Archive of Articles and resources for financial planning
Here is what you should know before buying sovereign gold bonds either in the primary market (when the next tranche is released) or secondary market (1st tranche issued in Nov 2015). In my opinion, there is only one thing that someone buying paper gold should know: just how volatile returns can be!! The fin min says They…
Continue reading →It amuses me no end when financial advisors say, “do not do-it-yourself (DIY), find an advisor”. Simply because if I choose to delegate my money management to an advisor then I will have to find one first. Repeat, I will have to find one first! Meaning it requires DIY skills to search for an advisor. It requires…
Continue reading →The basic ideas behind how to manage a personal portfolio are discussed with a focus on the appropriate benchmarks for taking action. Reactions to yesterday’s post, A Mutual Fund SIP is Hope, Not a Strategy!, revealed a disturbing aspect of how many investors approach mutual funds. They are not interested in the inconvenient truth that a…
Continue reading →Too many investors believe that keeping their SIP alive and running over the ‘long-term’ is all that is needed to get ‘good returns’ from equity and achieve all their financial goals. Now that might happen in a fairy tale, but not in real life. In real life, the SIP is a method of buying mutual…
Continue reading →Here is a step-by-step guide to plan for your child’s education and marriage. 1. When to start planning. The moment the pregnancy is confirmed! 2. What do to first? Evaluate your insurance cover and buy more if required. 3. How to evaluate insurance cover? Let us consider a couple with a two year old child….
Continue reading →Risk management is the key to investing in volatile instruments like equity (or gold). De-risking refers to a process of containing losses. This typically is achieved by targeting a better risk-adjusted return instead of a ‘better return’.De-risking can passive or active. Here are some simple steps to de-risk your investment portfolio Cautionary note: A mutual fund SIP…
Continue reading →Why do so many look for a secondary source of income? Now that sounds like a dumb question is it not?! I would like to classify people who look for secondary income into three broad categories. I Some, make that many, do not earn enough and so want to earn more. II Some, make that many (but not…
Continue reading →One of my favourite quotes about goals is by Harvey Mackay: “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” That just about sums it up!! In this post, let us look at how to define a financial goal with the Audi as a dream car. It…
Continue reading →If diversification is about ‘not keeping all eggs in the same basket‘, rebalancing is realising that ‘what goes up, will come down‘. Yes, investment portfolio management is all about simple common sense. In this post, I would like to revisit the topic of portfolio rebalancing and discuss what it is, why do it is, and…
Continue reading →Facebook group Asan Ideas for Wealth (AIFW) is a fascinating micro ensemble for studying and understanding how investors think and act. Even if you don’t want to consciously study it, it is impossible to not observe a few common patterns. The group is famous for its abbreviations: MDBSC* – My dull and boring SIPs will continue (*…
Continue reading →The withdrawal rules of the Sukanya Samriddhi Account has been modified with effect from March 18th 2016. Thanks to Muthu Krishnan for alerting me about it. They are discussed in this post in case you missed them like I did. Old withdrawal rule: (Source: Gazette of India 2nd December 2014) To meet the financial requirements of the account holder…
Continue reading →Risk represents the probability of loss and volatility a measure of fluctuation. The loss here refers to a loss of capital and fluctuation the ups and downs in the movement of an asset. Now these are textbook definitions. When applied to real-life new dimensions get added on, as with everything else. Let us start with the…
Continue reading →When someone wants your money, they offer you an interest rate and lock up your money for a few years so that they can invest your money elsewhere in peace! If you want 80C tax benefits, your money will get locked in for a few to several years (min 3Y in ELSS to max. when…
Continue reading →Here is a compilation of posts that hopefully can serve as a guide to last minute tax saving. Do not use ELSS mutual funds to save tax in the last minute! Unless you understand the volatile nature of equity returns, do not listen to any AMC or agent and invest in ELSS in the last minute….
Continue reading →Women members of Facebook Group Asan Ideas for Wealth listed several problems that women (married/unmarried, working/non-working) face when it comes to money management. Here is a compilation. Some problems are due to deep-rooted notions about ‘what a women can do or should do’ and some problems are due to lack of communication between a couple…
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