Avoiding image tags in PDF files converted from PowerPoint files

You toil for days creating a PowerPoint file - add content, structure and visual elements to make the right impact on your audience. And in many cases, you have to send the file. Since the file size is big and you dont want the content to be copied easily, you save the PowerPoint file as a PDF document. In Microsoft Office, you could just "Save As" PDF and voila - your PDF file is ready to be sent. Just as you were checking that file one last time, you notice hyperlinks or file names appearing as tool tips  or image tags when you hover over some of the images. Damn! How did that happen?

You go back to the original PPT, and no you cant see the link anywhere! Double damn!! What to do now?

Well.. do not worry! I went through all the steps mentioned earlier and survived a last minute scare. The solution is simple and the internet (and Google in particular) was there to help. As always!

Is an insurance plan with guaranteed payout of 135% good?

"Invest 1 lakh per annum for six years and get 1.35 lakhs guaranteed returns for the next 6 years" or "An insurance plan with guaranteed payout of 135% of premium amount". The offer sounds nice, especially with all the negativity surrounding ULIPs and inconsistent performance of ELSS plans. Anyone yet to think about filling up investments for the 80C quota for this year, would really be tempted.

So is it good?

As always, there is no good and bad here. But one needs to do own calculations to see if it is the best suited and whether it provides value for money. 

Interest Rates and Maturity Yields

An interesting discussion with my brother yesterday led me to writing this post. And since I had a gag order at home for not discussing this anymore in the open, I had no other option! Anyway, the topic of discussion was about an investment scheme that offered to double the amount invested in 5.5 years. With interest rates being high, not bad I thought. But, the confusion (and the subsequent  argument) arose because the scheme was offering returns of 18%+!!

Importance of disclosing health information

Last week I read a blog post (in Malayalam) shared in Facebook by one my friends. A heart wrenching story of a father who lost his son. The young man, in his late twenties, passed away in his sleep. If fate was in its cruel mood, the insurance company's denial to pay the insurance amount was probably even worse.

The young man had taken two policies. One was from LIC (sum assured of 1 lakh and annual premium of Rs. 5,000 or so) and another from a new generation private insurance company (ULIP: sum assured is not mentioned and monthly premium was Rs. 5,000). Like thousands of other Indians, both the covers were taken through insurance agents - who were either close friends or relatives. The young man had a previous history of epilepsy and was under treatment from a leading hospital. He was healthy otherwise. Married and working for a private IT firm. The agent in the case of private insurer, even though alerted by the young man, advised them not to disclose the information. In fact the application form was filled up by the agent himself and he assured them with typical "dont worry", "I will be there" and "no problem". At the time of claim, LIC processed the claim without much problem and the private player promptly denied (they found out the treatment history from hospital). And as one could guess, the agent who sold the private insurance policy had vanished (changed jobs and wouldn't take the phone)!