

1. Goals- Marriage, Education need for self, child or any sibling

In case you have to arrange funds for any of the above need then from your EPF corpus you can withdraw up to 50% of your contribution. Not only this, you can take this benefit three times in your life. However, do remember that for availing this facility you should be in services for at least 7 years. You will have to provide valid documents like marriage card or proof of fee payable to the organization.

2. Your Dream House

You can withdraw from your EPF account for house construction, repair or maintenance or for housing loan repayment. For all of these benefits, there are conditions specified by the organization. If you availed a housing loan and wish to make any repayment, then you can utilize up to 36 months wages from your EPF balance provided you have completed 10 years of service. Similarly, you can also withdraw up to 12 months wages (only once) if you wish to do some alteration or repairing in your existing house. For this you should have completed 5 years of service (10 years for repairing). The number of years of service reduces to five years if wish to purchase/construct a  new plot/house. The maximum you can withdraw is 36 month wages (24 month for plot) but only once. The best part here is that the house can be in name of your spouse or in joint ownership.

3. Medical Emergency

EPF gives benefit for major surgical operations in a hospital or by those suffering from TB, leprosy, paralysis, cancer, mental derangement or heart ailment. You can withdraw up to six times of your salary or the entire contribution made till date, whichever is less. The funds can be utilized for self or family (spouse, children, dependent parents) treatment.

There are other benefits available in EPF like utilizing funds for equipment purchase by physically handicapped, in cases of damage due to natural calamities etc. which one can avail in need. You also have a facility of nominating family members to receive funds after your demise and should be aware that withdrawing EPF after job change is legal only when you are jobless for at least two months. However, with all these benefits do remember that it's a retirement tool and should be utilized only when it is the last option available.

Bank Of England Follows Bernanke And Adopts Explicit ...

Early Wednesday, the Bank of England, led by Governor Mark Carney, formally adopted forward rate guidance. The BoE became just the second major central bank to adopt such policies, following Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve in tying rate hikes and other policy initiatives explicitly to economic data.

"Explicit Rate Guidance"

Governor Carney sent the British pound on a whipsaw as he adopted what he termed "explicit rate guidance." The Bank of England has now tied any future rate hikes to the unemployment rate, noting that rates will not rise until at least the unemployment rate reaches 7.0 percent from the current 7.8 percent; the Bank of England does not see this until 2016 in its current forecasts.

"The [Monetary Policy Committee] intends not to raise Bank Rate above its current level of 0.5% at least until the Labour Force Survey headline measure of unemployment has fallen to a threshold of 7%" said Carney in his opening remarks. "While the unemployment rate remains above 7%, the MPC stands ready to undertake further asset purchases if further stimulus is warranted."

Carney also noted that the MPC, the policy making committee of the BoE akin to the FOMC, would not look to sell any of its bond holdings until at least this threshold is reached. "But until the unemployment threshold is reached the MPC intends not to reduce the stock of asset purchases from the current £375 billion."

Carney did note that the BoE would not stick to these thresholds indefinitely if risks to either the bank's inflation forecast or financial stability were to arise. "The Bank of England's unwavering commitment to price stability and financial stability is such that this threshold guidance will cease to apply if material risks to either are judged to have arisen," said Carney. "In that event, the unemployment threshold would be 'knocked out'."

The Anti-Taper

The Bank of England has not increased the size of its asset purchase program since July of last year, when the BoE bo! osted its purchase program by an additional 50 billion pounds to 375 billion pounds. However, the BoE did launch the FLS program since then aimed at lowering market interest rates for borrowers.

The guidance issued by Carney appears to be an anti-taper, as it opens the door to additional purchases in the future. Also, Carney noted that short term market rates appear to be pricing in rate hikes sooner than the third quarter of 2016, when the BoE forecasts the unemployment rate will drop to its 7.0 percent threshold, and thus sees downside for yields in the U.K. bond market.

Real Improvements Across the Nation

Carney noted that the forward guidance thresholds were chosen as the BoE fears taking its foot off of the proverbial pedal too soon. "There is understandable relief that the UK economy has begun growing again," he said. "But there should be little satisfaction. Much is at stake as we seek to secure this recovery and return inflation to the target."

"A fall in unemployment from 7.8% now to the 7% threshold would, given the normal growth of the labour force, mean well over three quarters of a million new jobs over the three-year forecast period. A recovery in productivity driven by a recovery in demand would mean faster growth of real incomes. Such outcomes would represent real improvements in the lives of people across the nation."

Cable Gains Nearly 300 Pips

After dropping initially on the headlines that the BoE will keep easy-money policy for longer to a session low of 1.5204, the pound rallied nearly 300 pips against the dollar to a high of 1.54918 before consolidating gains around 1.5475. Meanwhile, British stocks sold off as the FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.88 percent.

