Original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on developments in the mutual fund space and in-depth reviews
“How to choose an index fund in India?”, Three people asked me this question in the last two days! My typical response is, “choose a Sensex or Nifty index fund, from the AMC you are comfortable with”. I thought let me expand my response a bit more. Should I adopt passive investing in India? Aarti…
Continue reading →Use this Mutual Fund SIP Rolling Returns Calculator to determine how consistently an equity mutual fund has performed wrt to its benchmark. Returns can be broadly categorised into two types: for a lump sum investment (CAGR) and for periodic investment (XIRR) Please consult this post to understand What is XIRR?. You can consider using this Mutual Fund SIP…
Continue reading →Here is a simple illustration that will help you understand how growth and dividend-reinvestment mutual funds work. You can use it to decide which is better for you, taking into account the investment duration and your tax-slab. This is a re-publish taking into account changes made after budget 2014. When a mutual fund offers regular (typically) dividends…
Continue reading →“I understand the need to beat inflation and the need for equity in a portfolio. I understand that the mutual fund route is a simple and convenient way to do it. However, I neither have the confidence, nor the time or inclination to create and manage a mutual fund portfolio. I also do not have…
Continue reading →A look at “How do I reduce clutter in my mutual fund portfolio so that it can tracked and reviewed easily?”. Typically mutual fund investors with few to several years of experience are interested in this exercise. The first step is to recognise clutter. I hold 8 funds. If I posted just that information at AIFW…
Continue reading →XIRR or extended internal rate of return is a measure of return used when multiple investments (at different points in time) are made in a financial instrument. A look at what XIRR represents and how it is different from CAGR. What is CAGR? First, we need to answer a much simpler question. If I invest Rs….
Continue reading →In an interview to Wealthforumezine, Shankaran Naren, CIO, ICICI Pru AMC, suggested that buying low and selling high using the price to book value (PB) is better than the price to earnings (PE) model. Since I have earlier shown that there is absolutely no merit for long term investors to buy at low PE and sell at…
Continue reading →Here is how I visualize the growth of an equity portfolio as a tilted pendulum. It is a simple ‘mental model’ that might* aide a new investor with regard to what he/she should expect from equity investments. (*) might because, it makes sense to me, but I am not sure if it will to you….
Continue reading →How many stocks does an equity mutual fund hold? It is related to the assets it is managing? It is related to performance relative to peers (aka star rating)? Let use see if we can get some insights into these questions. I started digging around in this direction because I would like to do (yet…
Continue reading →While recommending equity as an asset class or equity mutual funds as an instrument suitable for newbies, illustrations about the power of compounding, past returns and how they have comfortably beat inflation are typically used. This is followed by caveats (besides past performance disclaimers) that the investor must be ready to stomach the ups and…
Continue reading →So social media is abuzz* that someone called Kenneth Andrade is quitting IDFC amc (update: now official). To be frank, I had no clue who he was, until I saw an AIFW post. When I googled his name, I then remembered seeing his interview at VR and that he is the manager of IDFC premier equity. Perhaps I…
Continue reading →In this third and final part on “how to select an equity mutual fund”, we will consider different ways in which one ‘make a choice’ from a shortlist. Yes, there are several ways to choose from a shortlist, just like there are several ways to make a shortlist. You will have to take your pick….
Continue reading →Any selection process should have three components: (a) an objective; (b) a method to create a shortlist and (c) a method to finalize with the shortlist. Yesterday we discussed the objective. Today we shall consider how to create a shortlist from which an equity mutual fund can be selected. If you have not read yesterday’s…
Continue reading →Over the next few days, I would like to do a series on “How to select an equity mutual fund”. This is the long overdue update to the step by step guide to mutual fund selection. I write this primarily because my understanding about mutual funds has grown significantly since I wrote the pdf guide. I…
Continue reading →Perhaps, “what should be the role of a fund manager?” is a more appropriate question. In an interview to Cafemutual, Mirae assets fund manager, Neelesh Surana said, “The challenging part (of being a fund manager) is the pressure of generating superior performance vis-à-vis markets and peers. The pressure of getting it right consistently is always there”….
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