Original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on developments in the mutual fund space and in-depth reviews
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…
Continue reading →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”….
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →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,…
Continue reading →At freefincal, we have often used the Sensex price returns to portray risk via rolling lump sum and SIP returns. We have added 2% to the price return to account for dividends. This is because the price data starts from 1970 while the total returns data (that assumes dividends are reinvested without tax begins only…
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →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…
Continue reading →A reader asks after looking at the Sensex chart in the article – Do not stop or redeem your equity investments! Now is the best time to invest! (also shown below), “Why did you draw the Sensex chart in logarithmic scale? What is the benefit of doing so?” Let us start with what a logarithm is….
Continue reading →SEBI has created a new class of intermediaries called execution-only platforms (EOPs) for direct plan mutual funds. This will differentiate between an EOP and an RIA and provide clients with a clear grievance redressal mechanism. Those offering direct mutual fund investment portals are currently registered as investment advisors (RIA). SEBI defines an EOP as “Any…
Continue reading →A reader says, “You strongly recommend index funds for new investors. Why do you not recommend switching to index funds to other active fund investors? (Also wondering why you do not do it yourself)”. “Is it to avoid paying taxes on current gains if the size of the corpus is already substantial? I have also…
Continue reading →A reader asks,” Sir, almost my investment decisions are due to FOMO (fear of missing out). This has led to multiple stocks, mutual funds, fixed deposits, bonds and chit funds. I am ashamed to disclose the number. After reading your articles, I have understood that my approach is wrong. Can you please write an article…
Continue reading →Dr Rajesh Mevada writes, “What are debt fund / fixed income options for non-salaried, self-employed professionals and businessmen? For salaried investors, it is compulsory to contribute to EPF/ VPF, or NPS, which automatically takes care of its debt component. But for non-salaried investors, choosing debt fund investment is a bit difficult. So another relevant question…
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