ForexLive's Ryan Littlestone tried to makes sense of the quick and strong reversal in the pound this morning, noting that hopes may have been too high for the forward guidance. "So forward guidance isn't a definitively set path for monetary policy but just an adjustment of previous targ! ets," he ! wrote. "Yes it's narrowed them down somewhat and painted crosshairs on things like unemployment but it's still all 'wait and see' stuff and that's what the market doesn't like."

"Without sounding like I'm beating my own drum, it went pretty much as I expected. Rates stay low, the QE gun is still loaded but it's locked in the draw for now. The recovery is fragile and still faces risks but the emphasis is now on taking up the slack and improving productivity."

"Inflation has become an even bigger part of the equation today and they will need to monitor any home grown inflationary risk as that could affect the threshold that forward guidance is built on."

0 (c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

4 Tips to Help 30-Somethings Handle Student Loan Debt

Mark Bowden, Getty Images By the time most college graduates reach their 30s, they've been dealing with student loans for years. Yet increasingly, even 30-somethings still face big challenges from their outstanding college debts, and those challenges are affecting the way they manage the rest of their financial lives. Homeownership rates among 30-year-olds have fallen much more dramatically since 2008 for those with student loan debt than for those without it, according to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York study. Yet many people in their early 30s have either already started a family or plan to do so in the near future. That raises the question of how to balance your own financial needs against those of your children in order to reduce the odds that your kids will suffer under the crippling weight of excessive student loans of their own. Let's look at some tips for getting your own debt paid down and for preparing for potential family educational costs down the road. 1. Put Student Loans in Their Place. Many borrowers assume that they should always pay down their student loans as quickly as possible. Yet even though paying off those loans can give you a psychological boost, it's not necessarily the smartest move if you have other debt with less generous terms and higher finance charges. By understanding the terms of your student loans as well as credit-card agreements, car loans, mortgages, and other debt you might have, you can identify the highest-cost debt you have and prioritize getting that paid off first. Even if that means waiting longer to retire your student loans, doing so will still save you money in the long run. 2. Don't Skimp on Savings. Whether to put money toward savings and investing when you have outstanding student loan debt is a subject of debate, with good arguments on both sides. But to take advantage of the tax deductions and free employer-matching contributions you get from contributing to a retirement account, it's worth diverting extra money away from paying down student loans, especially those with low interest rates in the 3 percent to 4 percent range. As your income increases, you'll be able both to stay current on your loan obligations to set money aside for other important financial goals. 3. Make Your Employer Pay for More School. As you advance in your career, getting more education and boosting your skills might be a lucrative move. But once you're in the workforce, you don't necessarily have to pay for those classes yourself anymore. Many employers have recognized the value of investing in their employees through tuition reimbursement programs, which will pay you back for all or part of your costs. Availability and conditions differ from company to company, and typically, the education has to be connected to your job. But they're a great way to avoid adding to your student loan debt. 4. Don't Let Student Loan Debt Hit You Twice. As heavy a burden as today's young graduates carry, educational debt among their parents is also reaching epidemic levels. In 2011, parents received $10.6 billion in Parent PLUS loans, a 145 percent increase since 2000, even adjusted for inflation, according to a study from The Chronicle of Higher Education and ProPublica. And the size of average individual loan is up as well, by about a third to nearly $12,000 in constant dollars. If you have kids or plan to, you'll want to take steps to ensure you don't end up facing a huge loan burden a second time around. Put time on your side by setting up savings programs for their college educations now. As your income grows and you rise into higher tax brackets, the advantages of using a tax-favored college savings strategy such as a 529 plan increase in value. As with any market-based investment and saving strategy, 529 plans work best when you give them as much time as possible to produce strong returns. Moreover, 529 plans have very small minimum starting investments, so you can start a account without placing too big a burden on your finances.

Stock Price Targets: What Analysts Won't Tell You

Analysts use a series of calculations to determine the price target of a stock over a certain period of time, however, says John Heinzl, of the Globe and Mail, sometimes these price determinations are met with skepticism.

How much attention do you pay to analysts' stock price targets?

As a financial journalist, I'm exposed to analyst price targets on a daily basis. I've seen enough targets that were wildly off the mark (RIM (RIM), anyone?) that I don't make investing decisions based on them, but I don't entirely ignore them, either.

When an analyst issues a price target, it indicates that the brokerage expects (at least ostensibly) that the stock will reach the target within a certain time period, usually a year or 18 months. Targets aren't arbitrary; they're usually calculated by estimating a company's future per-share earnings, and then applying a price-to-earnings multiple to that number.

