Having a clear goal can be a key differentiator to managing our finances. A discussion

I have tracked the amount invested in my goal portfolio for over 13 years. It has been a life and game changer for my family. Whether you track your spending or not, tracking your investment amount is crucial. Today, I can invest more for retirement than my target investment. That was not the case when…

My parents had a simple rule: If you cannot pay for it, you cannot afford it. This means avoiding debt at all costs. My father was 40 when he was urged to buy a two-wheeler on EMI. He reluctantly agreed because public transport to his workplace was a nightmare. That was the only item my…

Here are 16 personal finance resolutions and resources to help you start your wealth creation journey. In his 2013 Ted Talk, former Google search quality chief Matt Cutts discussed the power of trying something new for 30 days.  He says if you try something new for 30 days or stop doing something for 30 days,…

We discuss an efficient investment strategy for our financial goals without worrying about market conditions. This simple strategy will help you achieve your financial goals independent of market conditions. We have extensively backtested different variable asset allocation strategies, and the results are available in our goal-based portfolio management course. Be clear about when you need…

I was recently asked to share my thoughts on “How do you increase equity/bond market participation in India?”. I figured the best way to collect my thoughts was to write an article about it. Financial inclusion typically means enhancing the reach and deliverability of financial services to reduce inequality. So, by aiming for enhanced capital…

In this article, SEBI-registered flat fee-only financial advisor Swapnil Kendhe discusses how we can implement a unified portfolio approach for all our long-term goals. About the author: Swapnil is a SEBI Registered Investment Advisor and is one of the sought-after advisors on the freefincal fee-only financial planners’ list. You can learn more about him and his…

A reader asks, “Our daughter is five months old. How should we start investing for her future?” It is always best to start planning on a clean slate before making any investment.  Let’s dive straight into the goal-planning steps. The goal-planning steps We need a target corpus after 17/18 years, depending on when she was…

A reader asks, “Is it possible to use PPF as a source of regular income? For example, withdraw 7 per cent per year”. Once a PPF account has completed 15 years, there are two ways to keep it alive: (1) Without further contributions (interest will be paid) and (2) with contributions (Rs. 500  min per…

A reader says, “For a salaried employee contributing to an employee PF, would it be good advice to invest 50% of take-home pay first into PPF and the remainder into an index fund? This would be an investment towards a retirement corpus. The EPF and PPF would be the fixed-income part of the corpus, and…

A reader asks, “What are the differences between finfluencers and financial experts? Is there any way to distinguish them? How can investors be wary of finfluencers?” Definitions for both types are subjective, and these are mine: A finfluencer has a good understanding of the kind of content that would be lapped by consumers (viewers/readers/listeners) and…

For a long term goal, invest about 60% in equity and the rest in fixed income. Three years before the goal deadline, start reducing equity allocation. This is the usual advice peddled around by “experts”. How successful is this idea against a rigorous backtest? As you might guess, this is just arbitrary gyan, and if…

A reader asks, “I would like to go abroad on holiday once in two years. How do I plan for this without affecting my other long-term investments?”. Our robo-advisor tool has a recurring financial goal calculator module, which you can use to plan for all such goals. This can also be used to plan annual…

A reader says, ” I am 35 years old, and I started my “equity” investments quite late (around 2021 when I was 33). Until then, debt instruments and real estate have been my primary investments for my retirement. So debt in my retirement portfolio has a major weightage at about 70%.” “I would like to…