So you are a young Indian who earns well, has spent wisely and drive your own car, live in your own house and are able to meet daily expenses without too much effort. Now you are concerned with the investible surplus that you have in hand and are confused whether to put it into financial instruments such as mutual funds and unit-linked insurance policies (ULIP) or whether you should buy a second house to capitalise on the current real estate boom. “Anybody looking at real estate as an investment option is currently at least in the post 35 year age group," says chartered accountant Raghu Marwah. “In the current scenario, other financial instruments score over real estate as a long-term investment option. The returns in the short and long term are more attractive." Portfolio advisor Sanjay Mittal too agrees. “Investment in mutual funds and stock markets is liquid. But investments in the property market are not. Mutual funds yield at least 40% year-on-year returns. One of my investors put in Rs 20,000 per month in the Reliance growth fund and his returns are currently over Rs 3.6 crore in 10 years." This is way above that in real estate. In fact, he gives a thumb rule based on the worst performing systematic investment plan mutual fund over the last 10 years. If you have invested for over seven years, returns are normally the amount invested multiplied by the number of years it was invested for. So why are people investing in real estate at all? Where did all the hype come from? Explains Arun Vikram Goel, CEO of Dewan Housing Finance Venture Capital, “The hype around the real estate market comes primarily from speculative extremely short-term investors. They have bought at launch prices and sold as the values of each subsequent release by the developer was raised and encashed their investment in the short term. These would have yielded very high gains. Nobody who has invested for the long term has contributed to the hype because chances are that they have not exited the market and their computed returns are notional. A long-term investor should not look at hyped gains." Explains another property investment adviser, “At the height of the boom, I had advised various investors to put money into multiple projects and to recycle the investments for maximum returns. In fact, I managed portfolios of investors who had up to Rs 1 crore to invest by putting in the 10% that was required to book a property and then to exit when the next instalment was due. The gains were then reinvested in newer launches and the money was constantly increasing." But the current scenario is different. Today after almost 8-10 months of slow-down in transactions, developers are completing projects rather than launching numerous new ones. Even the rate of hike of value is steady and therefore the short-term speculator is kept at bay. Goel explains this phenomenon. “Immature markets tend to behave erratically. Initially rental markets are not stable and more users think of purchase rather than rentals.
Besides the obvious enhancement of a car's appearance the reason for installing custom wheels on your ride should be performance and handling. Custom wheels were first developed over 50 years ago when race car drivers created wheels made of magnesium because they were so much lighter than the steel ones and thus enhanced their performance and cut their race times significantly. This is where the term "Mags" comes from which is what they were called when I was a teenager and we were putting them on our Firebirds and Camaros for street racing.
Most Mags are not suitable for daily driving because they are more brittle and easily broken than regular wheels and because of the oxidation magnesium wheels need almost constant cleaning and polishing. This is why companies today use other materials to manufacture custom wheels for the automotive industry.
The reduced weight factor is still one of the key elements in modern custom wheels because the weight reduction allows for better acceleration and braking as well as better ride and handling overall. One thing that you need to keep in mind is not to go over the weight the original wheels were designed for or buy using gravity cast aluminum wheels because they tend to bend easily. The better choice is forged or low pressure cast aluminum wheels which are stronger even though they are more expensive.
One big benefit of custom wheels is that due to their construction they almost eliminate deflection of your tires so that they help prevent rollover from happening when you are going around a corner. The newer aluminum alloy wheels are much better at reducing heat as well which helps to keep your brakes cooler. The way that most custom wheels are made with large openings helps in this process as well by increasing the flow of air while you are driving.
Due to the huge increase in popularity of custom wheels today there is no shortage of variety in styles and sizes of wheels available on the market. Custom wheel makers are constantly creating new styles and coming up with newer alloys that are stronger and lighter. When I was growing up there were only a few options you had, now there are literally hundreds of different styles, alloys, and finishes to choose from including the option of having wheels custom color matched to the color of your vehicle.
As I mentioned above, you want to be careful with increasing the size of the wheels as this can not only add weight but can throw off the calibration of things on your vehicle such as your speedometer. This is why you will see many people who go with a larger wheel using a low profile tire that not only keeps the overall weight down but also stays close to the original overall size of the tire and wheel that the vehicle came with. If you increase the size too much it can also affect your transmission shifting, cause problems with braking systems, and reduce fuel economy.
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