A reader sent us a rather strongly worded email after reading the Handpicked List of Mutual Funds Oct-Dec 2023 (PlumbLine). He was unhappy that we are against investing in active mid cap and small cap fuds and wanted to know why. Our decision stems from our monthly equity mutual fund screeners. These use rolling returns…

This article aimed at new mutual fund investors discusses three common myths about mutual funds. Experienced investors may find this information quite basic, but please consider sharing this post with someone who may benefit from it. The three myths are: “I want my money back!” Nope! A mutual fund is not a bank FD to…

A reader asks, “I initially invested 1.5 lakh rupees in a Smallcap mutual fund category two years ago and haven’t added any more funds since. I’m contemplating whether to resume investing in my existing fund or consider a new smallcap fund”. “I’m interested in understanding the advantages and disadvantages of both options. It’s worth noting…

This is an update on my mutual fund investing journey, which began on 19th June 2008. In the last three decades, I have gone from being a spend-thrift to being in debt to financial independence. New community members can refer to these articles for an account. The Financial Arrow of Time and My Journey: Driven by the…

A viewer on our YouTube channel asks, “Sir, How can I identify my risk appetite? Please let me know the points to consider when deciding asset allocation. Thanks.” Many investors believe their risk appetite falls under three categories: low, medium and risk. They also assume risk appetite refers to “how much risk we can handle”….

A mutual fund is a financial instrument that pools money from the investor and invests on their behalf. As mutual funds become more popular, investors face difficulty making choices. Mutual funds are segregated into two main categories: active and passive mutual funds. If you invest through a broker, the most likely changes are that they…

On 12th Aug 2023, Sudheer Tammini announced that he had developed a “simple Free & Open source software that I have developed to export Mutual Funds CAMS statement data onto a nice CSV file”. We asked him to share more details with us. Cams2CSV could be helpful to users of the freefincal MF portfolio tracker…

Over the years, there have been innumerable discussions in AIFW (Facebook group, Asan Ideas for Wealth) about various aspects of mutual funds – their kinds, where to use them, what to buy, when to sell, how much returns to expect, SIP or not, active vs passive, etc. Yet one topic does not seem to get…

The following is an account of an ordeal to redeem from mutual funds in demat form. As mentioned several times earlier, holding mutual funds (except ETFs) in demat form makes no sense. Mutual fund units are already in electronic form! Unless an investor wants to (or rather tries to) sell closed-ended mutual funds before maturity,…

A reader has asked us to explain why diversification is the only free lunch in investing with some India-centric data. As the name suggests, free lunch refers to some benefits without a catch, fee, or cost. There is no free lunch in nature. Can there be one in investing? What does “Diversification is the only…

A reader wants to know, “I have just started a SIP in an equity mutual fund. I plan to continue this for 15 years. Can I expect a 15% return?”. The honest answer is, “No idea. No one knows”.  We have discussed this at length before. Do not expect returns from mutual fund SIPs! Do…

We are happy to announce a long-standing bug in the Freefincal Google Sheets Mutual Fund, and Stock Tracker has been resolved. This bug is not a formula or coding error on the sheet but due to an inherent deficiency in Google Sheets. The latest versions of the trackers have been updated with this resolution. Existing…