Original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on developments in the mutual fund space and in-depth reviews
Let us consider the basic differences between Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and mutual funds and when should one use either product. A couple of announcements first: (A) I will be speaking on “index investing and market timing” this Sunday, 17th June in the Tamilnadu Investors’ Association monthly meeting (see invite below). Do join if possible. (B) If you are…
Continue reading →As I started preparing for a talk on Index investing, I needed to know how many indices are passively tracked and so here is a list of index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in India sorted by their benchmark. I also indicate which ones to choose and which ones to avoid. Surprised to find as…
Continue reading →Resolve is a series of steps on investing and portfolio management. In the first step, we considered how to quickly select equity mutual funds and build a diversified (equity) portfolio. As a second step, we will consider how to quickly decide if I should stay invested in a mutual fund or exit it. To be frank, the…
Continue reading →After the SEBI mutual fund categorization rules came into force, fund houses were forced to merge many schemes. In this post, I discuss common investor questions and problems regarding the merger – should I pay tax? how do I track? how do I calculate returns and capital gains on exit? – and so on with…
Continue reading →As readers may be aware Re-assemble is series on the basic of money management aimed at beginners and young earners. Since it now pretty much complete with a compiled free e-book released, I think it is time to move on to the next step. Introducing. Resolve: a series of steps on investing and portfolio management. In…
Continue reading →With the SEBI mutual fund classification complete, here is an updated list of all mutual fund benchmarks. Thanks to Gaurav for suggesting this on Twitter. I had compiled this list for equity funds in Jan 2017. This list is compiled from Value Research. Benchmarks are an important indicator of fund strategy and it is insightful…
Continue reading →Are mutual funds safe? Can mutual fund run away with our money or become bankrupt? This should not be dismissed as a newbie question. It is one of the first and most important considerations before investing in a mutual fund. We certainly have instances in the past where fund managers could invest where they want,…
Continue reading →I have updated the two guest posts written by CK Aparna that explain how to e-file income tax returns using ITR1, ITR2, ITR3, ITR5 for AY 2018-2019. Do consider sharing it with assessees who are filing tax return for the first time or filing tax returns with capital gains for the first time. First Know which…
Continue reading →It is a genius plan. Simply tell the naive investor that one should not time the market and invest regularly via SIP as it will reduce risk. Convince them that automating something will make them disciplined and show them a few select data points of how rewarding this approach has been. Then the seller gets…
Continue reading →With most AMCs complying with SEBIs mutual fund categorization rules, the implications are slowly sinking in. Since most mutual funds have changed in nature, their past history is now useless. Star ratings are useless. My monthly mutual fund screeners are useless. The selection methods I have discussed earlier are useless. SEBI has hit the reset…
Continue reading →In an earlier post where we saw that the Nifty Next 50 (NN50) is much more riskier than Nifty 50 (N50) and Nifty 100 (N100), we asked, “Is there any index that has offered better returns at lower risk than the NN50?”. Two promising candidates were discovered: nifty 100 equal weight (N100EW) and Nifty Midcap…
Continue reading →ICICI dynamic fund has now become a mutli-asset fund. Is this a huge change from an equity to a debt fund? Should you now consider exiting or hold on? If you download the ICICI Mutual Fund Notification for changes in its hybrid and its equity scheme you might notice some amusing patterns. For eg. (1) ICICI…
Continue reading →Regular readers may be aware that I have repeatedly pointed out how hard it is for mutual funds to beat the NIfty Next 50 (NN50) index in terms of absolute return* and that no active mutual fund uses it as a benchmark! In this post, I classify NSE indices in terms of risk and point…
Continue reading →Here is a simple way to understand how grandfathering works when calculating LTCG tax on equity instruments. Download a free equity LTCG tax calculator to estimate the tax to be paid before you withdraw from an equity mutual fund, You can also use it to calculate STCG, and it will work with debt mutual funds…
Continue reading →Most readers may be aware that SEBI has laid out norms for mutual fund categorization and many AMCs have fallen in line. It is frustrating that the big AMCs like ICICI, HDFC, Franklin and others have delayed conforming to this order. Makes me want to speculate that they have deliberately waited for the financial year to…
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