Many of us have in this situation before. A reader who wishes to be anonymous writes, “Dear Pattu Sir, I need help with two issues. First, I understand why we should not mix insurance and investment, but my father forced me to buy a LIC policy with an annual premium of about Rs. 50,000. The…

In a Q and A session held on our Youtube channel yesterday (linked below), we encountered two similar questions: Kohila asks, “we have two goals, retirement, our son’s education which is 8 years and 12 years away. Should we use the same mutual funds for both or separate funds?” Bala Gurunathan asks, ” I have…

I received this question from a reader who prefers anonymity. “Dear Pattu sir, I recently became a parent and started investing for my son’s college education expenses (UG). I am debating whether to include post-graduation (PG) costs into my goal. I did my MBA with an education loan. The fear of completing that loan made…

In this article, we discuss the benefits of portfolio rebalancing. Many investors find the topic difficult to understand and implement. So let us begin with a discussion of the basics. When we create a projection on Excel, we assume a 10% or 12% return from equity. On a spreadsheet, our money grows each year by…

In this article, author Smriti Tuteja discusses how to choose the right school for our children. One aspect of raising children that worries most parents is education. We are always striving to give them the best and ensure that they have a secure future. It begins right after they take birth. I know people who…

Here is how a frugal lifestyle can simplify and enrich our lives. The Merriam-Webster defines “frugal” as – characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources while some of the synonyms include economical, thrifty, provident a stark contrast from the word “Cheap” which is also used to describe people with similar attributes but has a very…

One of the most valuable life lessons we learn is the irreversibility of time. The arrow of time moves only in one direction, and every hour that has passed has passed on forever. Here are seven investing mistakes that can cost us money and, worse, time after we start taking personal finance seriously. 1 Trying…

Sunder asks, “dear Pattu Sir, I just finished the re-assemble (basics of money management series). You had discussed the importance of an emergency fund. May I know how much I should allocate for an emergency fund?” To answer this, we must first understand both the purpose and limitation of an emergency fund. The answer to this…

Many of us struggle with money management decisions because we are judging “right vs wrong”, “good vs bad” with incorrect benchmarks. Our definition of what is simple and what is complex in personal finance is also incorrect. If personal finance is more personal than finance, then simplicity in personal finance is also personal. When we…

We had pointed out on April 7th that since the market has lost momentum, now is a good time to rebalance our portfolios if there is a need for it. I have just rebalanced my retirement equity portfolio for the first time in nearly 13 years (video below). In response to this, a viewer on…

This is an updated demo of the freefincal robo advisory template. I walk you through the template’s capabilities and how you can create a complete start to finish financial plan with it. As of 29th June 2021, 567 investors and financial advisors are using the template. The template was recently featured in the Economic Times:…

When it comes to managing our money, there are several questions to ask. (1) Should I do it myself? Can I do it myself? Or outsource it to a professional? (2) If I wish to outsource, who should I contact, what should I expect, what questions should I ask them? For the last six-plus years,…

It is now a little over a month since the release of my new book for kids “Chinchu gets a superpower!“. Here is what parents have to say about it 🙂 What do readers say? I loved the way you carried the discussion forward. I just have two words – Structured and Free Flowing. Great…

If I have multiple goals likes retirement, holiday, 1st child’s college fee, 2nd child’s college fee etc., can I use the same mutual fund for all of them, or should I invest in separate mutual funds? A discussion. We have to pull out the “it depends” card for this one. Also, which approach is “simpler”…

Let us consider the possibilities for an interesting question from Akash received a while ago. “It will take me 10 years to reach my asset allocation goal of 50% equity and 50% fixed income. Can I reduce this time by withdrawing whatever I can from PPF and invest in equity mutual funds? I shall also…