Dear friend, can we please take a moment to recognise that the art of doing nothing is dead? We are no longer capable of sitting still for a short while without reaching for our mobile phones, computer, or the television. The art of idling has breathed its last and perhaps the end began as much as…
Continue reading →Tax savings season is here! No, not for those who integrate tax-planning with goal-based investing and invest throughout the year. This is the season when millions of investors who are not interested in holistic money management, buy random products based on random advice at the last minute. Much of this random advice stems from the media,…
Continue reading →‘Can I invest in such a way that my capital is protected?’ is a question that many ask. Especially those who are retired, or about to retire. The answer is contextual. The term capital protection can take two meanings depending on how we use it. In this post, I discuss the disadvantages of capital protection,…
Continue reading →Use this home loan transfer calculator to determine if it is worth refinancing your mortgage, that is, transfer your home loan to a new bank or new loan scheme. When a new home loan offer at a lower interest rate appears, it is tempting to want to shift an existing home loan, because the EMI…
Continue reading →The notion of risk and reward is key to any investment plan. However, our understanding and expectation of risk and reward are often clouded by an inability to distinguish between probability and possibility. Here are a couple of examples that hopefully might bring out the difference. First some book news: Our new book, You can…
Continue reading →A look at different ways in which couples – live-in or married, single income, or double income – manage money. Often, the need to list out financial goals, the need to systematically invest for them and the need to invest enough is highlighted here. What I never bother to state explicitly is, money management or…
Continue reading →Albert Einstein is supposed to have said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”. Aristotle is also credited with a similar quote. Applied to what I do at freefincal, that quote would read as, “The more I stare at Excel sheets, the more I realize their limitations”. Here is a…
Continue reading →Here is a list of ‘things to do’ after you buy a health insurance policy. These simple steps would aid premium payment, claim application and hospitalization. This post is a companion piece to Things to do AFTER you take a term insurance policy! 1. Understand claim procedures In the case of emergency hospitalisation and in the…
Continue reading →It can be extremely educative when the Sensex chart is plotted such that past bull and bears runs can be compared to more recent such movements. This can be easily accomplished by plotting the Sensex closing value as a logarithm. This reveals a fascinating staircase pattern that is discussed in this post. A log chart is…
Continue reading →“Schools suck, the system sucks, everyone sucks”. Sounds familiar? You may have probably said at some point in your life – perhaps as a parent, perhaps as a student and perhaps as a teacher!! A discussion on why homeschooling is essential for every child, whether they go to school or not! Before we begin, a…
Continue reading →Here are some simple suggestions to ease the process of mutual fund selection. -1: Have a clear objective. Why are you investing? When do you need the money? I am amazed to find that so many people want product suggestions without a clear goal in mind. Without a goal, it is impossible to select any…
Continue reading →Go to a bank or post office and you can locate a board that lists typical transaction times. Here is how long each basic step in financial planning will take. Assumptions: You know that equity investing is necessary to combat inflation. You recognise the bad investments in your folio and have decided what to do about…
Continue reading →“Why should I invest for my child’s future needs like education or marriage?”, asked a reader. “Why can’t I simply get them an education loan?”, “why can’t they foot their own marriage bill?”. Well, we need to invest what we can for the simple reason that life does not pan out the way we plan. Especially…
Continue reading →Suppose you are coming down to Chennai for a week on work. You are a foodie and would like to try out the local cuisine. What do you do? Ask a friend or relative for good places to dine in? Search for “best restaurants in Chennai”? Yes, that seems logical. What is the worse that could happen?…
Continue reading →A catch-22 situation is one from which there are no easy solutions. Any move we make will be associated with significant disadvantages and risk. Such situations are often found in retirement planning. Whether you are a middle-aged employee heading towards retirement or a young earner trying to manage their parents’ retirement fund, understanding when a…
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