A reader asks, “We have a retirement corpus of over Rs. Ten Crores. While we agree that having fewer funds is more manageable, we are nervous about stacking one cr in each fund, debt or equity. Do you think that fear is unfounded?” The number one goal in portfolio management is a peaceful sleep. So…

In this article, we explain in simple terms what a mutual fund stress test is and what investors need to appreciate while investing in mutual funds, especially small cap mutual funds. If you have not seen the movie Margin Call, I strongly suggest you do so after reading this article. You could appreciate the situation…

Ask in any personal finance forum, “Can I invest in XYZ NFO?” there would be an immediate refrain, “Never buy NFOs!”. Context is often the first casualty in such a forum, and this response is no different. All mutual funds carry a past performance disclaimer – past returns do not indicate future returns. Then why…

Many investors are worried about the “over-heated” small cap segment and wonder if they should exit — a discussion. At the time of writing, the last 1Y trailing return of small cap segments has ranged from 33% to 75%. Regular readers may know that freefincal has always opposed investing in small cap mutual funds. Due…

You might have often seen statements like, “Our analysis shows that, over the long term, the stock market shows poor returns for only two out of every ten periods tests. This means that the probability of losing money is quite small”. Such statements are wrong. You cannot, well, must not associate probabilities with stock market…

In response to our article – Parag Parikh Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund: Who should invest? – many readers are not clear about the taxation status of the fund. Some even claim that it will be taxed as per slab. In this article, we explain the fund’s taxation status. Note: Tax rules change often. The rules mentioned…

A reader has multiple questions on goal-based investing, and we address them inline below. “I am 32 years old and have been investing in MF for the past three years, PPF for the past 9 yrs, and SSY for the past 5 yrs. I have two doubts about goal-based investments”. “1) I have mapped my…

In response to Portfolio Audit 2023: The annual review of my goal-based investments, a reader asks, “Why are you recommending index funds when your portfolio has beat the market?” If you take a casual look at the growth of my retirement portfolio*, it may seem like my portfolio has comfortably beat the market.  *compared with…

In social media forums, many investors ask if they could stop their SIPs because the markets have hit an all-time high. We show that this is a needless and pointless thing to do, The market hitting an all-time high is a fairly common event. This is not some “signal” for the market to “correct”. The…

A subscriber to our YouTube channel asks, “How many equity funds are required for adequate diversification?” At first glance, the answer seems easy, but it is not. Diversification can refer to diversification across asset classes like equity, fixed income, gold, and real estate or diversification within an asset class. We believe the subscriber refers to…

We recently conducted a poll on X (formerly Twitter) – “Why are you invested in Sovereign Gold Bonds?”. We asked a similar question on the Facebook group Asan Ideas for Wealth. The results were similar and suggest that most investors buy Sovereign Gold Bonds for the wrong reasons. The X poll had 1154 participants. The…

A reader asks, “I read your posts and blogs a lot. I try and declutter my portfolio and follow the kiss principle. If an actively managed mid-cap fund has a lower expense ratio almost equal to an index fund, provides better downside protection, and beats the benchmark index, should we still consider switching to the…

“I have a long-term investment goal and a moderate risk appetite. Which mutual funds should I select?” This is a query often seen on personal finance forums. We delve into what actions should be taken by investors in such scenarios. However, when asked the seemingly simple follow-up question, “What does a moderate risk appetite entail?”…

This is a list of the worst-performing equity mutual funds over every possible five, four, and three periods—study period: From inception of direct plans (Jan 2013) to Dec 8th 2023. Some caveats before we begin:  (1) The definition of a “worst mutual fund” is as arbitrary as the definition of a “best mutual fund”. We…