Skin in the game refers to a situation where the major decision makers (in any field) have a personal stake in the decisions that they make. In finance, one example is a fund manager and/or fund management (the fund house) investing their own money in the funds that they manage. I argue that demanding such a…
Continue reading →Readers may be well aware that I am no fan of mutual fund star ratings. Star ratings and past performance if not understood with the right perspective can result in mistakes. In this post, let me give you an example – of my laziness that lead to a mistake in the July 2018 Equity Mutual Fund…
Continue reading →Diversification is a word that many investors use rather loosely. Whenever they seem something “offer good returns” I have seen many investors want a piece of that action and say “I have added it for diversification”. Again that classic mistake. Choosing a product/security/asset class by looking at its (recent) returns and not its risk. People who…
Continue reading →In about nine months, India will be voting to choose its 15th prime minister in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. It is well known that in the build-up to every general election and immediately afterwards, the market is filled with excessive fear and hope resulting in swings that can unsettle the nerves. So is there…
Continue reading →Here is a list of stocks that have traded close to their all-time high and how it correlates with returns. This can be seen as an alternative low volatility strategy while picking stocks. Readers may recall that this is an ongoing exploration of studying low volatility stocks and lazy investing – See Aug 2018 lazy portfolio updates and 30 Low…
Continue reading →I was invited as a guest on the Paisa Vaisa Podcast hosted by Anupam Gupta, a CA and equity research consultant. The podcast was co-hosted by CFP Anees Rao. In the first part, we had defined what exactly is financial freedom, why it is for everyone and why we need to replace conventional notions of retirement and pension…
Continue reading →A few days ago, I had presented backtest results for investing a lump sum in one-shot into an equity mutual fund vs gradually. I had shown that those looking to reduce investment risk or looking for better returns via gradual investing will be disappointed as there was no clear trend as to which is better….
Continue reading →I was invited as a guest on the Paisa Vaisa Podcast hosted by Anupam Gupta, a CA and equity research consultant. The podcast was co-hosted by CFP Anees Rao. In the first part, we discuss what exactly is financial freedom, why it is for everyone and why we need to replace conventional notions of retirement…
Continue reading →If you have a lump sum and would like to invest it in an equity mutual fund, what is the best way to go about it? Invest in one-shot or gradually over a few months? Is there any benefit in investing gradually other than psychological comfort? Let us find out with a backtest. Before we…
Continue reading →When I was trying to compile a list of mutual fund benchmarks after the SEBI recategorization, something strange caught my eye. Value Research had included the new benchmarks in the NAV growth charts. The Nifty 100 Midcap (N100M) is a popular midcap benchmark and I noticed many funds struggled to beat it over the long…
Continue reading →Avinash Luthria joins the freefincal list of SEBI registered fee-only financial advisors as its 12th member (yet another based in Bangalore) and to mark the occasion, in this guest post, he issues an important warning: “Real returns, (after inflation and tax), across one’s entire portfolio and across one’s lifetime, will be in the ballpark of zero…
Continue reading →At work, I have the privilege of constantly interacting with gen-X (or Y/Z/AA!) – 18+, 20+ young adults coming to terms with an environment very different from school. It is natural to encounter students who are generally unhappy with life and existence. They first seem distracted in class. Then they stop coming and if you ask…
Continue reading →In the third part of the video series on MF FAQ, we consider the following questions: 1: Do we even need mutual funds?; Why should we invest in mutual funds? What are the benefits? 2: What is so special about a debt mutual fund? 3: What are the risks associated with a debt mutual fund? 4: How to select…
Continue reading →Portfolio rebalancing refers to resetting your asset allocation (equity: fixed income ratio) from time to time – typically once a year – to lower risk in your portfolio. In this post, I show backtesting results and discuss exactly how much is the risk reduction and in spite of tax and exit loads, it is totally…
Continue reading →A few days ago, I gave a talk at a CFA Society meeting. One of the modules is covered in this post: How much equity should I hold in my portfolio? We know that equity has the potential offer better returns than fixed income (emphasis on potential) but how much equity – either as direct equity…
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