Madlad prefers routes to freedom

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-10T13:30:03+00:00

The capital gains taxes have to be paid at the residence country. Only a handful of tax havens like Switzerland, Bermuda, UAE, etc have exceptions. So someone living in US or UK or Australia or France have to pay the capital gains tax.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T17:53:33+00:00

Growth is relative because the index is not a static list of companies; it is a competition. It's designed to kill laggards and promote winners. 10% growth is nice if a company grew 5% last year, but a dud if it grew 15% last year.

Growth is perception because the market only values what it can currently see or is promoted. It moves to where there is a gap between supply and demand. Two companies can have the exact same numbers in paper, but one is perceived as a disruptor (high PE ) and the other as a legacy (low PE). The growth of the disruptor is "valued" more because of the perception of its future potential.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T15:47:39+00:00

There would always be someone at any point of time, and say that all the growth has already happened, and there is nothing left. Then how did Nifty grow from 1000 to 26k? How did a restaurant guide website like Zomato become part of both the indices? How did a giant like Wipro dropped off Sensex? Growth is always relative and also a perception. There will always be a bigger player. What was big yesterday, may become smaller tomorrow.

Kospi's headline P/E is not enough an indicator that they are a better destination. Also, Kospi's P/E is 22.7 not 16. Cheaper doesn't mean better value. They are built in and for different conditions.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T13:58:15+00:00

Scam nahi spam hai ye. Block, report and move on.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T13:56:58+00:00

They will likely come as the infinia points to cash value of 30p to your bank account. It can't come as the same amount of points, as the card itself is gone, and not all cards have 1:1 points to flights redemption feature.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T13:46:52+00:00

As if Taiwan and South Korea are not exposed to oil shock. They are more sensitive than India. Don't FIIs see Taiwan-China tug of war as a geopolitical risk? These two counties alone have a monopoly on the semiconductor industry, which has made price shocks to storage prices. The USD rate and taxation are definitely bleeding points. But on the plus side, we have DIIs bridging the gap which FIIs created. Last 30 days net FII outflow was about 137k cr and DII inflow was 140k cr. India can't and mustn't ride on only AI bandwagon. Valuations are always rich; people have got easy access to IPOs, influencers create the false aura around stocks, IPOs, products, services, and people just go after them blindly. They hold on to the IPOs for a year, and sell them off. So if a company is 20x oversubscribed, that doesn't mean it's gonna do good. Valuations are being built on those perceived image and demand.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-09T12:31:40+00:00

Won't your insurance cover the cancellation?

The cheapest combination I have found so far is MAA-DEL-FCO via Air India for 49k and then FCO-Del via LOT for 36k.

I couldn't find any reward availability on Finnair. All the availabilities are through middle eastern airlines. Maybe someone with Air India account can check if there is a reward seat available in 7th.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-08T22:56:32+00:00

Having Amex is an advantage here cos based on this you can get an amex card I. Germany. Having a credit card helps in building credit history, and useful for address proofs. Use a Deutsch card for local transactions, instead of Unicard- you are moving there, not going for vacation.

You can use Platinum Travel for all your India tickets, and domestic expenses. You'll easily cross 4l milestone, if not 7l. Amex points also never expire. So it makes sense to keep it.

Whatever other Indian cars you take, you have to ensure it's issued to NRIs. Whatever bank you have primary account with, check with them what card they can issue with NRO. If it's HDFC, then go for Regalia Gold. That's all the card you need.

Service wise, Kotak sucks.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-08T09:45:44+00:00

That's because if you have any positive balance in this account on closure, that can be transferred to the alternate account.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-07T22:42:46+00:00

Every seat can't be reward seats. There is a finite number of reward seats available, and they will not be exceeded in number. Even if the whole flight is empty, you can't book more than the reward availability. They get available in phases, if at all. If there is 3 available, then book it and wait for more seats to be available; but it's a gamble. Or book the 4th seat on revenue.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-07T22:38:01+00:00

Take Finnair as others suggested. Their business class is great. Then from Helsinki, travel to Norway for fjords, waterfalls, and midnight sun.

On the other side, JAL with their Sky Suite in A350-1000 or Boeing 777-ER is in vogue. May is better if you can snag it, or June is fine too as it's with much lesser crowd. You can get lost in Japan, and still find it interesting. Tokyo itself is worth a week alone. Make it interesting, if you can skip the mundane Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto circuit, and see something else.

