Interest rate Hikes

it is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance an existing home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting the family out on the street–and the mortgage won’t even carry a disclosure of that fact to the homeowner. Similarly, it’s impossible to change the price on a toaster once it has been purchased. But long after the papers have been signed, it is possible to triple the price of the credit used to finance the purchase of that appliance, even if the customer meets all the credit terms, in full and on time. Why are consumers safe when they purchase tangible consumer products with cash, but when they sign up for routine financial products like mortgages and credit cards they are left at the mercy of their creditors?

rest of this wonderful article at Elizabeth Warren’s page

Another article Some house truths on how government policies to control FDI in real estate is not helping the Aam Aadmi.

cry

stolen from Viveks

IPO

Typically IPO are considered safe bet for retail investors.
1) You always apply at cut-off (which means you do not have to spend a lot of time doing research about what the allotment price is)
2) There is a 35% reservations (yes Indians love reservations)…
3) You can expect some listing gains.

But recently I have started questioning my investments
1) A good issue gets oversubscribed 30-40 times .. and very good ones even more.
2) Your capital gets blocked for 20 days (almost a 550/- interest lost on a 1L application)
3) If by mistake you apply in a bad IPO, you will not only get 100% allotment, but it will also list below the issue price.
4) If by stroke of luck you get an allotment, it would be of 6-7K worth… Now this is so small a piece of pie for me to track.. so either I need to shell out an additional 20-25k to make it sizable or get rid of the allotment on the very first day 😦 Hence defeating the very purpose of application.

For the past 1 year, i used to keep 1L aside for IPO applications. But since I got 1L straight refund for my last couple consecutive applications I am thinking of revisiting this strategy. From now on I won’t be investing in IPOs unless it is a mega issue.
What has been your experience with IPO?