“How to choose the right financial product suitable for my needs?” How I wish this question was asked more often! Instead, many investors (if not most), soon after they start earning, ask questions like, which is the best tax-saving product?, the best pension plan?, the child plan?, best mutual fund ? etc. The right answer to…
Continue reading →“How to choose an index fund in India?”, Three people asked me this question in the last two days! My typical response is, “choose a Sensex or Nifty index fund, from the AMC you are comfortable with”. I thought let me expand my response a bit more. Should I adopt passive investing in India? Aarti…
Continue reading →Use this Mutual Fund SIP Rolling Returns Calculator to determine how consistently an equity mutual fund has performed wrt to its benchmark. Returns can be broadly categorised into two types: for a lump sum investment (CAGR) and for periodic investment (XIRR) Please consult this post to understand What is XIRR?. You can consider using this Mutual Fund SIP…
Continue reading →Here is why you should not buy a top-up policy for your company mediclaim! If you are puzzled by that statement, let me clarify. Mediclaim or a health insurance policy is a risk mitigation (not prevention!) tool. A “company mediclaim”, or a group health policy taken by your company is a perk. It is pretty…
Continue reading →Here is a simple illustration that will help you understand how growth and dividend-reinvestment mutual funds work. You can use it to decide which is better for you, taking into account the investment duration and your tax-slab. This is a re-publish taking into account changes made after budget 2014. When a mutual fund offers regular (typically) dividends…
Continue reading →What we know as Systematic Investment Plan is an investment strategy (not a financial product!) derived from what is known in the US as Dollar Cost Averaging. Obviously the term SIP sells better(than Rupee cost averaging) ! The Indian stock market is a toddler. Sensex data is available from only 1979. Many have argued with me that…
Continue reading →I am a fan of Carl Richard’s (Behaviour Gap) napkin drawings (who is not?!). From time to time, I have thought of similar sketches but never got around to actually drawing them on my own napkin – Excel. Here are few. The whole point of such a sketch is that it should be self-explanatory….
Continue reading →“I understand the need to beat inflation and the need for equity in a portfolio. I understand that the mutual fund route is a simple and convenient way to do it. However, I neither have the confidence, nor the time or inclination to create and manage a mutual fund portfolio. I also do not have…
Continue reading →A couple of weeks ago, I tried to login to my account with Quantum mutual fund. I had to enter my login name and password and difficult captcha* code. After getting the code wrong twice(age does take a toll), I was taken to another screen where I had choose by which way I could receive a OTP…
Continue reading →Asan Ideas for wealth (AIFW) is a Facebook group on personal finance, run by Ashal Jauhari. I have been a ‘active’ member there for a little more than 2 years now. Here are some things the group has taught me. If you spend too much time in a forum, people tend to think (incorrectly) that you…
Continue reading →As an offshoot to yesterday’s post, Non-intrusive term insurance comparison portals, let us look at simple ways to protect our online privacy. I am no expert. I write as someone who has repeatedly made mistakes in this area. First, it is important to recognise that every business is out to get your email and mobile no….
Continue reading →While trying to buy a term life insurance plan, it is natural to want a listing of premiums offered by all insurers. So we type, “compare term insurance plans” in Google and click on one of the first few links, without scrolling down the page. The trouble is, most (if not all) of the ‘popular’…
Continue reading →The worksheet used by Dr. Uma Shashikant during her workshop on strategic personal finance is presented in this post. The sheet allows a user to review present and future (projected) cash flow and can be summarized with a flow chart. I have modified the sheet so that a user can easily input the following. …
Continue reading →This post describes how one can calculate returns from stock investments including the declared dividends. There is a lot of confusion about this calculation with regard to how the dividend should be treated. In this post, return refers to XIRR, that is the personal rate of return. See this for more details: What is XIRR?…
Continue reading →Here is an e-book based on a (nearly) unabridged collection of 20 posts written earlier. I have not bothered to connect the chapters. I hope that will not spoil your experience too much. Perhaps only a reader who is used to my style and intent might find this collection useful. This is an experiment. Please let…
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