‘In the light of budget 2016 recommendations, should I now switch or shift to the national pension scheme?’ More and more EPF and other pension scheme subscriber are asking this question. While it is clear that we need to wait for the budget recommendations to become a law, here are some important points to keep in…
Continue reading →Here is an EPF calculator in Excel that helps illustrate the new EPF withdrawal rules. With effect from 10th Feb. 2016, EPF subscribers can only withdraw their contribution and the interest it earns in the EPF account if they quit their job before the age of 57. The employer contribution and the interest earned from it…
Continue reading →Here is a set of slides on retirement planning that I have used at the investor workshops. The aim is to convey the importance of retirement planning in a few slides to young earners. 1. Imagine how your monthly income will evolve in the future The abrupt stoppage in income represents retirement. 2. Now imagine…
Continue reading →Here is a simple tool to check if you are on track to early retirement. It is also suitable for normal retirement and will work on Google sheets as well. Users can enter the current value of the corpus from online portfolio trackers. It is basically an Excel retirement calculator, with a focus on tracking….
Continue reading →Here is an analysis of a mutual fund SIP investment in which purchases are systematically ‘timed’ using an index PE. I made this analysis following the suggestion of ET Wealth analyst/columnist Dr. Narendra Nathan (@drnarendranET) after (or amidst!) some fierce discussion over the usefulness of the SIP. The SIP is a useful way to invest…
Continue reading →Upside and Downside capture ratios are easy-to-understand mutual fund performance measures. Consistent downside capture ratios can be combined with consistent returns (try the mutual fund screener) to select and review mutual funds. Regular reader may be aware that I am a fan of the downside capture ratio. In this post, I present a video that describes how these…
Continue reading →Many debt mutual funds invest in corporate bonds which carry credit risk. It is important for investors to understand how this can affect debt mutual fund returns. Yesterday, rating agencies, CRISIL, ICRA and CARE downgraded short-term and long-term ratings on Jindal Power and Steel bonds. As a result, the NAV of debt funds which held…
Continue reading →Here is an illustration of Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana vs. PPF when used for a girl child’s education goal. It also serves to understand why liquidity is more important than higher interest rates. Update: Current Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana rate is 8.3% and current PPF rate is 7.8% (the same 0.5% difference as assumed in the article). This does…
Continue reading →This is an analysis of my mutual fund investing journey in particular, the growth of my retirement corpus. The aim of this post is only to share my insights. The main reason I did this analysis is to explore the possibility of creating a tool to automate this analysis. My first ever equity investment was…
Continue reading →In the last month, the Nifty fell by 7.7%! Out of which 3.32% was just yesterday! Yesterday I wrote a short note with a few suggestions for new equity investors at such a time of carnage. In this post, I would like to expound on that. Just as I was thinking about ways to do…
Continue reading →Here is an illustration of the most important factors that we need to keep in mind while choosing health insurance. Health insurance policies are riddled with window dressing. That is, the features advertised by insurers are often tertiary or downright unnecessary while considering the purchase of a policy. I have written a guide on How to…
Continue reading →Worried about turbulent markets? Thinking about stopping your stopping your SIP instruments? If you believe that our economy is bound to grow and that we should profit from it, I would strongly suggest that you do not stop your SIPs or equity investments now. Instead use the time to accumulate more units. Let us track…
Continue reading →Do you know what your investing growth rate is? No, I am not asking about your investment growth rate or CAGR. I am referring to your investing CAGR – the rate at which your investments have increased over a period of time. When I made my first retirement calculator about 6/7 years ago, the first thing…
Continue reading →‘Should I buy a house/apartment now’ or ‘should I continue to stay in a rented accommodation?’ I am sure you would agree that this is a common dilemma faced by many youngsters. In fact, although there are several decent ‘rent’ vs. ‘buy’ calculators available, I continue to receive requests to make one. For a variety…
Continue reading →MF Utility is a free “Transaction Aggregating Portal” run about 25 AMCs jointly. It allows users to invest in direct mutual fund plans. Here is a step-by-step user guide prepared by Anish Mohan to buy and sell direct mutual funds using the MF Utility portal. If you are thinking about getting an MF Utility account,…
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