Here are nine steps beginners can follow to start planning for retirement. We will assume that retirement is 25 years away. The first step involves defining your target. The purpose for the funds and the timeline for when they are needed are already established, accounting for 25% of the planning. Investors often ask, “What return can…

Many investors often ask, “I have some surplus cash. Where should I park it?”; “Can I park my surplus cash in my SBI Max Gain account?”; “Is this market dip a good time to deploy my surplus cash?”. Almost always, digging deeper reveals it to be a case of bad planning. The first question to…

One evening, my eleven-year-old asked me a simple question. “Why do you keep putting money into that account?” He had seen me do it many times while hovering around my laptop. A small investment every month. Quietly. Consistently. To him, it looked like money kept disappearing somewhere. To me, it was something very different. It…

Often, readers email us saying, “I do not have enough to invest for my long-term goals. What should I do?” This is a common situation; most of us start our investment journey this way. Don’t despair. Here are some options to consider. 1. Consider clubbing all long-term goals together (greater than 10Y away) and investing…

It has been one of my favourite topics – Finance! Specifically, Personal Finance. You might think that I belong to Wall Street or was an investment banker, but I am not. I am a Pharmacologist and work for a hospital. I was brought up to think that one should save and that the only investment…

If you are interested in building a second income source immediately or wish to lay the foundation for it to bloom after you retire, here are some practical tips. In our opinion, every business should be guided by these two brilliant quotes by Rand Fishkin and Chris Do. Best way to sell something – don’t…

We grow up believing one thing about wealth:  Buy property. It’s almost cultural. A house means stability. A second property means ‘real’ success. Rental income means security, guaranteed income for life. But somewhere along the way, the dream became heavy. Heavy EMIs. Heavy loans. Heavy responsibility. Heavy dependence on interest rates we cannot control. And…

‘Money cannot buy happiness, ‘money is the root of all evil’; Marriage is just a union of two souls. Isn’t it? Why bring money into the picture and spoil the sanctity of the union? Right? Many similar statements sound cool, but we all know the cost associated with survival. Marriage can change your financial life…

Should you drop everything and rush to invest Rs. 1.5 Lakhs in PPF before the 5th of April every financial year? No, that never made sense even before the advent of the new tax regime. Now that most taxpayers have chosen the new tax regime, no 80C instrument makes sense anymore (unless it is part…

Readers often ask us if there is any ideal or optimal equity exposure after retirement. This question is tricky to answer as it depends on the individual, but some general guidelines or thumb rules are possible. Asking this question on the verge of retirement without prior market experience can be harmful. It is essential to…

There is a lot of interest in “high-interest bonds”. Unless you need a regular income (because you are retired or on a break, etc.), you don’t need bonds. Even if you need a regular income, it is important to exercise extreme caution before buying non-central government/RBI bonds.  A bond typically pays out interest once or…

This is a compilation of frequently asked questions about the freefincal robo advisor tool. It allows you to plan from start to finish for retirement (early, normal, before and after), non-recurring financial goals (child education) and recurring financial goals (holidays, appliances, etc.). The tool would help anyone aged 18 to 80 plan for their retirement,…

Regular readers may be aware that we often discuss a retirement bucket strategy. In this article, we discuss the possibility of building retirement buckets using hybrid funds.  The main advantage of using hybrid funds is less management. We do not have to worry about asset allocation changes. The churn among buckets can be minimised. Also…

In this article, Sneha Rege discusses how defining three simple numbers changed the way I think about survival, comfort, and freedom. About the author: Sneha writes about personal finance and retirement planning from the perspective of a salaried professional navigating real-world trade-offs. She is studying investment advisory frameworks and has cleared the NISM Series XA…

This is a simple spreadsheet to review and audit your goal-based investment portfolios. Over the years, we recognised the need for a tool beyond financial planning and portfolio value/return tracking. A financial planning calculator tells you the target corpus for a goal and the investment amount required.  A portfolio tracker only tells you the current…