Umashankar Ankuri

AI | Personal Finance | Systems
Building @GenAIFolks
Tech Architect | Alum - @IIMKozhikode
Using AI to optimize money & decisions 🚀

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

Amex is slowly removing the very reasons people chose the brand in India.

Chargeback support. Emergency card replacement. Exceptional customer service.

Those were the real USPs, especially when rewards were already better on several competing cards.

Now Emergency Card Replacement is being discontinued from 8 October, and customers may have to wait 7–10 business days for a replacement card.

So what exactly are we paying the “Amex premium” for anymore?

This isn’t just about one benefit, @AmexIndia. You’re weakening the reputation and trust the brand spent decades building.

If premium service itself is going to be diluted, Amex needs to seriously rethink what it is offering customers in India instead of slowly becoming just another mediocre credit card issuer.

@AskAmex #Amex #AmericanExpress

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

US Investing from India 🇮🇳🇺🇸 | #2
VOO and CSPX both track the S&P 500.

But there’s one small difference that matters for long-term investors:

What happens to the dividends?

🇺🇸 VOO — US domiciled
→ Distributes dividends to investors
→ Typically paid quarterly

🇮🇪 CSPX — Irish-domiciled UCITS ETF
→ Accumulating
→ Dividends received by the fund are automatically reinvested

Same underlying index. Different structure.
For long-term investing, I personally prefer accumulating ETFs:

→ No dividend cash sitting idle
→ No manual reinvestment
→ Compounding continues inside the fund

It’s one of the reasons I started looking beyond familiar US ETFs like VOO while building my global portfolio from India.
Same S&P 500. Different way of handling income.

Next → Where are your overseas investments actually held? Broker vs custodian.

#USInvesting #UCITS

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

One thing I wish I had understood earlier about global investing:

Where an ETF invests and where the ETF is domiciled are two different things.

Take the S&P 500.

You can get exposure to broadly the same US companies through:

• VOO — US-domiciled
• CSPX / VUAA — Irish-domiciled UCITS ETFs
The underlying companies may be similar.

The structure isn’t.

For an investor from India, ETF domicile can affect:

→ Estate-tax exposure
→ Dividend withholding
→ Fund structure
→ Accumulating vs distributing options
→ Which exchanges and brokers you can use

Earlier, my first question was:
“Which ETF gives the best return?”

Now I ask:
“What exactly am I buying, and how is it structured?”

Small distinction. Important one.

#Investing #UCITS

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

I started investing globally a little over 2 years ago and tried platforms like @INDmoneyApp and @Vested_finance.

As I understood the ecosystem better, I started noticing the limitations — particularly around access to Irish-domiciled UCITS ETFs, brokerage costs and the underlying custody structure.

That eventually led me to @IBKR.

IBKR wasn’t new to me. I had worked with the platform earlier in my software career while building an algorithmic trading application. Yet, it still seems relatively less known among Indian retail investors.

The interesting part wasn’t opening the account.

It was realizing how much sits behind a simple question:

“Which ETF should I buy?”

For an investor from India, returns are only one part of the decision:

• US vs Irish-domiciled UCITS ETFs
• Estate-tax exposure
• Accumulating vs distributing dividends
• Broker & custody structure
• S&P 500 vs Nasdaq-100 vs global diversification
• INR → USD remittance costs
• ETF overlap
• LRS rules & taxation (TDS etc.,)

That eventually led me toward Irish-domiciled UCITS ETFs such as CSPX, CNDX and VWRA.

I’ll share what I learn, the trade-offs I consider, and how my portfolio evolves.

Not financial advice — just documenting my journey.
#Investing #PersonalFinance #ETFs #IBKR

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

🇮🇳

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

@NikitaS_Live @bspindia @Bsp4u @Mayawati Hi @NikitaS_Live ji, I believe I was tagged here by mistake. This post appears to refer to BSP MLA Umashankar Singh, and I am not the person concerned.

Please untag/remove my handle @umashankar from the post. Thank you.

[Nehr_who? @Nher_who]

Lady: "The day people start using Swadeshi products instead of blaming the Govt,our Rupee will strengthen & all the problems will go away"

Reporter: Then why are you using a Fortuner Car made by a Foreign company

Lady: Why are you going on my car, even Tata has this car😭😭

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

Loving the new WordPress installation with @easyengine V4 Congratulations 🎉 to @easyengine , @rahul286 and team

[Rafal Tomal @RafalTomal]

Stop redesigning your website just to get a new look. Define your main problems, know your metrics, focus on fixing it while redesigning and measure the results.

[Umashankar Ankuri @umashankar]

Are we offering Black Friday discounts? @MyMainWP

[Rafal Tomal @RafalTomal]

My new Web Typography mini-course is now open with a special launch promo that ends next week on Nov 20th: https://t.co/22NQsOI5jM - check it out! #design #typography

[Rafal Tomal @RafalTomal]

Tip of the week: Choose a body typeface with medium to high x-height – https://t.co/jOlOxs5HyT

[NDTV @ndtv]

Sources: Informal meeting of BCCI top brass currently on in Mumbai. Source:BCCI won't entertain Modi's request to postpone meeting.