It is raining closed-ended mutual fund NFOs. Here is why one should avoid this category of mutual funds. There are many articles that describe the features of closed-ended mutual funds. Therefore, I will not mention them here. Let us focus on the titular suggestion alone. 1) The first and foremost rule of purchasing – be…
Continue reading →This post details a backtesting analysis based on the investment strategy to be adopted by the NFO IDFC Dynamic Equity Fund. It is inspired by a thread in facebook group Asan Ideas for Wealth started by Anup Maheswari. IDFC Dynamic Equity Fund (IDEF) is a quantitative tactical asset allocation fund along the lines of Franklin’s…
Continue reading →This is a guest post by Krishna Kishore who writes a refreshing blog on stock investing at tyroinvestor.com. He readily agreed to write this post, explaining the features of a stock screener, upon my request. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are many stock screeners available online like the ones from Google Finance, Reuters, Equity master and paid services…
Continue reading →This is a one-off post intended for WordPress users and is not related to personal finance. The post details a simple method of integrating Automattic’s Jetpack Blog Subscriptions widget with a pop-up plugin. I use Jetpack for handling email subscriptions. I am used to it since my wordpress.com days and therefore felt no need to…
Continue reading →If my financial goal is 15-plus years away, PPF is an obvious and pretty good choice for a debt instrument while trying to put together a diversified portfolio. ‘Which debt mutual fund should I choose for the same purpose, if my goal is less than 15 years away?’, is a question that is asked often enough….
Continue reading →Many invest for their child’s future by opening minor accounts. That is they invest in the child’s name. Here is why I think this practice is unhealthy and offers no great monetary advantage in most cases. This post is inspired by a thread on the subject at Facebook group, Asan Ideas for Wealth. First, let…
Continue reading →What factors should we consider before choosing a mutual fund or evaluating a mutual that we hold? Should we only look at star ratings? Should we consider only returns? Risk-adjusted returns perhaps? Should we track the actions of the fund manager? Should I understand the kind of stocks that he/she has picked or is likely…
Continue reading →On Aug. 25th 2014, the Economic Times carried an article titled, PPF investment can beat Sensex returns over 20-year period. They showed that between Aug. 1994 to Aug. 2014, Sensex returned an annualized return of 9.15% while the PPF returned 10.46%. Needless to mention this article created a lot of buzz among investors and distributors. Investors panicked and…
Continue reading →We choose a type of instrument almost solely based on the kind of returns that it can yield. Thus, our expectation is governed by past history. While there is nothing wrong with this, past returns can vary quite a bit, and depends on the period chosen for evaluation. While it is a good idea to base…
Continue reading →Here are ten questions that every investor should answer. I have inserted links to relevant posts for some questions. If you are DIY investor or intend to be one, ask yourself these questions. If you have engaged a financial planner, ask these questions to the planner . If you have any suggestions that would help…
Continue reading →Every so often one hears the passionate refrain, ‘I have been conned into buying XYZ policy by my agent/adviser/relationship manger …., what should I do?, … how can we complain against such mis-selling?’ Do such people deserve our sympathy? Have they been mis-sold a policy or a product? Who is to blame? The buyer? The…
Continue reading →A real estate investment trust (REIT) is like a mutual fund that invests in property. Here is why I think REITs are not suitable for goal-based investing. I know very little about how REITs work and I have sourced my information primarily from three articles. If you wish to understand, how REITs work, check this…
Continue reading →Here is a risk vs. reward analysis of debt mutual funds. This is a companion post to: (Equity) Mutual Fund Investing: Risk vs. Reward vs. Volatility and The key to successful mutual fund investing All the posts are based on Value Research Online’s fund selector page. First some definitions. Average Maturity A debt mutual fund holds debt…
Continue reading →I wrote a guest post for Avadhut Nigudkar’s website, financewalk.com aimed at financial career aspirants. The monthly financial tracker I have been using for the past 6 years was modified to include the goal analysis sheet from the automated mutual fund tracker The sheet allows you to keep track of investments for financial goals as well as…
Continue reading →Here is a simple goal planner that serves as a visual aid to highlight the importance of beating inflation for long-term financial goals. It compares the evolution of the current cost of an expense with an assumed inflation rate and the growth of monthly and lump sum investments. The monthly or lump sum investment along with…
Continue reading →Here is a simple Excel sheet to keep track of monthly SIPs. Unlike the automated mutual fund tracker, where the focus is on returns, this sheet helps to visually track the growth of a SIP relative to an expected growth. The user will have to enter the value of SIP each month to track its…
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