Each time the stock market falls, a new generation of investors learns how risky it can be, especially in the small and mid cap segments (including the Nifty Next 50). Equity investing is challenging for two reasons. 1) It requires incredible patience, discipline and conviction. See: Now Is the Best Time to Invest: Do not stop…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, “When I wrote to Freefincal in January 2025, my overall corpus was around ₹3.4 Crores, and my thought process was still largely centred around accumulation and reaching a financial independence number over the next several years”. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about…
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for portfolio selection, tracking, and learning. It also includes hybrid funds that invest in bonds. It will satisfy investors seeking to invest in money market funds, banking PSU funds, and similar instruments. The credit quality of the portfolio’s bonds and the bond maturity profile can be tracked. Instead…
Continue reading →The NPS regulator has introduced additional flexibility for withdrawals from the retirement corpus through the Retirement Income Scheme. This is in addition to all existing withdrawal options – NPS Systematic Lump Sum Withdrawal (SLW) Facility Explained and the mandatory annuity purchase. In essence, the retirement income scheme (RIS) has variable asset allocation plus systematic withdrawals. The…
Continue reading →A few days ago, a young man approached me after a talk and asked, Is it unpatriotic to buy gold and international stocks now? I was not sure I was convincing in my answer, so let me put my thoughts together as an article. Caveat: I am not an economist. So please excuse the crudeness. Thankfully,…
Continue reading →Most retirement planning focuses on the “Magic Number”—the total corpus. But the day you stop working, the game changes. You stop getting credited on the 1st of the month, which helps you meet all your expenses. Instead, you need to plan to get that money into your account from the corpus you have accumulated. To…
Continue reading →This index fund screener is based on tracking error and return differences wrt benchmarks (also known as tracking differences). It will help users evaluate how efficiently an index fund has tracked its underlying benchmark. It will also help them understand how tracking a midcap index, such as the Nifty 100 or 500, differs from tracking…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I am 36 and have a 4-year-old daughter, trying to save some money for her education, marriage and my retirement. I need your advice on how to invest 1 lakh per month wisely to achieve my goals.” You can treat each goal independently and have separate portfolios, or consider a single portfolio…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, Sahil presents his fourth financial audit. 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 ETF screener tracks errors and differences (ETF return minus index return). It will help users evaluate how efficiently an ETF has tracked its underlying benchmark. The tracking error is the ETF’s standard deviation minus the index’s monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error, the more efficiently the ETF tracks the index. Unlike returns,…
Continue reading →When Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams could not find a publisher for a one-page book on “Everything you need to know about financial planning”, he was forced to write a 368-page book – Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels. (Ref: MyMoneyBlog) You don’t need a page to hold all the advice Adams gives. All you need…
Continue reading →You may have heard this on many personal finance forums: It is hard to reach a net worth of Rs. one crore. After that, things become easier. In my experience, this is not a universal truth. Going from Rs. 10K to 20K networth and going from Rs. 1 Crore to 2 Crore could have similar ease or hardship….
Continue reading →A reader asks in response to – I am 30 and wish to retire by 50; how should I plan my investments? – “Can I use a single bucket to manage inflation-indexed income?”. The article details the retirement bucket strategy adopted by the freefincal robo advisor tool. We reproduce an extract below for a discussion….
Continue reading →The latest freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener is now available. Use it to screen for equity mutual funds that consistently perform. You can screen based on fund category & benchmark to identify mutual funds that offer higher returns than the benchmark while maintaining lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory…
Continue reading →A couple of months ago, I went to the insurance department of an eye hospital to apply for a cashless claim for my mother’s cataract surgery. I usually chat with hospital staff, particularly those responsible for claim processing. The conversation led to “Cashless Claim vs Reimbursement: Which is better?” I was surprised to note that…
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