Original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on developments in the mutual fund space and in-depth reviews
So you think you have become financial literate by starting equity mutual fund SIPs assuming that they will beat inflation in the “long run”? Don’t get too comfortable with equity. Don’t assume those fairytale returns from DSP nanocap fund will last. This is how a real market crash “feels” like. Preparing for a presentation can be…
Continue reading →In this post aimed at new mutual fund investors, I discuss the basic aspects of the mutual fund redemption process. Knowledge of this is crucial from the viewpoints of risk, reward, taxation and product selection. Experienced investors may find this information quite basic, but please do consider sharing this post to someone who may benefit…
Continue reading →Use this Excel sheet to automatically calculate rolling upside capture, downside capture and rolling returns for equity mutual funds by comparing them with 72 BSE/NSE Indices. While the rolling returns provide a consistency measure for overall reward (return), the upside/downside captures provide a consistency measure for outperformance during up-market periods and protection during down-market periods…
Continue reading →Readers may be aware that I often use rolling returns, where anualized return is calculated between two dates and the calculation dates are shifted to the next possible business day. I have developed a rolling downside and upside capture calculator and before publishing it, would like to discuss what they are in simple terms. A…
Continue reading →Have you not read the mutual fund past performance disclaimer? Then how can we select mutual funds using past performance alone? In this post, I discuss this question asked by Swati Joshi. It is no secret many in the financial services dislike me. So their favorite approach to criticism is to claim that my “fund…
Continue reading →Here are two simple mutual fund screeners to automatically create a shortlist from a chosen mutual fund category. I have combined the monthly screener data – 3,5,7 year performance consistency and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11Y SIP and lump sum data to create this screener. Do give this a go and let me know what you think. Why Did…
Continue reading →Use this tool to analyse the consistency in the performance of your mutual fund holdings with respect to their benchmarks (72 indices from BSE and NSE). You can also use this to evaluate new funds that you want to invest in. This is a major update (version 5 ) to the freefincal mutual fund rolling…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss what investors need to know before reaching for Best/Top mutual funds with a past vs future performance study along the lines of the one made earlier: Mutual Fund Investing: Does Past Performance Matter? So this post is more of an update to that analysis. Let us assume that you make a lump…
Continue reading →Shall we try out the following experiment? Pick a fund that you invest in. Say Quantum Long Term Equity or PPFAS LTVF or HDFC Balanced. Enter all the transactions in that fund(s) in a portfolio tracker. Then add a couple of index mutual funds like Franklin Nifty Fund or ICICI Nifty Next 50 fund. Use the same…
Continue reading →In July 2016, while researching on the Nifty Smart Beta Indices, I accidentally realised that the Nifty Next 50 (formerly Nifty Jr) is one tough benchmark to beat. When I compiled the list of equity mutual fund benchmarks, I could not find any active mutual fund benchmarked to the Nifty Next 50! Now, if that…
Continue reading →Here are forty ways to make more money In India based on real-life inspirational examples of hard work, skill and determination. I asked the members of Facebook group Asan Ideas For Wealth to share details of how they are earning an extra income to supplement their main salaries. I received 100+ responses which make it…
Continue reading →I discuss ways in which we can visualise and interpret the annualised return, also known as the compounded annualised growth rate or the CAGR and volatility of returns. Franklin India Prima Fund had a NAV of 201.75 on April 3rd, 2006 and a NAV of 878.5 on 12th April 2017. What is the annualised return?…
Continue reading →Use this Excel sheet to track and compare the annualized return (XIRR) of your mutual fund investments with that of a benchmark. This is the updated version of the Mutual Fund SIP XIRR Tracker thanks to Krishna Chaitanya who pointed out an error in the sheet. The Nifty strategic indices have also be updated up to April 10th 2017. The sheet…
Continue reading →Concerned that the stock market is overheated? Here is why it makes sense to focus on the risk associated with the money already invested and not worry about investing more. Suppose, I have a long-term goal and I can only spare Rs. 500 towards an equity SIP. I choose a nondescript mid-cap mutual fund and start…
Continue reading →There were reports yesterday regarding SEBI thinking about asking fund houses to use benchmark indices where the dividends are assumed to be reinvested. Such total return benchmark indices (TRI) offer anywhere between 1-2% higher return each year over the normally used price indices (for large cap stocks) which do not consider dividends. While this is…
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