Markets

News last week

• Indian Origin, American Lawyer Kashyap(Kash) Patel has been confirmed and sworn in as FBI Director on Friday. He placed his hand on Gita while swearing in, accompanied by his Sister, Nephew and his Girl friend.
• DOGE has identified an USAID funding of 21 million USD to India under the garb of “Voter Turnout”, which President Trump thinks to have been used to help Indian Opposition parties during General elections. Indian external Affairs ministry expressed concerns about the funding.
• Another 29 million USD has been sent to Bangladesh by USAID which seems to have aided the student led protests last year in throwing out Sheikh Hasina’s elected government.
• Hamas exchanged dead and live Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners after indecent stage ceremonies while fellow Palestinians cheered Hamas actions.
• Tesla has started scouting for its manufacturing plant in India and also screening resumes for its showrooms in Delhi, Mumbai.
• Indian Archeologists have started exploring submerged ancient city created by Lord Krishna in Dwarka, Gujarat.

Immigration

Third batch of 112 Illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to Amritsar on Monday. Earlier on Feb 7th, 104 people and Feb 15th, 117 people have been deported back to India.

Technology

Microsoft has revealed Quantum computing chip ‘Majorana 1’ which could be used to build Quantum computers by 2027-29 for commercial use. While this news excites medical and space research, other areas like Encryption, Block chain etc. will be problematic as these computers can run millions/trillions of calculations and can decode those secrets within seconds. Bitcoin is on the dock for now.

Personal Finance

In continuation to our last weeks Prior year contributions topic, these contributions are tax deductible under certain conditions. If you are not covered by any employer provided Retirement plan, then you are eligible for full amount deduction. For 2024, if you are covered by a retirement plan at work, the full deduction for traditional IRA contributions is available if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $77,000 for single filers and less than $123,000 for married couples filing jointly. If your income exceeds these limits, the deduction may be reduced or eliminated.

If your spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work, the income limits for deducting contributions to a traditional IRA are different. For 2024, if you are married filing jointly and your spouse is covered by a retirement plan, you can take a full deduction for your traditional IRA contributions if your combined modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $218,000. The deduction begins to phase out for MAGI between $218,000 and $228,000. If your MAGI exceeds $228,000, you cannot deduct your traditional IRA contributions.

Nevertheless you can still contribute to the IRA account, but if no deduction available, it would be wise to contribute to Roth IRA instead of Traditional IRA. Because any contribution into Roth IRA grows tax free and can be withdrawn once you reach 59.5 years of age.

Sports

• India beat Bangladesh by 6 wickets on Thursday in Champions Trophy 2025. Brief score – Ban 228 All Out (49.4), Ind 231/4 (46.3). Shami picked 5 wickets and Shubman Gill scored 101.
• Next India game – India vs Pakistan is scheduled on Sunday Feb 23 and the game may be underway by the time you read this newsletter

We Recommend

We encourage you to signup using these links and we may earn a referral bonus which keeps this newsletter delivered to you free of cost forever.

• ​Empower formerly Personal Capital – Get $20 on signup to track your financial progress, budgeting, planning
• ​Rakuten – Get $30 joining bonus and additional cash back for your online purchases

Any information provided in this newsletter should not be considered as any legal or financial advice. Please reach out to your Legal or Financial advisor or Professionals before actioning on any information provided in this email.