In this article, we compare the performance of international equity mutual funds (based in India and available for the retail Indian investor) with the S&P 500 Total Return in INR over the last one, two and three years as of July 23rd 2021. If we exclude the international index funds tracking the Nasdaq 100 and…
Continue reading →If I say that I never frowned at the prices of air tickets, I’d be lying. Most of us are always on the lookout for cheap flight tickets. This holds especially true for those who love to travel. Believe me, I have a friend who once booked a ticket only because it was cheap. He…
Continue reading →The first fact sheet of Parag Parikh Conservative Hybrid Fund (PPCHF) is now available. The fund now has an AUM of Rs. 292 Crores. This provides some more clarity on the nature of the fund and who should invest in it. During the NFO period of the fund, we had pointed to several unknowns about…
Continue reading →One of the best aspects of the freefincal reader community is their willingness to write about their experiences and portfolio details to help and inspire fellow DIY investors. In our 12th reader audit, we have an academic (name withheld on request) sharing his personal money management journey. Previous articles in this series are linked at…
Continue reading →I recently had an interesting discussion with a 22-year-old. The person who prefers anonymity wanted an opinion on what he should focus on for a side hustle (source of extra income): trading – which he is interested in; has started learning a course or freelancing – he has done a course on digital marketing; is…
Continue reading →In this article, Vishal Kataria explains how to become an effective remote worker, be it an employee, freelancer, or entrepreneur. He has more than seven years of experience as a remote worker and has taken the trouble to interview friends with the same lifestyle to get their insights. The idea for this article came to…
Continue reading →In the ten-plus years that I have been making retirement calculators, I have received several questions on the inputs: what inflation rate should I take after retirement? What return should I assume before/after retirement? How should I account for current expenses? What should be life expectancy? And so on. One question that has never been…
Continue reading →Kotak Global Innovation Fund of Fund is an open-ended fund of fund investing in Wellington Global Innovation Fund (or any other similar overseas mutual fund schemes/ETFs). The fund of fund is currently in its NFO period (closing 22n July 2021). The scheme mandate of the underlying fund – Wellington Global Innovation Fund – seeks long-term capital…
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for fund selection, fund portfolio tracking and learning. It also includes hybrid funds that invest in bonds. It will satisfy investors who wish to invest in money market funds, banking and PSU funds etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile…
Continue reading →DSP US Flexible Equity Fund is an open-ended fund of fund scheme investing in BlackRock Global Funds – US Flexible Equity Fund (the underlying fund). The scheme was launched in Aug 2012 and now has an AUM of about Rs. 474 crores. BlackRock Global Funds – US Flexible Equity Fund has a mandate to invest…
Continue reading →As I opened my investment tracker spreadsheet for this month, I realised that I have been at it for the last ten years. This is how tracking investments have changed my life and why I strongly recommend it. Today I can invest more for retirement than my target investment. That was not the case when…
Continue reading →The cost inflation index for the financial year 2021-2022 was recently announced. We compile 40 years of cost inflation index data to understand the devastating consequences of inflation and why our singular focus should be on beating inflation for our long term goals. The cost inflation index (CII) is not a measure of true price…
Continue reading →The cost inflation index in India is currently published with 2001-02 as the base year. It was earlier published with 1981-82 as the base year. You can find both data sets here. That is from 2001-02 to the current financial year – this is the list to be used for income tax computation – and…
Continue reading →I get this kind of question a lot: There is a 30-40% overlap in the portfolios of my mutual funds. Is this okay, or should I change my funds? How much of a portfolio overlap is OK, and how much is not? A discussion. The reasoning presented here is similar to the one discussed before: Can…
Continue reading →I am writing this after learning of two incidents where credit card payments for emergencies resulted in more expenses (interest payment). What is discussed is quite basic and should sound trivial for experienced money managers. You could then share the article with someone younger. Let start by appeasing children from the reward point gang that…
Continue reading →