How would you answer if someone asks you: “I know that a systematic investment plan (SIP) in a mutual fund is an effective way to accomplish financial goals, but how often should I invest? Each month? Each quarter? Or should I invest daily? Which option provides better returns?” There are two ways of answering this:…

These are the latest FD calculators: Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in months and years) Update Oct 2013: Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in months and years) with pre-tax and post-tax annualized yield for each month of investment. Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in days) Download…

Part I: A Step-By-Step Guide to Long Term Goal-Based Investing Download the Step-by-Step Goal-Based Investing Calculator Macros need to be enabled. Macro used is derived from Excel Workbook A standard goal calculator is also included for comparison. Part II: The What, Why, How and When of Portfolio Rebalancing Rebalacing Simulator Lite: Suitable for investors unfamiliar…

Question 2: Name mutual fund types with near zero probability of money-loss? I am big fan of lowering risk and tax. Before I save and invest I try to choose instruments with minimum risk and tax out-go. Of course the type of risk differs: loss-of-money-risk when saving and loss-of-value-risk (or inflation risk) when investing. Choosing…

Use this suite of calculators to compute SIP and lump sum returns, compute SIP corpus and determine SIP amount needed for a goal. This represents an upgrade of my understanding of (a) excel functions and (b) the compounding process. The calculators also help illustrate a common error in converting monthly  returns to annual returns. First…

Financial advisory can be divided into components. One which is generic advice, the kind available at the cost of only electricity and internet usage charges in blogs, forums and elsewhere. Then there is personal advice which can be obtained for a fee from a planner or free from your LIC agent uncle. Unfortunately, most confuse…

This is a calculator which hopes to impress upon you how expensive it can be to postpone planning for retirement. Talk to an average person in his/her mid-20s today about retirement planning and the typical response is: “Please stop! I have just started earning and want to ‘enjoy life’. Buy a car and many other…

Retirement planning is a complicated financial goal. When you save for a new car, exotic holiday or even for the education of your children, all or most of the accumulated corpus would get spent when the time for the goal arrives. So it is easier to calculate the corpus required for such goals. When it…

When you make a financial plan/calculation you usually assume some inflation rate and interest rate. However, there is no guarantee that these rates will be the same as the ones you assumed. If actual inflation was lower and actual interest rates higher, great! Well you know that is a pretty rare scenario. What is likely…

How Much Insurance Do I need? Use this comprehensive needs approach insurance calculator to find out. Before calculating the insurance amount required for you, please take a moment and recognize that anyone of us can die at any time. Remember how you felt when heard of someone young die suddenly. When you fill this excel…