When Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams could not find a publisher for a one-page book on “Everything you need to know about financial planning”, he was forced to write a 368-page book – Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels. (Ref: MyMoneyBlog) You don’t even need a page to hold all the advice that Adams gives. All…
Continue reading →Sometimes purchasing an annuity is the best option for senior citizens (or someone in the late 50s) and sometimes it is the worst decision. This is a discussion on when to buy an annuity and when not to buy (at least immediately upon retirement). An annuity or a pension product is one in which a lump…
Continue reading →The idea of a risk premium is one of the most important investing concepts essential for those who invest in volatile assets and those who shun them as too ‘risky’. The definition of a risk premium is fairly simple. If a risk-free instrument offers say 7% return, what is the return I should expect for the…
Continue reading →A simple way to measure how consistent a mutual fund has been in outperforming a benchmark over a given period, in the form a simple percentage is discussed in this post. Depending on your feedback I will include this in this months mutual fund return listings. The simplest and most intuitive way to measure outperformance is…
Continue reading →A discussion on the differences between dynamic mutual funds and balanced mutual funds. Exploring this topic is a nice way to understand some portfolio management basics. Thanks to Arun for asking this question when I suggested that dynamic equity funds are not for those who wish to chase returns. First, we need to define some…
Continue reading →Choosing an appropriate benchmark for balanced mutual funds has always been a problem for the retail investor. In this post, I propose a new and more importantly accessible benchmark for equity-oriented balanced mutual funds – ones that do not use arbitrage opportunities or derivatives. As always, I make no claim about the superiority of my…
Continue reading →There are many who believe that cashless hospitalization facility available with medical insurance policies can be misused by hospitals and that it is better to pay cash and the reimburse it via the policy later. A discussion on should I use cashless hospitalization facility or pay and then reimburse? What does misuse mean? Attempting to exhaust the…
Continue reading →Here is a list of lessons I have learnt from eight plus years of mutual fund investing and countless hours spent studying and making analytical tools for the blog. Perhaps many of these may seem trivial to regular readers, but for the record here goes. 1 Past performance matters, but not as much: Before choosing a…
Continue reading →Dynamic equity funds or dynamic asset allocation funds change their equity:fixed income allocation depending on market conditions. Here is why those who wish to chase returns should not invest in such funds. Dynamic equity funds could either invest directly in a mix of stocks, arbitrage opportunities and bonds (in which case they will be classified as…
Continue reading →Given a lump sum, how do we invest it in order to create a reliable income stream that is risk-free and has the ability to keep pace with inflation? This is the most crucial question that concerns every person who is retired, nearing retirement, or planning for someone else’s retirement (a client or a parent…
Continue reading →Many investors appear confused between investing in gold and buying gold. Here is a discussion on when to invest in gold and when to buy it. Everything starts with the need. If we can clearly state our requirement, the solution often presents itself. Here is an example how to clearly define a goal: Financial Goal Planning:…
Continue reading →Here is a list of personal finance calculators and tools available for Mac Excel 2011. The screener.in stock analyzer is now available in Mac. Converting the Windows Excel tools to be Mac compatible is an ongoing effort and I shall update this page from time to time. I request the support of the Mac Excel…
Continue reading →I often wonder about who is a teacher? Or what defines a good teacher. People often expect a teacher to inspire and motivate. How exactly does a teacher do that? A teacher without passion can suck out the soul and spirit of eager young minds much like a dementor in the Harry Potter stories. Unfortunately, many join up as teachers because…
Continue reading →A financial instrument that lets you defer paying taxes until maturity is way superior to one where you need to report and pay tax on the income generated each year of investment. That is the single most important reason why debt mutual funds are superior to fixed deposits. This is an illustration of the power of…
Continue reading →There seems to be a common perception that those who invest via SIPs are expected to do nothing else but invest systematically. Thanks to certain “advisors” many investors believe that all one has to do to get “good returns” from equity is to continue a SIP through market ups and downs. Then it will all…
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