Deciding where to invest, when and how much in each instrument for a given financial goal is known as asset allocation – it is the key to successful money management. For a given financial goal, how do I determine the asset allocation? That is, how do I decide the amount of equity exposure and therefore, fixed…

This post is a response to a question posed to me by a PhD student: Everyone seems to be predicting that price of Bitcoin will increase by a lot in the coming years and it will become popular. So should I buy some (accumulate) now? To answer this, let us discuss the economics surrounding bitcoins…

Suppose you wish to “put” some money in cryptocurrency (or cryptocoins), say Bitcoin, altcoin, litecoin, fartcoin etc. would you trade or would you invest? It is obvious that due to poor liquidity, the crypto market is volatile. So instinct would tell us caution is necessary. So trading (frequent buying and selling) with regular profit booking seems…

As I sat down to write a post on “cryptocurrencies: should you trade or invest in them?”, I received an email from my classmate asking me to explain if the most popular cryptocurrency- the bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme? A pyramid scheme? or bubble? Since the two topics are closely related, I thought let me…

The freefincal robo advisory software template released on Sep. 7th 2017 has had an enthusiastic response from readers. Thank you for your support. As always I look forward to your feedback and feature enhancement suggestions. In this post, I discuss some of the key features of the robo template. As of 29th June 2021, 567…

The freefincal robo-advisor software tool helps you plan your retirement (early, normal, before, and after), as well as non-recurring financial goals (such as child education) and recurring financial goals (like holidays and appliance purchases). The tool helps anyone aged 18 to 80 plan for retirement, six other non-recurring financial goals, and four other recurring financial…

In this post, I discuss the basics of robo advice, its pros and cons for the benefit of the interested layman as a lead up to the launch of the freefincal robo advisory template next week. What is robo advisory? Suppose you wish to plan for your daughter’s college expenses 10 years from now and wish…

In this post, I discuss why I will not (never?) invest in Bitcoin or any of the 900+ cryptocurrencies in “circulation”. This is a refinement of an earlier post: Bitcoin: Should we use it as a currency or as an investment? in which I had stated my unease with it as an investment even though the concept…

Many readers have asked me to explain how a financial plan is created with examples. I requested SEBI registered fee-only financial planner (meaning, no commissions and works only for you), Sukhvinder Sidhu to explain the financial plan creation process with an example. This is meant for those new to DIY investing and also those who…

On August 1st, 2017, Bitcoin is expected to fork (split into two). In this post, I discuss my learning about cryptocurrencies with an emphasis on Bitcoin and Bitcoin fork and why they may be a reasonable choice of currency for those who have a set of specific requirements but does not (dare I say, should not) represent…

Financial products get mis-sold every minute of every day. Interpretations of what constitutes miss-selling depend on who you ask. They range from persuasion (bending the rules) to outright fraud (breaking them).  In this case, the victim is the buyer. There is yet another form of miss-selling where both the buyer and seller are victims. In this…

The media is blaring at full blast about the number of jobs (not just IT) that could be lost in 2017 and beyond and how it could be “bigger” than 2008.  Whether there is merit in such speculation remains to be seen. What should be clear to anyone working in a non-government establishment is that…

I am often asked this question. The catching up here refers to being able to create an adequate retirement corpus. The answer depends on the age of the person. For someone in the 30s (even late 30s), I think it is quite possible if they put their head down and invest enough for the next 15 years….