Upside and Downside capture ratios are two easy-to-understand measures used to analyze performance of a volatile instrument. I had earlier written a post on how to use them for mutual fund analysis. Suggest you it along with this post: Simplify Mutual Fund Analysis with Upside/Downside Capture Ratios The explanation provided there is quite oversimplified. In…

Balanced equity funds or equity-oriented balanced funds are those with min 65% equity exposure so that they can be classified as equity funds by the taxman. The rest of the portfolio (35-25%) has debt securities (gilts, corporate bonds, money-market instruments etc.).  Here is why I think these funds can match the returns of diversified equity Here…

SEBI is a trigger happy regulator. In its desire to help investors, it seems to have thrown a spanner in the works . The actual benefit to the investor from many of its diktats pales in comparison to the havoc created in the financial services. Here is why aspiring to become a mutual fund distributor today…

We all woke up to the shocking news yesterday that Parah Parikh died in a car crash in the US on Sunday (May 3rd). He was not wearing a seat belt. His wife was wearing one, but still sustained serious head and chest injuries and is critical. Yesterday afternoon, the PPFAS management sent an email…

Analyse mutual fund performance on year on year basis for the last 8 years with this tool. This is a modified version of the risk return analyzer where investments durations of 1 to 8 years were considered. In this version the duration is fixed at 1 year but it is rolled over. That is risk adjusted performance…

Mutual fund star ratings are supposed to rate funds on a risk adjusted basis. That is, more the number of stars, better the risk-adjusted performance. If you look at some of the metrics they use to award star ratings, you might agree with me that this is not as easy as it sounds and that the…

Here is a set of instructions for regular mutual fund investors to switch to direct mutual fund plans, and for first time investors to buy direct mutual fund plans. If you have already done this, please check if I have missed out anything and if you think this is useful, forward it to others who might…

I find that my mutual funds star rating has dropped. It is time for me to switch? When should I change funds? These are questions  I am sure every mutual fund investor must have asked these and related questions at some point or the other. The following post is about performance review of equity mutual…

Here is a list of unsubstantiated opinions about mutual fund investing. This is a follow up to the Do’s, Don’ts and Myths of mf investing. 1) Date of SIP matters No it  does not! You can find articles that it does in moneycontrol! Check for yourself. Go to the sip calculator at thefundoo.com and try out…

The dividend distribution tax associated with debt mutual funds (dividend payout and dividend reinvestment options) has been hiked again in this budget. Last year, the government changed the way in which the DDT was calculated. (read more here). The DDT hike by a huge extent: from 22.073% to 28.325%. This year, they have increased the…

Use this tool to compare the risk-adjusted year-on-year performance of two mutual funds over the last 8 years. This is an alternative to the previously published, fund A vs. fund B mutual fund analyzer, in which the  comparison could be made for investment durations ranging from 1-8 years. This year-on-year analyzer allows you to compare funds…

Thanks to Narendra Bhongale, there is now clarity on when investors can invest online in MF Utility after getting the common account number (CAN) . He was kind enough to attach the response from the MFU team in his comment to yesterday’s post. It is reproduced as is, below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Sir, We thank you for…