In July 2023, we shared an interesting reader story about Shankar (not his real name), who had been burdened with debt for several years. He is now debt-free and rapidly building his equity portfolio. This was quite a different journey compared to an earlier story: My Journey to a Ten Crore Portfolio. As a follow-up,…
Continue reading →Financial Independence, Retire Early has revolutionised the way a generation approaches work and finances. But as more parents achieve financial freedom in their 30s and 40s, a troubling question emerges: What happens to our children when they grow up watching us live without traditional financial stress? This isn’t about leaving kids financially unprepared. It’s about…
Continue reading →Typically, retirement is the last and most important financial goal for most families. Before retirement, the kids would have started working and sometimes married too. However, this dynamic is fast-shifting because normal retirement is no longer at 60. It is now 50- 55. Additionally, more and more people are getting married and becoming parents late….
Continue reading →We determine the corpus needed for a 50-year-old to retire immediately if monthly expenses are Rs. 1,00,000?” Let us compute this using the freefincal robo advisor tool. This provides an accurate estimate compared to approximate calculations using spreadsheet formulae. The robo tool can also include three post-retirement income streams. It also offers suggestions on how…
Continue reading →A reader wants to know how to invest a retirement corpus of Rs 5 Crores. Age: 55; wife’s age 56; Annual expenses are about Rs. 8.4 Lakhs. This includes health insurance costs. This corresponds to an initial withdrawal rate of less than 2% (8.4L divided by 500L). So a comfortable retirement can be safely planned….
Continue reading →This article compares my stock portfolio with an equivalent investment in a Nifty index fund and the Nifty 100 Low Volatility 30 TR index. We post this comparison each month. Before we begin, it is essential for new readers to understand the context of these investments. Update: We recently added a new tool to the…
Continue reading →The 4% withdrawal rule for retirement planning assumes excessive equity allocation (50-75%), which makes it impractical. To make this worse, the 4% rule is often misunderstood and misapplied, so it is not a useful tool for retirement planning for most people. Here is an alternative idea. What is a safe withdrawal rate? The safe withdrawal…
Continue reading →In this article, SEBI RIA Abhishek Kumar reviews SEBI’s Draft Circular on Revised MF Categorisation Rules. About the author: Abhishek is part of a freefincal’s curated list of fee-only financial advisors and a fee-only India member. He can be contacted via his website, sahajmoney.com. If 8 out of 10 stocks in your funds are the same, are you diversified or…
Continue reading →Last year, when we published the Unified Pension Scheme vs National Pension Scheme Calculator, many readers were surprised that we used a single formula to determine future NPS corpus by treating it as a step-up SIP. Since then, several users of that tool have asked us to explain the formula. So here are the details….
Continue reading →The mutual fund industry frequently discusses how a specific fund or fund category is an “alternative” to a fixed deposit. Is this true? Which mutual fund is a good alternative to a fixed deposit? The short and factually correct answer is none! No mutual fund or fund category is a substitute for a bank FD….
Continue reading →These are the mutual fund taxation rules for FY 2025-2026. These are derived from Manmohan Sethumadhavan’s fantastic Capital Gains Taxation Rules Ready Reckoner for FY 2025-2026. Surcharge and cess rates are to be added to the tax rates shown below. Equity-oriented MF (>= 65% Domestic Equity Shares) Investments redeemed on or after 23 July 2024…
Continue reading →I have been investing for my son’s future (college and other expenses) since Dec 2009 – a month before he was born (He is 15 now). Here are some lessons from this journey. When I started investing for this goal, money management basics were almost in place, except for term insurance, which I got a…
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for portfolio selection, tracking, and learning. It also includes hybrid funds that invest in bonds. It will satisfy investors who wish to invest in money market funds, banking PSU funds, etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile can be tracked….
Continue reading →Super top-up health insurance is designed to cover medical expenses that exceed a certain limit the d. Given the continuous rise in medical costs and the complexity of medical tests and procedures today, having extensive medical insurance coverage is crucial. However, while purchasing super top-up insurance is necessary, buyers must be aware of an important…
Continue reading →Sebi-registered investment advisor Abhishek Kumar offers a balanced, data-driven perspective on a social media post that claimed index funds are “guaranteed” to underperform the market. About the author: Abhishek is part of a freefincal’s curated list of fee-only financial advisors and a fee-only India member. He can be contacted via his website, sahajmoney.com. The “Guaranteed Underperformance” Myth The assertion that…
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