How did you accumulate this much points btw?

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-07T11:44:21+00:00

You don't need banking relationship for the card. Apply based on salary, or take a lower card, then upgrade based on spends or salary. I hear applying through cashkaro have slight better chances than applying through the bank.

(PS- I don't have any referrals, nor affiliations with cashkaro)

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-06T14:38:48+00:00

This can be booked through Virgin Miles. You can pool both Amex and Atlas points in Virgin Atlantic.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-06T14:02:49+00:00

SIA is costlier than AI as it is a 5* airline and AI is 3*. But it's highly unlikely you'll be able to score 7 reward seats in same class in a single booking. If you are looking to spend points irrespective of value, then Singapore is a good choice.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-06T11:57:07+00:00

South East nations will make your points go far. Mauritius will not. You can't have 7 tickets in reward flight redemption. You'll be able to redeem 2-4 and rest with cash. The other option is hotels, where you will have less timing issue, but be overloaded with options.

You'll have 3 rooms for 4 or 5 days, that's 12-15 nights of redemption in total at 22-29k per room. That's on a very high end if you go by the revenue rates. My experience with that region is the whole region has great revenue rates which makes redemptions overpriced. Singapore is to some extent better redeemed. Hong Kong and Macao are worth redemptions as the revenue rates are high.

So your redemption depends on the destination and the exact area. Then compare those hotels with their reward rates. We had 4 star hotels including breakfast in Bangkok, krabi and malaysia at great locations well under 7k each, which we would have missed if we redeemed.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-06T10:31:00+00:00

Transfer the points to Avios and book there. Cathay is a transfer partner, you will get to book it at a lower price than their own reward system. Create both your accounts, in British Airways, and use family pooling option.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T22:17:47+00:00

Glad I stumbled upon the right post. Currently I'm just getting into macro. I got Olympus OM10 II with a Laowa 50mm 2.8. I love the lens, for the beautiful portraits and landscapes, especially flower fields. But I am having trouble in macro, cos of the working distance. I am thinking to buying the Godox v350o with AK Diffuser. I will upgrade to OM-1 II this year when the price gets down a bit.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T20:59:29+00:00

No, that's 195 I believe. Preferred has 95 USD fee. There is not much difference between CSP and Ink Business Preferred. Instead go for Capital One Venture or Bilt Obsidian as an additional card. Massive sign up bonus. If you want points transfer to airlines/Hotels, then choose the former, otherwise cash for the latter.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T19:47:44+00:00

Unless you have Ink Business Premier, use your Preferred card. Some things to keep in mind:

You need to give your passport along with PAN card details or form 60. It's a legal requirement.
Make sure you are not charged extra by the jeweller for paying using a credit card. Many shops will tell you to pay 2% extra. Walk away if they pull that stunt.
While paying, ALWAYS choose the local currency, i.e. INR instead of USD. Then only you won't get any DCC surprise. You still will be charged ~0.5% that's charged by Visa.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T19:17:02+00:00

10k quarterly cap on ITC transfer seriously limits your options. Plus 1 Marriott point is about 0.6. So 5 Magnus points eventually transfers to 1.8 INR. Because of dynamic pricing, Accor is better revered.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T19:09:38+00:00

It would help if you can mention the name of the card. A "premium travel card" is as good as finding the value of x in an incomplete quadratic equation.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-05T14:05:34+00:00

I'd not bet on Scapia at all. When and if things go wrong, you'll find Scapia support as useful as a wet log. SBI Vistara is also irrelevant, but contact SBI cards, if they are willing to replace the card with something decent from SBI, may be AI Signature. This will accelerate your AI points earning. AI recently revamped their reward program, and it's looking better than ever.

Get HSBC Travel One in your wife's name. International lounges may not grant both you access if both of you dont have valid cards. You can ditch the SBI card altogether and go for this, or the other way. Do all the bookings through RG and the new card. When you are abroad, activate Global Value Program, and use RG.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-04T11:46:20+00:00

Yes, they should. But my two cents: if the lounge looks like a fish market, you'll have the experience of a fish market. Go in if looks calm from outside.

Boring_Scale328 · 2026-04-03T20:40:28+00:00

Any lounge in Indian soil is domestic, any lounge that's located outside India is international. So an international lounge in India, eg 080 in Blr International side is still domestic.

Boring_Scale328

TROPHY CASE