In attendance lasat Sunday at CHAFF were Bill, Kamu, Ildi and Ilari, Pentti, Paneer, Kannan and myself. 
Some notable absentees: Tingting was away on a work trip in China, Isaac was in USA, David was in Kenya, Ville & Sini were in India, and Kaija was on leave from work. Saikou was trying to recover from a string of bad luck. His internet cafe was robbed over the New Year weekend. We wish him well.
Here is another proposed logo for CHAFF - this one is in Black and White. Like the last one, this has also been designed by Unnop of the Pailin Thai Restaurant for CHAFF.
We are looking for more ideas as it must be a striking logo, the envy of the world!
The two logos received to date tell what CHAFF is, but they do not convey the fact that it is run by foreigners who want to help others in Finland, those wanting to learn aspects of living and working in Finland, those wanting to travel to various countries from which CHAFF members are drawn, and at the same time that is a "fun" group.
Here, for example is a logo designed by Kamu for me for the ETHICS 2000 Conference held in Oulu in March 2000.
What you see here is the fineness of the work of a professional graphic designer, Kamutaza Tembo from Zambia. There are few who can equal the quality of his work.
Kannan Balram, the human dynamo from Pondicherry, India, told us at the meeting about the savings that can be made in the taxes we pay in Finland.
The biggest saving obtained is by entering into a pension savings plan which can be done through any bank investment service. They charge a fee for their service, but it is well worth it.
A maximum of Euro 5000 can be saved in a year under this scheme. This entitles one to a tax refund of 28% of the amount saved (Euro 1400 maximum) in the following year.
If one is earning Euro 3000 per month and one has to pay 26% tax, this pension savings plan drops the effective tax to 21.9%, plus one is adding Euro 5000 to ones savings every year and earning interest on that sum.
There are two types of savings that can be done. The first is related to investment in mutual funds, which can go up or down.
Those who are of the gambling spirit can follow this, and your returns may be sky high or you may even loose your basic capital. For myself, I followed this scheme and I have done quite well over the years. My investment advisor in Nordea Bank is very wise and has told me which mutual funds to invest in and she has done all the work for me.
The safe fixed return savings earns interest of 4.5% presently, which is higher than normal bank interests. I followed this for Annikki who does not appreciate any form "gambling".
This money saved in this pension savings account cannot be touched till one is 62, when it will be paid as an annual pension over an agreed period, OR unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as divorce (unless one has a pre-nuptial agreement which is quite common in Europe) or unemployment lasting more than a year.
The amount saved can be changed depending on the financial circumstances except that it cannot exceed Euro 5000 in any year but it can vary from Euro 0 to 5000.
In addition to the savings, this pension plan covers life insurance.
This plan ensures that one can go into retirement with a comfortable personal pension at the age of 62 years. The State Pension is presently available only at the age of 65. This age limit may be raised to 68 or even 70 as the age demographic changes. Also the State Pension is very marginal compared to this personal pension savings return.
The other important aspect of taxes in Finland are that various deductions are claimable when making the annual tax return. Union and professional institution fees, purchase cost of professional books, work or professional related travel costs, capital purchases that are related to your professional activity, interest paid on house loans, labour costs incurred on house renovation, are just some of the areas where deductions from taxes can be made when filing the annual return. There are upper and lower limits for each item.
Claims made on these items will ensure that an appropriate tax refund is made the following year by the tax authorities. I used to have various deductions which gave me another 3 to 5% tax deductions per year - meaning the effective tax I paid was only aroung 16 to 18%.
If you earn less than Euro 3000, this makes it substantially better for you.
For instance, if you earn Euro 2000 per month and pay 21.5% tax, this scheme reduces the effective tax to 15.6 % and with other deductions, you will pay an effective tax of just 11 to 14%.
Otherwise, you will wonder where all your hard earned money has vanished to.
If one is running a small company, part of the rent for your home, electricity, water charges, transportation costs, and many other deductions can be obtained by careful planning of ones's life. Many people do not realise this and throw away all their bills.
KEEP ALL BILLS - that is a golden rule, as at the end of a year you may gain some substantial benefit out of them.
In a follow up meeting, the intention will be to cover this in greater detail. Kannan will make a small report on this subject for all our participant who are interested. It is possible that it can be made available on this blog as a downloadable document.
This week's meeting was lively as usual and the food was excellent. It is wonderful that we have such a great group of friends.
Kamu got a present from Ilari - Indian bidis, the cheap hand-made cigarettes that Indians smoke. Ildi and Ilari brought Annikki and Jacob a present of chocolates from Hungary.
Pentti gave Jacob a beautiful photograph of his daughter and her groom when they were married in July last year. It is customary to gíve a photograph of the couple to whoever attends the wedding.
The next CHAFF meeting is a sell out with many returnees and many new participants.
The Indian contingent is likely to be very strong. Besides the usual faces, Kiran and Nageshwari are hoping to attend. Swaroop and Devi may be able to come. We hope Uunik Gupta and his wife, Satyam and Bhaumik with wives and Vamsi and Subramaniam will be able to attend. Atul may still not be able to attend as he is learning to look after the new addition to the family and relieve Helena of some stress.
Next Sunday's meeting:
Date: 22nd January 2006
Topic: Centres for assistance of foreigners in Oulu
Location: Pailin Thai Restaurant, Kasarmin Area
Time 13:00 hours (meeting may last approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, including eating time)
Car Service: Lift available from University area, Nokela area, Toppila Area. (Please contact Bill Zhang or me.)
Menu: Special Thai Buffet, Thai Sweet Chilli Wraps, Pizzas, Kebabs, Fast foods, etc.
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