How to select an index fund: a step-by-step guide

Here is a step-by-step guide to selecting an index. 1. Where and how you invest does not matter if you do not have a proper investment plan. The right return expectation, the correct initial asset allocation, an excellent risk-management strategy, systematic investing, systematic increase in investing and periodic reviews. The freefincal robo advisor tool can…

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ETF or Index Fund? Look beyond low expenses and tracking errors!

Many investors assume that the lower the passive fund fee or tracking error, the higher the return. This is not always true. We dispel these notions using material for a talk we are preparing for. 1. ETF tracking errors published are non-representative.  All tracking errors are highly non-intuitive and hard for normal investors to appreciate….

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Active Mutual Funds Outperformance Consistency Report (March 2024)

This article presents an outperformance consistency report of active mutual funds. This analysis was done for a SEBI-sponsored talk given to Tamil Nadu Investors Association Members on March 24th, 2024. Disclaimer: Fund performance reports present return and risk analysis of a fund with representative benchmarks and not investment recommendations. It must be expressly understood that the data…

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Why Nifty Midcap150 Quality 50 index performance is a warning for factor investing fans

A few years ago, when the NSE introduced factor indices, aka smart-beta investing, I was among the first to get excited and wrote a slew of articles such as these: (1) Are Nifty Smart Beta (strategic) Indices better than the Nifty Next 50? (2) Picking Stocks With Low Volatility: A simple but effective strategy? (3)…

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Low Volatility Investing Decoded

Low volatility investing is a factor-based investment strategy. It involves picking a basket of stocks that exhibit the least standard deviation in daily returns over the preceding 12 months. About the author: Akshay holds an MBA in Finance from Great Eastern Management School, Bangalore. His website is akshaynayakria.com. His articles on personal finance and investing can be…

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Is tracking difference better than tracking error to evaluate passive funds?

A viewer on the freefincal YouTube channel asks, “Is tracking difference better than tracking error to evaluate passive funds?” What is a tracking difference? This is the fund return minus the benchmark total return over a period. This will typically be a small negative number as the fund return will always (well, typically!) be lower…

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