A reader suggested we write an article about combining base and super top-up health insurance policies — a discussion. First, let us point out some helpful resources for those looking to understand more about health insurance and how to buy one: Select the right health insurance policy with these free resources FAQ: Super Top up…
Continue reading →Investors typically focus on the tax-free, risk-free, and tax-saving benefits of PPF. Even those who cannot afford it often scrounge for Rs. 1.5 lakh for PPF investment within the first five days of the financial year. See: Investing Rs. 1.5 lakhs in PPF before April 5th may not be healthy for your portfolio! An under-appreciated…
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 →Investors, especially those who have just started to invest, spend a lot of time and energy worrying about current market conditions and trends in the near term. Instead, they can easily reduce portfolio risk with these simple steps we refer to as goal-based risk management – a combination of passive, systematic investing and active risk…
Continue reading →I was recently asked in an interview, “What is the most common mistake made by new mutual fund investors?” The short answer is not understanding the nature of the stock market. Even experienced mutual fund investors are also guilty of this. Many mutual fund investors expect excellent performance every year. So when they see a fund…
Continue reading →In Aug 2024, we published a reader story about a young earner’s journey to one crore and plans to build further wealth: Crossing the Million Mark: Our Journey to the First Crore. This is an update. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives, which benefits us all. Some…
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 →There is a misconception, even among experts, that a low tracking error for a passive fund (index fund or ETF) implies the fund’s returns closely match the benchmark. This is not true. What is a tracking difference? This is the fund return minus the benchmark total return over a period. This will typically be a…
Continue reading →In July 2023, we shared an interesting reader story about Shankar (not his real name), who had been burdened with debt for several years. He is now debt-free and rapidly building his equity portfolio. This was quite a different journey compared to an earlier story: My Journey to a Ten Crore Portfolio. As a follow-up,…
Continue reading →Financial Independence, Retire Early has revolutionised the way a generation approaches work and finances. But as more parents achieve financial freedom in their 30s and 40s, a troubling question emerges: What happens to our children when they grow up watching us live without traditional financial stress? This isn’t about leaving kids financially unprepared. It’s about…
Continue reading →Typically, retirement is the last and most important financial goal for most families. Before retirement, the kids would have started working and sometimes married too. However, this dynamic is fast-shifting because normal retirement is no longer at 60. It is now 50- 55. Additionally, more and more people are getting married and becoming parents late….
Continue reading →We determine the corpus needed for a 50-year-old to retire immediately if monthly expenses are Rs. 1,00,000?” 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 offers suggestions on how…
Continue reading →A reader wants to know how to invest a retirement corpus of Rs 5 Crores. Age: 55; wife’s age 56; Annual expenses are about Rs. 8.4 Lakhs. This includes health insurance costs. This corresponds to an initial withdrawal rate of less than 2% (8.4L divided by 500L). So a comfortable retirement can be safely planned….
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, it is essential for new readers to understand the context of these investments. Update: We recently added a new tool to the…
Continue reading →The 4% withdrawal rule for retirement planning assumes excessive equity allocation (50-75%), which makes it impractical. To make this worse, the 4% rule is often misunderstood and misapplied, so it is not a useful tool for retirement planning for most people. Here is an alternative idea. What is a safe withdrawal rate? The safe withdrawal…
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