A reader insisted that gold is a “safe ” instrument and should be considered part of a portfolio’s fixed income or debt. Nothing could be further than the truth: Gold is as risky as equity and not a debt instrument! Here is some supporting data. Let us start with the standard deviation of gold, equity*…
Continue reading →It is clear from how many readers, particularly young earners, respond to freefincal content these days that they are overconfident about their equity investments. Especially investments in small cap funds, mid cap funds, etc., that have soared in recent months. This could spell trouble for their goals and dreams. I hate to break it to…
Continue reading →This is a National Pension Scheme Fund Screener to shortlist consistently performing NPS schemes. You can also spot NPS schemes with a higher return than a benchmark at a lower risk. This is similar in design to the freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool and…
Continue reading →Budget 2024 clarified the definition of a specified mutual fund. This definition will be applicable from 1st April 2025. What about the change in taxation rules? When do they come into force? According to Finance Bill 2024 (as passed by the Lok Sabha on 7th Aug 2024), “‘(ii) “Specified Mutual Fund” means,–– (a) a Mutual…
Continue reading →Regular readers may know that freefincal curates a list of SEBI-registered financial advisors that charge clients a flat fee. That is, the fee is independent of a client’s net worth and does not increase as the client’s wealth grows. The curated list is more than 10 years old and was created before the SEBI investment…
Continue reading →Nippon India Nifty 500 Equal Weight Index Fund is an open-ended scheme tracking the Nifty 500 Equal Weight Index. The fund is currently in its NFO period. We analyse the performance of the underlying index and discuss if it makes sense to consider this fund for investment. According to the AMC’s scheme presentation, “Large caps…
Continue reading →We publish a list of stocks with low volatility and momentum each month. We provide data for BSE 500 and BSE 100 stocks. There are now three different screener files available. (1) Stocks with low volatility and momentum from the BSE 100 large cap universe are available as a separate file (2) Stocks with low…
Continue reading →HDFC Nifty500 Multicap 50:25:25 Index Fund is an open-ended scheme replicating/tracking Nifty500 Multicap 50:25:25 Index. We will discuss whether it makes sense to invest in this new fund. To aid active multi-cap funds in benchmarking themselves after SEBI changed their asset-allocation pattern, NSE launched the Nifty 500 Multicap 50:25:25 Index on Dec 2nd 2020. The…
Continue reading →Since the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) announcement, several readers have asked me if I would opt for UPS. In this article, I explain why I prefer the NPS (National Pension Scheme) to the UPS, I have discussed a simple thumb rule to decide between the Unified Pension Scheme and the National Pension Scheme and also…
Continue reading →A reader asked, “What is your idea of a comfortable retirement?” A discussion. The answer is subjective and subject to significant change especially if we are far from retirement. Perhaps only those investing for at least a decade will likely ask this question. ‘Comfort’ implies something well above a basic requirement. So let us first…
Continue reading →A reader asked, “What is the effective interest rate of the Unified Pension Scheme?” A discussion. As a pension scheme, it can be compared with life insurance policy annuity schemes that offer a pension in exchange for a lump sum. These schemes have an interest rate, also known as an annuity rate. See LIC Pension…
Continue reading →This article compares my stock portfolio with an equivalent investment in a Nifty index fund and the Nifty 100 Low Volatility 30 TR index. We post this comparison each month. Before we begin, new readers need to appreciate the context of these investments. Update: We recently added a new tool to the freefincal investor circle…
Continue reading →We recently published a calculator to compare the Unified Pension Scheme and the National Pension Scheme. We have updated this tool with an alternative comparison using withdrawal rates. This is based on the thumb rule to decide between the Unified Pension Scheme and the National Pension Scheme. Our first method compares only the products. It…
Continue reading →A reader says, “What is the corpus needed for a 50-year-old to retire immediately if my monthly expenses are Rs. 50,000?” Let us compute this using the freefincal robo advisor tool. This provides an accurate estimate compared to approximate calculations using spreadsheet formulae. The robo tool can also include three post-retirement income streams. It also…
Continue reading →We discuss a simple, holistic guideline or thumb rule to decide between the Unified Pension Scheme and the National Pension Scheme. We have published a calculator to compare NPS and UPS. However, this involves too many unknowns and projections if retirement is far away. Also, the calculator only compares the two products, NPS and UPS….
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