Is "double money scheme" a better option than Mutual Fund?

[smakash111]

This was the actual asking of mine posted 10 days ago - no answer received.

Q1: "What should be my monthly earning and "Want : Need : Save" ratio to maintain a true middle class (middle income) life style?
Feel free to ask more questions and advice accordingly.
Q2. (New) Should I consider "double benefit scheme" over FD and Mutual Fund - so much so that, I shall break my FD to invest in these double beenfit schemes? Do you find any terms of this "double benefit scheme" concerning?

Bangladeshi Flat/Home Owner, 1st generation Lawyer (Highly Inconsistent Income), Unmarried, 32 years old, 5 dependents, No intention of leaving the Country ever.

Future Target - Good Car, Marriage by 35. No intention of Taking Dowry. Good Car is easily over 10 Lakh Taka and Yearly Tax for a 1500cc Car is 35,000 and salary of a Driver is 15,000 per month.

> Home Loan left 12.8 Lakh at 10%
> Inflation 15% (NGO Data), 9.9% (Goverment Data)
> Fixed Deposit 23 lakh at 11% annual return after tax
> Stock Market is unreliable. Recently Mututal Funds reported loss.
> Insurance policies are not attractive here in Bangladesh compare to India
> 2026 gonna be a very bad year for Bangladesh financially according to the experts and Sri Lanka like situation may arise.
> Local Currancy "Taka" is losing its value very quickly. There is a genuine scarcity of US Dollar in the Banks. Legally, No Bank can't ask more than 117 taka for selling 1 USD but in reality, but deparate people are paying 125 taka - 127 taka to buy 1 USD from the kerb market.

Double Benefit Scheme:
2 reputed Banks and other 7 lesser known Banks in Bangladesh are now offering "Double Benefit Schemes", which doubles my money in 5 years. To double my money in 5 years, the Rule of 72 suggests that expected return rate (p.a) should not be less than 14.4% (72 / 5 = 14.4).
I am seriously considering the Double Benefit Scheme of the National Bank of Bangladesh so much so that I want to break my 23 Lakh FD at the Post Office (11% Annual return) and invest 20 Lakh to the National Bank of Bangladesh's Double Benefit Scheme.

 

[ShavirB]

This scheme sounds too good to be true. Can you please share screenshot of this scheme? Want to understand the risks of investing in this scheme

 

[smakash111]

This scheme sounds too good to be true. Can you please share screenshot of this scheme? Want to understand the risks of investing in this scheme

I am not sure why the NBB's website link is not attaching! Anyway, you can just Google "Double Benefit Scheme of the National Bank of Bangladesh". If you can read Bengali or able to use Google Translator - please read this attached poster.

 

[smakash111]

This scheme sounds too good to be true. Can you please share screenshot of this scheme? Want to understand the risks of investing in this scheme

Please answer the question no 1.

If you need more info, for answering question 2 - share ur whatsapp, I will whatsapp you forms of the National Bank, where all the terms are written.

 

[smakash111]

bump!

 

[ShavirB]

Hi, have gone through the scheme documents. What I didn't understand was how will the Bank generate such kind of abnormal returns without taking some risk, or in other words how are they giving assured returns?

To cut it short, if a scheduled commercial Bank in India is giving this option to Indians - Personally I would take it. In India, RBI (our regulatory body) guarantees Customer Deposits of upto 5 Lakhs, not sure if its the same in Bangladesh.

P.S - Please not that I'm not an Investment Expert and this should not be taken as an Investment Advice

 

[smakash111]

Hi, have gone through the scheme documents. What I didn't understand was how will the Bank generate such kind of abnormal returns without taking some risk, or in other words how are they giving assured returns?

To cut it short, if a scheduled commercial Bank in India is giving this option to Indians - Personally I would take it. In India, RBI (our regulatory body) guarantees Customer Deposits of upto 5 Lakhs, not sure if its the same in Bangladesh.

P.S - Please not that I'm not an Investment Expert and this should not be taken as an Investment Advice

Here Central Bank guarantees Customer Deposits of upto 2 Lakhs (BDT). There has been no official announcement of any bank failure since 1972. However, there have been reports of certain banks facing financial difficulties and regulatory sanctions in the recent times for maintaining relation with the Russia and the Iran. For instance, seven banks, including one state-owned and six private commercial banks, failed to maintain the required Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) in 2022, indicating potential liquidity issues.

 

[smakash111]

This was the actual asking of mine posted 10 days ago - no answer received.

Q1: "What should be my monthly earning and "Want : Need : Save" ratio to maintain a true middle class (middle income) life style?
Feel free to ask more questions and advice accordingly.
Q2. (New) Should I consider "double benefit scheme" over FD and Mutual Fund - so much so that, I shall break my FD to invest in these double beenfit schemes? Do you find any terms of this "double benefit scheme" concerning?

Bangladeshi Flat/Home Owner, 1st generation Lawyer (Highly Inconsistent Income), Unmarried, 32 years old, 5 dependents, No intention of leaving the Country ever.

Future Target - Good Car, Marriage by 35. No intention of Taking Dowry. Good Car is easily over 10 Lakh Taka and Yearly Tax for a 1500cc Car is 35,000 and salary of a Driver is 15,000 per month.

