The freefincal robo-advisor software tool helps you plan your retirement (early, normal, before, and after), as well as non-recurring financial goals (such as child education) and recurring financial goals (like holidays and appliance purchases). The tool would help anyone aged 18 to 80 plan for their retirement, six other non-recurring financial goals, and four other…
Continue reading →Dear reader, the final step of an investment plan is the product selection. The freefincal robo advisory template will provide the user with all necessary inputs from asset allocation, investment strategy and suggest product categories. To accompany the robo template, I would like to publish a handpicked list of mutual funds which will be updated…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss a simple way to find out if a certain fund or a certain fund category is suitable for our need. We shall the use often-mentioned idea of standard deviation as a simple measure of volatility. Although not perfect, it is good enough to differentiate type based on daily market risk…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss the basics of robo advice, its pros and cons for the benefit of the interested layman as a lead up to the launch of the freefincal robo advisory template next week. What is robo advisory? Suppose you wish to plan for your daughter’s college expenses 10 years from now and wish…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss why I will not (never?) invest in Bitcoin or any of the 900+ cryptocurrencies in “circulation”. This is a refinement of an earlier post: Bitcoin: Should we use it as a currency or as an investment? in which I had stated my unease with it as an investment even though the concept…
Continue reading →This year marks twenty years of computer and internet usage for me. In a two-part series, I discuss my experience and learnings on managing multiple passwords (part 1) and computer security (part 2). From spending the whole day in the IIT, Madras library in the mid-90s to rarely entering it in the 2010s, it has…
Continue reading →Many readers have asked me to explain how a financial plan is created with examples. I requested SEBI registered fee-only financial planner (meaning, no commissions and works only for you), Sukhvinder Sidhu to explain the financial plan creation process with an example. This is meant for those new to DIY investing and also those who…
Continue reading →With each passing day, our parents are growing old and their ability to be independent is gradually diminished. Elder care or senior care is a young, but rapidly evolving business, however, the ground reality is that, even if we are willing to pay, the competence and training levels are nowhere near adequate. If there is…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss why it is important for investors to not take mutual fund market cap classifications seriously. In particular, your “large cap fund” is probably either a multi-cap fund all the time or now and then. The notion of what is a giant cap, large cap, mid-cap, small-cap or micro-cap stock is not…
Continue reading →Use this tool to calculate the annualized return (XIRR) of your mutual fund SIPs month by month since the date you started it and compare its performance with its benchmark. This now offers a range of about 70+ benchmarks from the BSE and NSE to compare mutual fund performance. What is XIRR? When you invest…
Continue reading →Suppose we have Rs. one Crore with us today, can we retire with it? Let us punch some numbers in the freefincal robo advisory template and check what good is Rs. 1 Crore. One Crore is a psychological or emotional benchmark for wealth. Financially it is just one followed by seven zeros with its value…
Continue reading →“Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy”. These words by Sandeep keep ringing in my head all through the day. Two days ago I was chatting with a few friends on FB. I stepped out for a bit, and came back to find my less than 2-year old laptop screen say, “ disk not found”. A few…
Continue reading →Update: The scenarios mentioned in this article are no longer applicable as per our understanding from 1st Oct 2024. For details see: New PPF rules apply only to irregular accounts! The maximum amount per pan number is 1.50 Lakhs, including the minor accounts from 1st Oct 2024. If you have 3 PPF accounts (self, spouse, and minor)…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss reader Abhay Deol’s question: As anyone who has played with a retirement calculator knows, the corpus required for the retirement portfolio is huge. And from all accounts, most Indians are not prepared for it or even realize the huge amount required. What I’m curious about though is why hasn’t this crisis played…
Continue reading →On August 1st, 2017, Bitcoin is expected to fork (split into two). In this post, I discuss my learning about cryptocurrencies with an emphasis on Bitcoin and Bitcoin fork and why they may be a reasonable choice of currency for those who have a set of specific requirements but does not (dare I say, should not) represent…
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