Are Banking & PSU Debt Funds a safe alternative for investors who wish to get higher returns than liquid funds and overnight funds? With so many credit defaults events in the debt mutual fund space, this a natural question to ask. Let us find out. The first step is to ask, “what is a safe…
Continue reading →Shri Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs has listed out several irregularities in mutual funds in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. SEBI has informed the ministry of the following types of irregularities or non-compliance’s: Failure to identify and appropriate all the expenses in the individual schemes as per…
Continue reading →Here is how you can calculate returns from an insurance policy. The next time an insurance agent shows you a policy benefit illustration or the next time your friend or relative asks you, “Is this a good policy to invest in?”, use this method to show the annualized return they can expect (before bonuses which…
Continue reading →Mirae Asset Midcap Fund is the latest NFO from Mirae Mutual Fund. The fund house has been busy shuffling its funds. First, it made Mirae India Equity fund into Mirae large Cap Fund in March (effective 1st May 2019). Then it announced a multicap NFO Mirae Asset Focused Fund in April 2019 and now a…
Continue reading →So much for financial goal planning, the right asset allocation, risk management, market timing and dreams of early retirement. Everything, everything will be lost if the event described below were to occur. Not just all our money, but our very existence! I can assure you that this is a real possibility, this is a well…
Continue reading →A fund of fund (FoF) is a mutual fund that invests in other mutual funds (do not ask why!!). Update For units acquired on or after 01-04-2023 Type of Fund Taxation (irrespective of holding period) Equity oriented FoF (invests 90% in Equity ETFs which themselves hold 90% Indian equity) 15% flat Other FoF As per…
Continue reading →This is a performance review of DSP Midcap Fund. This was started as a Small and Midcap when Blackrock was still part of DSP in Nov 2006 and was changed to a Midcap fund in March 2018. This has an impressive Aum of 6000+ Crores. We find out how it has performed with respect to…
Continue reading →The finance ministry wants pre-filled income tax returns from AY 2020-201 onwards as announced in the budget yesterday. At first sight, this is appealing and convenient, but will it result in a host of new problems? The finance minister in her budget speech said, “Pre-filled tax returns will be made available to taxpayers which will…
Continue reading →The finance minister in her budget speech said: “ETFs have proved to be an important investment opportunity for retail investors and has turned out to be a good instrument for Government of India’s divestment programme. To expand this further, The government will offer an investment option in ETFs on the lines of the Equity Linked…
Continue reading →A new section under 80EE of the IT act has been inserted in the Union Budget 2019-2020 to provide an impetus to affordable housing. An additional tax deduction of Rs. 1.5L has been provided on home loan interest for residential property from any financial institution subject to the following conditions Loan was sanctioned between 1st…
Continue reading →PlumbLine is my list of handpicked mutual funds. This was started in Sep 2017 for beginners to accompany the freefincal robo advisory template. This is the July 2019 edition (3rd quarter). I have added a disclosure of which funds I use from this list and what for what purpose. If you are seeing this for…
Continue reading →On June 27th 2019, the SEBI board approved several proposals to manage risk and liquidity in liquid mutual funds. Over a period of time, it will lower risk and therefore returns in this space. Here is a simple explanation of what these rules mean to the investor. The proposals were made by the Mutual Fund…
Continue reading →This is a performance review of L&T Emerging Businesses Fund a small cap fund. We compare how it has fared against its benchmark and peers. Launched in May 2014, this will invest in “Emerging companies” defined as an early stage business that has the potential to grow at a faster rate than established companies. Currently…
Continue reading →The way UTI Mutual fund handled the DHFL crisis leaves a lot to be desired to say the least highlighting the need for tighter rules on what an AMC should do in the case of a bond default. In early June 2019, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd a housing finance company defaulted on almost 1000…
Continue reading →Each time gold prices start to move up, there is talk about how “gold is a hedge”, “gold is a safe haven”, about how every investor should have a small exposure to it, 5-10%. The question investors should really be asking is, how much gold in my portfolio will protect it against a market crash?…
Continue reading →