Sometimes, an idea, phrase, or action becomes so commonly used that we take them for granted and don’t stop to think about why they are used. So, can we pause momentarily and ask, “Why should I diversify my investment portfolio?” When we push ourselves into a corner and force ourselves to answer, we will probably…

A reader says, “I am an Army Officer and have been a DIY investor for some time now, thanks to the invaluable lessons from you and many other knowledgeable teachers on YouTube. My investment approach has been quite sufficient for my requirements, and being in a pensionable service (by the grace of the Almighty!), I…

A reader wants to know, “Is it better for a young family (couple plus two children) to live in a rented flat rather than to buy a home with a 20-25-year mortgage?” Buying a house is often an emotional decision; as I have argued before, it makes no sense to use buy vs rent calculators. …

Over the years, many have asked us, “How can we be sure of the assumptions used in retirement planning?” For example, a reader writes, “One of the big unknowns is the real expense during retirement. We can make an educated guess based on current living expenses, etc. However, surprises are likely to come and be…

If the markets move up over a few weeks, investors are worried that they will crash and wonder if they should stop fresh investments. If the market moves nowhere, it frustrates investors, who start looking for new pastures. If the markets tumble, they begin to panic. Can we build an investment strategy that is independent…

AI, particularly AI with deep research options (e.g., Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, etc.), can handle the most complex questions and provide amazing answers.  Perplexity Pro (free for iitm users) even has an option to search from only academic sources, which I use if I ask it health-related questions. Please note: I fully understand that AI can…

A 32-year-old reader asks, “Should I redeem investments and reduce my home loan burden as much as possible?” This is the comparison he sent us. “Cost of land: Rs. 70 Lakhs (including registration). Cash in hand: Rs. 50 lakhs. If I get a home loan for Rs. 50 Lakhs, I would be left with Rs….

Investors get jittery and unsure what to do when the stock market is overheated or when the stock market goes nowhere. Here is a simple market-independent strategy via systematic risk reduction that would be far more productive. Why? We have no control over market returns. Yes, asset allocation with regular rebalancing and diversification within each…

Life has a strange way of teaching us lessons: through wisdom, for some, and through heartbreak. Today, I’m sharing a deeply personal story. It’s not fiction. It’s not borrowed. It’s real. This story continues to haunt me because I witnessed it unfold before my eyes—and I wish it had had a different ending. About the…

A young reader recently asked us, “How much equity should I invest in for a long term goal?” This is a tricky question to answer! On one corner is a technical answer: Using reasonable return expectations for equity and debt (after tax!) and considering the inflation for my goal, I can arrive at an approximate…

Nine years ago, I resigned from my job at a private bank to pursue my MBA. During this time, I came across an online content and community forum called Women’s Web. I started writing content for them to make some pocket money during those two years.  About the author: Ayushi Mona Singh is a marketing leader…

A reader asks, “Does investing Rs. 1.5 Lakhs in PPF before April 5th make sense anymore since I will be choosing the new tax regime?” – a discussion. The short answer is that dropping everything and investing Rs. 1.5 Lakh before the 5th of April every financial year never made sense.  Now that most taxpayers…

Most personal finance content implicitly assumes the reader is salaried and can access monthly fresh cash flow. We all know that the number of entrepreneurs and small business owners has significantly increased over the last few years. So have freelancers or jig economy participants. Here are essential personal finance tips for such folk. 1 Cash…

Investors often add 10% of this and 10% of that and claim they do it for “portfolio diversification”. This and that refer to asset classes or products that have recently done well. My favourite response is, now that you have added this/that, how do you know if your portfolio is diversified? What is the impact of…

There are many households (including mine) where the other partner knows nothing about investing, paying bills, taxes, etc and is not interested in learning. How can we set up instructions so they can manage our money in case we become too busy with work (or go abroad) or, worse, die? Instruction Sheet: Considerations It should…