For example, BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Bert Powell recently raised his price target on Wajax (WJX) to $41.50 from $35.50 because, as he explained in a note, he believes the company is poised for a recovery. The new target reflects his expectation that the stock will trade at 11 times his 2015 earnings per share estimate of $3.77—its average P/E multiple historically.

Another measure sometimes used to calculate price targets is the EV/EBITDA ratio—the company's enterprise value (market value of debt plus equity, minus cash) divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. A third method involves discounted cash flow analysis, in which the sum of a company's estimated future cash flows are discounted back to a present value.

Whatever method is used, price targets are often met with skepticism. Some investors see them mainly as marketing tools for brokerages that want to drum up interest in a stock. Indeed, research has shown that price targets tell you little about where a company's share price is actually heading.

In a 2006 paper, Mark Bradshaw of Harvard Business School and Lawrence Brown of Georgia State University examined nearly 100,000 12-month price targets issued by analysts from 1997 to 2002.

The study found that the stock was at or above the target at the end of 12 months just one-quarter of the time, and had exceeded the target at some point during those 12 months less than half of the time.

"Target price forecasts are overly optimistic on average, and...analysts demonstrate no abilities to persistently forecast target prices," the authors concluded. "This evidence is consistent with prior findings of low abilities of various experts to forecast interest rates, GDP, recessions, and business cycles, and the infrequency with which actively managed funds beat the market index."

Sometimes, target prices vary so widely that it borders on comical.

Consider Netflix (NFLX), the video-streaming company whose stock has risen more than five-fold in the past year, and which closed Friday at $328.03 (US). The most pessimistic analyst on Wall Street has a 12-month target of $72; the most optimistic has a target of $460. Such wide dispersion indicates that analysts don't really know how to value the company; there are too many variables at play.

Contrast that with a company such as Canadian Utilities (CDUAF), whose eight price targets range from $40 to $42. (The stock closed Friday at $38.08 [Canadian]). Such tight clustering of targets indicates that analysts have a high degree of conviction about the company's future earnings, which isn't surprising for a utility that throws off predictable cash flows.

That doesn't necessarily mean the stock will hit the targets, of course. Factors such as interest rates, the economy, and market sentiment can all come into play, which is why you need to treat price targets—with their penchant for overestimating a stock's performance—with a healthy degree of skepticism.

Read more from the Globe and Mail here…

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Wendy's Adjusted Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.16 percent to 15,771.96 while the NASDAQ declined 0.25 percent to 3,922.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.01 percent to 1,770.60.

Top Headline
The Wendy's Co (NASDAQ: WEN) reported better-than-expected third-quarter adjusted earnings.

Wendy's posted a quarterly loss of $1.9 million, or $0.00 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $26.2 million, or $0.07 per share. Its adjusted earnings per share climbed to $0.08 from $0.02.

Its revenue climbed to $640.8 million from $636.3 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $640 million. Wendy's lifted its full-year earnings view to $0.25 per share.

Equities Trading UP
HomeAway (NASDAQ: AWAY) shot up 18.62 percent to $34.51 after the company reported a 63 percent rise in its Q3 profit. Raymond James upgraded the stock from Outperform to Strong Buy.

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) got a boost, shooting up 8.33 percent to $15.87 after the company updated its Q3 earnings forecast. Brean Capital upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy.

RDA Microelectronics (NASDAQ: RDA) was also up, gaining 11.12 percent to $17.28 after the company announced the receipt of $18.00/ADS acquisition proposal from Tsinghua Unigroup.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NYSE: NSM) were down 17.33 percent to $40.69 after the company reported Q3 results. Stonegate Mortgage announced its plans to acquire Nationstar's wholesale lending channel.

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) shares tumbled 9.76 percent to $58.18 after the company reported downbeat fiscal fourth-quarter revenue and lowered its FY14 forecast.

The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ: WEN) was down, falling 9.57 percent to $8.22 on Q3 results.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.57 percent to $94.26, while gold traded down 0.76 percent to $1,307.80.

Silver traded down 0.79 percent Thursday to $21.60, while copper rose 0.08 percent to $3.24.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.77 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.21 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.24 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.99 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.

Economics
US jobless claims declined by 9,000 to 336,000 in the week ending November 2. However, economists were projecting claims to drop to 335,000.

The US economy expanded by 2.8 percent in the third quarter. However, economists were expecting a 2.3 percent growth.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 37.9 in the week ending November 3, versus minus 37.6.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.

Data on consumer credit for September will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET, while money supply data will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone Futures Forex Global Econ #s Economics Hot Intraday Update Markets Movers Tech

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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