Whenever I talk/write about the stock market and mutual funds, I get a lot of flak about how “discouraging” or “negative” I am. Even after all these years, I find it bizarre that despite the disclaimers and the warnings, people believe that simply staying invested in the markets will guarantee good returns. And I am…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we have a personal financial audit in three parts. (1) A reader’s investing journey and how his thinking evolved, (2) a factual audit of his current financial position, and (3) how he is approaching the road ahead. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, SEBI RIA Ajay Pruthi’s client shares a story. As regular readers may know, Ajay Pruthi is a regular contributor at freefincal. A few years ago, my financial awareness was limited. Like many people, I trusted my bank representatives to guide me toward products that would genuinely benefit me. When…
Continue reading →This is a National Pension Scheme Fund Screener to shortlist consistently performing NPS schemes. You can also identify NPS schemes that offer a higher return than the benchmark while maintaining 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…
Continue reading →This is a compilation of frequently asked questions about the freefincal robo advisor tool. It allows you to plan from start to finish for retirement (early, normal, before and after), non-recurring financial goals (child education) and recurring financial goals (holidays, appliances, etc.). The tool would help anyone aged 18 to 80 plan for their retirement,…
Continue reading →Regular readers may be aware that we often discuss a retirement bucket strategy. In this article, we discuss the possibility of building retirement buckets using hybrid funds. The main advantage of using hybrid funds is less management. We do not have to worry about asset allocation changes. The churn among buckets can be minimised. Also…
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. Update: Starting March 2026, the screening metrics have been significantly updated (details below). There are now three different screener files available. (1) Stocks with low volatility and momentum from the BSE 100…
Continue reading →Building an equity mutual fund portfolio is one of the most important aspects of creating a financial plan. After all, it is equity which, in the long term, is most likely to beat inflation and create long-term wealth for the investor. However, creating an equity portfolio for a DIY investor is a very difficult task,…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “What is the corpus required to retire in 2026 at age 55 with monthly expenses of about Rs. 1 lakhs?” We shall use the freefincal robo advisor tool for this exercise. The retirement corpus is assumed to be invested in five buckets. Please note that the numbers provided below represent an example….
Continue reading →In this article, Sneha Rege discusses how defining three simple numbers changed the way I think about survival, comfort, and freedom. About the author: Sneha writes about personal finance and retirement planning from the perspective of a salaried professional navigating real-world trade-offs. She is studying investment advisory frameworks and has cleared the NISM Series XA…
Continue reading →Many people make two mistakes while planning their finances. The first common mistake is presuming that equity mutual funds provide a 12% (or more!) return and utilising that figure to calculate the necessary investment amount. Regrettably, this approach entirely disregards asset allocation and the reality that investing 100% in equity is not feasible. Even those…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we have a debt-to-riches story. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives, which benefits us all. Some of the previous editions are linked at the bottom of this article. You can also access the full reader story archive. Opinions expressed…
Continue reading →This is a simple spreadsheet to review and audit your goal-based investment portfolios. Over the years, we recognised the need for a tool beyond financial planning and portfolio value/return tracking. A financial planning calculator tells you the target corpus for a goal and the investment amount required. A portfolio tracker only tells you the current…
Continue reading →Imagine you or a family member gets hospitalised. The disease for which you have been diagnosed is covered under your policy; you should also get this double-checked with the insurer. Your room rent limit is INR 10,000, and you take an INR 8,000 bed. Your overall policy coverage is INR 20 lakhs, and your final…
Continue reading →30X refers to the retirement corpus that is thirty times a person’s current annual expenses (X). 25X, 45X, etc., are all corresponding multiples of X. What does 30X mean in retirement planning? Suppose my current annual expenses are Rs. 12 lakhs. I expect inflation after retirement to be about 6%. I expect the post-tax return…
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