> Home Loan left 12.8 Lakh at 10%
> Inflation 15% (NGO Data), 9.9% (Goverment Data)
> Fixed Deposit 23 lakh at 11% annual return after tax
> Stock Market is unreliable. Recently Mututal Funds reported loss.
> Insurance policies are not attractive here in Bangladesh compare to India
> 2026 gonna be a very bad year for Bangladesh financially according to the experts and Sri Lanka like situation may arise."
> Local Currancy "Taka" is losing value very quickly. There is a genuine scarcity of US Dollar in the Banks. Legally, No Bank can't ask more than 117 taka for selling 1 USD but in reality, but deparate people are paying 125 - 127 taka to buy 1 USD from the kerb market.

Double Benefit Scheme:
2 reputed Banks and other 7 lesser known Banks in Bangladesh are now offering "Double Benefit Schemes", which doubles my money in 5 years. To double my money in 5 years, the Rule of 72 suggests that expected return rate (p.a) should not be less than 14.4% (72 / 5 = 14.4).
I am seriously considering the Double Benefit Scheme of the National Bank of Bangladesh so much so that I want to break my 23 Lakh FD at the Post Office (11% Annual return) and invest 20 Lakh to the National Bank of Bangladesh's Double Benefit Scheme.

BUMP! I have added a new slide for easy comparision so that you can guide me well.

 

[_rohitsoni]

1. There is way too many variables to answer correctly about it. General rule is 50:30:20 but it would be better if you can give more details such as:

1. Current salary
2. Current essential expenses
3. Expected living standards
4. Present savings/investments
5. Your experience with investment products

2. This sound quite fishy to be honest. Physically verify it with your bank first. If its legit, then you may put a small amount in it. As far as I understood, it'll double your money in around 5.5 years @13.4%. So, most probably they'll either invest in Bangla's own stock market in hopes of a bounce-back or they are taking support of plummeting taka along with good growth of foreign markets (invest taka in India/US markets). Point to note here, you'll get double money only after 5.5 years and trusting bangla's market for that long is risky (from the words; I dont track bangla's markets) so it will be best not to break your 23L FD. If you have some additional small funds you may try it but risking your entire savings is not worth the risk.

 

[smakash111]

1. There is way too many variables to answer correctly about it. General rule is 50:30:20 but it would be better if you can give more details such as:

1. Current salary
2. Current essential expenses
3. Expected living standards
4. Present savings/investments
5. Your experience with investment products

2. This sound quite fishy to be honest. Physically verify it with your bank first. If its legit, then you may put a small amount in it. As far as I understood, it'll double your money in around 5.5 years @13.4%. So, most probably they'll either invest in Bangla's own stock market in hopes of a bounce-back or they are taking support of plummeting taka along with good growth of foreign markets (invest taka in India/US markets). Point to note here, you'll get double money only after 5.5 years and trusting bangla's market for that long is risky (from the words; I dont track bangla's markets) so it will be best not to break your 23L FD. If you have some additional small funds you may try it but risking your entire savings is not worth the risk.

Thanks. Well..

1) Current salary: Not fixed, Highly Inconsistent Income.
2) Current essential expenses: Home loan > Medical > Food - these are the top three FIXED expenses - around 35K per month. I desperately want to a good Toyota Car with a Driver in my lifestyle. I am heading towards arrange marriage.
3) Expected Living Standards: True Middle Class lifestyle - a comfortable lifestyle with a nice home, japanese sedan car with driver, 1 foreign trip per year (I have explored north india (Delhi, kashmir, Kolkata) - I also want to explore South India, Nepal, Sri Lanka), good education for my future children, and access to quality healthcare. For example: the life style Srikant had, in the Family Man TV series.
4) Present Savings: 23 Lakh in FD and some lands in village which are not generating any income
5) Your experience with investment products: Investing in Cousin's Business and FD

 

[ShavirB]

Here Central Bank guarantees Customer Deposits of upto 2 Lakhs (BDT). There has been no official announcement of any bank failure since 1972. However, there have been reports of certain banks facing financial difficulties and regulatory sanctions in the recent times for maintaining relation with the Russia and the Iran. For instance, seven banks, including one state-owned and six private commercial banks, failed to maintain the required Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) in 2022, indicating potential liquidity issues.

Would strongly recommend to do a comprehensive analysis of the Bank before investing any money. You can also check for both long term and short term credit rating of this Bank, only if the rating agencies are reliable.

 

[smakash111]

Would strongly recommend to do a comprehensive analysis of the Bank before investing any money. You can also check for both long term and short term credit rating of this Bank, only if the rating agencies are reliable.

Mr Shavir, I found this by googling - "ECAIs Credit Rating of Scheduled Banks for 2022-23 (As of Financial Statements 2021)".
What does this mean?

Also, there are some concerns regarding this bank. Google a TBS article, by title -​

"Using a bank as a family wealth​

The National Bank board of directors currently has six members from the Sikder family, although the Banking Company Act allows maximum four family members on a bank's board"

​

 

[ShavirB]

Honestly, ST-2/ A- is not a great rating. In India, majority of the scheduled commercial banks (or atleast the bigger ones) are rated AAA.

This investment (and the Bank) seems to be somewhat risky

 

[shaistha Anjum]

A "double money scheme" typically promises to double your investment in a fixed period, often marketed as a quick and high-return investment. These schemes can be legitimate but often are high-risk or even fraudulent.
While Mutual funds generally offer steady returns over the long term, which can vary depending on the market and fund type (equity, debt, balanced).