Many of us convert the salary received by Indians going abroad in local currency (USD, Euro etc.) into INR and assume that “they” are doing much better than us. This is, however, incorrect. The exchange rate does not help us compare the cost of living in the two countries. That is, it does not help…

The cost inflation index for the financial year 2023-2024 was recently announced. The index increased from 331 in the previous financial year to 348 – an increase of 5.14%. We compile 42 years of cost inflation index data to understand the devastating consequences of inflation and why our singular focus should be on beating inflation…

In this article, I expound my opinion that a single robo advisor exclusively built for a single advisor or trained with a single advisor (in the case of machine learning) can assist that advisor given enough time, input and practice. A few weeks back, SEBI RIA Swapnil Kende wrote an eloquent piece on Why good quality…

In this edition of the FAQ, we discuss the features of the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023, a new small savings scheme announced in Budget 2023 Who can invest? Women and minor girls via their guardians. Where can we open the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate account? At post offices or notified banks. What is the…

A large number of PPF investors tend to invest Rs. 1.5 Lakh between April 1st and April 5th in an attempt to “maximize” the interest advantages of PPF. Before you follow suit, take into consideration the following factors! This conversation is also relevant if you’re looking to optimize your PPF investments throughout the financial year….

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is less than four months old, but it has already taken the world by storm. Microsoft’s Bing has, for the first time, got something that Google hasn’t (at the time of writing). AI-based tech startups are popping up like mushroom after rain: There’s an AI for that. It seems someone…

Before the end of 2023, AI will play a huge role in almost all spheres of life. At freefincal, we have been obsessed with creating a CHATGPT-based AI bot to answer reader questions. More about this is below. First, let us discuss why we need to stop criticising AI and accept it! Every time someone…

A reader asks, “I intend to follow a 50:50 portfolio bucket approach post my retirement for the retirement goal. The 50% equity part would be predominantly invested into a Large cap mutual fund. For the 50% debt part, I intend to break it up into a) liquid/money market funds that will cover the next five…

A reader was trying to convince his friend that retirement planning is the number one priority in investing. All others, including our children’s education, come next. He wrote to me looking for “logical support”, as he put it. He was, however, sorely disappointed with me for believing just the opposite.  So this is my attempt…

A reader asks, “I am 32 years old, an IT employee, and recently we had a new baby boy. I wanted to thank you first for your continuous financial lessons, which have changed my thoughts on personal finance. I have one crore term insurance and 10 lakh medical insurance and below MF investments.” “PPFAS Tax…

We are happy to announce the launch of the freefincal investor circle! This is an exclusive space for investors, advisors, fintech employees and students to access financial planning and insurance tools, mutual fund and stock analysis tools, coding strategies and Excel macros for data extraction. 400+ members are now part of our investor circle. The resources…

Here is a money management action plan for young earners fresh out of college. Use your first paycheck and make your parents and the rest of the family happy. Use your second paycheck to get something for yourself (money is there to be spent, after all!). Just make sure these are not high-end recurring expenses….

All of us dream. Some of our dreams are serious enough to become goals, and like it or not, many dreams are financial. That is, they require money to implement. Here are three key factors that decide our financial success. That is, how well we can achieve our financial goals. Although each individual is different,…

SEBI has included nine freefincal calculators created by M. Pattabiraman in its investor education website. Ms Monika Halan, the SEBI Investor Protection Education Fund Advisory Committee chairperson, suggested including these tools, and the committee inaugurated them on 22nd Nov 2022. The concerned SEBI team, headed by Mr Manjesh Roy, converted the excel files to online…

A reader writes, “I am 29 years old and had started a few LIC policies on my parent’s insistence six years ago. I pay an approximate total of 3000 a month for 25 yrs, or so the policy insured sum is 1 lac for seven policies, and the return the life insurance agent said I’d…