A comparison between tax-free bonds that are available in the secondary market and RBI 7.75% bonds that can be obtained in the primary market. Which is better and how demand for tax-free bonds have quickly made them less attractive.
Continue reading →These are the key features of the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (Modified- 2020) Scheme that launches today, May 26th 2020.
Continue reading →Falling interest rates and “risky” mutual funds have spooked senior citizens and their self-appointed advisors – their children. As always, wrong questions like “should I invest in “7.75% RBI bonds?”, “Should I buy PM Vaya Vandana Yojana?” are doing the rounds. A look at how senior citizens should invest in 2020.
Continue reading →Covid-19 health insurance claims are rapidly increasing in the country. With no standardised hospital pricing and reports of huge hospital bills, insurers are finding it difficult to pay out claims in full. This could mean difficulties in claim processing and future increase in the already-high premiums. What should policyholders do?
Continue reading →Considering how the NPS equity schemes have underperformed Nifty 50 and Nifty 100 total return indices, it is high time PFRDA mandates these “low cost” fund to passively track an index instead of classifying them as “active funds” that can invest in the Nifty, Nifty 100 universe.
Continue reading →With the repo rate at its lowest, fixed-income investment rates which were already heading south over the last few years are likely to stay there and move down further in future. Equity returns have been consistently heading lower and lower too. This can destroy all financial plans especially retirement which does not come with a…
Continue reading →The NPS has a portfolio management fee of 0.01%. There is an additional custodian fee of 0.0032% and various transaction fee applicable on the investment amount (much like an airline charging extra for the seat, leg space and food). Nonetheless, a fee of 0.01320% is not only enticing but also leads one to assume we…
Continue reading →Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) is a distinct legal entity and consists of individuals who have lineally descended from a common ancestor, including their wives and children. Let us see how a HUF is formed and what are its various tax benefits.
Continue reading →If you sit and think about investment ideas without bothering to check how effective it has been in the past, many extreme strategies like buying only when the market is “low” or buying more often equals better averaging appear “intuitively” correct. When we try to validate them interesting results on SIP and lump sum investing…
Continue reading →After the Feb-March 2020 market crash, 80% of active large cap mutual funds have outperformed Nifty 50 and Nifty 100 total return indices. This is likely due to the two-year imbalance among Index stocks that was destroyed due to the crash. A performance report on active large cap funds. Have they returned? Will they do…
Continue reading →If we look at the fall in Nifty from its early Feb 2020 levels it certainly feels like a crash. After all, we witnessed the biggest intraday fall that sent the 10-year Nifty SIP Return to 2.3%; 14-year SIP Return to 5% and we also saw the biggest intraday gain after 10Y and then a…
Continue reading →One of the biggest mistakes investors make is to neve visualise their portfolio as “big” in future. They assume their portfolio value will always be comparable to what they invest each month. This results in many misconceptions like, “I can rebalance my portfolio just by changing the amount I invest”, and “I can time the…
Continue reading →The real risk associated with equity markets is not a huge fall. That often results in a strong upward movement sooner than later. The real risk lies in lost time when the market heads nowhere. Over 10 years, 15 or 25 years, one could make huge absolute gains but poor annualised returns if we hit…
Continue reading →While corporate investors withdrew from several Franklin debt funds forcing the closure of six funds (a first in India), the AMC lost 28,664 Crores of debt fund AUM from 31st Dec 2019 to April 30th 2020. Amusingly, one of their debt funds grew 520% in AUM! A look at the change in their debt AUM.
Continue reading →Last week I had reported that the annualized return (XIRR) of all my equity MF transactions tagged to retirement planning goal (or financial freedom) dropped from 11.6% in Dec 2019 to 2.75% after the crash. Some readers were either disheartened about this or twisted the result to point out equity investing is risky. In this…
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