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Sebi’s new guidelines for operation of accounts in case of an incapacitated investor

While reading about living trusts and retirement planning, I came across a very important regulatory update from SEBI – one that directly affects how your investments are handled if you become temporarily or permanently unable to sign documents due to a physical condition. About the author: Manmohan Sethumadhavan is a freelancer, investor, and personal finance enthusiast…

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Screen for downside risk with the Ulcer – Freefincal Equity MF Screener Update

From October, our popular equity mutual fund screener (thousands of our readers use it) will include the Ulcer Index as a parameter along with rolling returns, downside capture, upside capture, trailing returns and standard deviation. The Ulcer Index is a measure of downside risk in actively managed mutual funds. It is a simple way to…

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Is there a factor index that is consistently less risky than broad-based indices?

In this article, we discuss whether there is a factor index that has consistently lower risk than broad-based indices or market capitalisation weighted indices like Nifty 50, 100, 500, etc. A factor index is an intermediate between an active and a passive strategy. It is rule-based but also passive. The catch is, the rules tend…

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Review of Products, Automation, and No-Action: The Most Underrated Financial Advice

Remember buying a phone, bike, or car. How much time did you spend analysing the product—checking features, prices, taking feedback from friends, or reading online reviews? And how much time do you spend reviewing a financial product? You would probably say this is not an apple-to-apple comparison, or it’s an apple-to-orange comparison. No, I am…

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Can I use Parag Parikh Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund as a debt fund for a long-term goal?

A reader says, “I am 30 years old and currently invest in the HDFC Sensex Index Fund for my equity allocation and the Parag Parikh Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund for my debt portion. Articles from freefincal have been very helpful in understanding and making investment decisions for myself. While I must not seek financial advice…

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Equity Mutual Fund Screener Oct 2025: Shortlist consistent performers

The latest freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener is now available. Use it to screen for consistently performing equity mutual funds. You can screen based on fund category & benchmark to identify mutual funds that offer higher returns than the benchmark while maintaining lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool…

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Should we report domestic mutual funds holding foreign shares in Schedule FA/FSI?

Many international funds/ETFs, such as Motilal Oswal S&P 500 Index Fund or Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund, are domestic mutual funds that invest solely in foreign equity shares. Some other funds, like Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, invest a certain portion of their AUM in foreign equity shares. The question now is whether an Indian…

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NPS Multiple Scheme Framework – What you need to know

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has recently announced a Multiple Scheme Framework in the National Pension Scheme for all non-government subscribers. In this article, we explain the features of this framework. First things first, there is no change in the current schemes and their rules (as of now). The current schemes will…

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