The cost inflation index in India is currently published with 2001-02 as the base year. It was earlier published with 1981-82 as the base year. You can find both data sets here. That is from 2001-02 to the current financial year – this is the list to be used for income tax computation – and…

This is a list of free data sources that can be used for DIY investing and analysis. It is the culmination of years of searching – the fun and frustration of hunting for reliable information online far exceed that of using a readymade list, but it might hasten better analysis. So here we go. This…

We all know the reason for investing in ample amounts of equity for long-term goals. It is to beat inflation. Or, in other words, to get a return higher than what typical fixed income products offer – a good measure of realistic inflation in India for day to day expenses (services tend to have higher…

You may have come across articles in your news and discover feeds on “how to become a crorepati with PPF”. There is only one reason such articles get written: for traffic. “PPF” in itself is an attention grabber. Add the emotional hook “crorepati” to it then it is a magical combination. It is possible to…

Sharad asks, “Have you ever analysed property as a long term investment option? If I have a debt-free second house, should I liquidate it and invest in markets or continue to hold the property for the next 15 years? Assuming all the other things like emergency expenses etc., are taken care of. What is the…

Alok asks, “dear pattu, sir, thanks to your articles, we have started investing with confidence for retirement and my son’s education (he just turned two). There is one aspect we are not able to decide on. Should we invest for our son’s marriage expenses or not? My wife says no, but I am not sure….

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…