So the indices fell the sharpest yesterday in recent memory. So the Sensex rose by 19% in the last year, but much of it was in the first 6 months. For in the last 6 months, the index fell by about 4%. Six months of a sideways market! oh my! oh my! Is this it? Is…
Continue reading →We all woke up to the shocking news yesterday that Parah Parikh died in a car crash in the US on Sunday (May 3rd). He was not wearing a seat belt. His wife was wearing one, but still sustained serious head and chest injuries and is critical. Yesterday afternoon, the PPFAS management sent an email…
Continue reading →Stop asking for fund suggestions already! Learn how to shortlist funds and have the confidence to pick one! Free lunches will cause serious injuries to your financial health. It is so frustrating and disappointing to see people ask for mutual funds suggestions publicly. It has finally dawned on me that responding to such questions in…
Continue reading →Has my earning capacity saturated?. Is this all that I am going to earn for the rest of my life? Do I need to erase some of my dreams because I am never going to earn enough in order to achieve those? These are some of the most unsavoury questions in personal finance. Most people…
Continue reading →When direct mutual fund plans were introduced, many ‘advisers’ said, they would not recommend direct plans because they will not receive feeds from the AMC (a fancy term for account statement) and hence cannot monitor portfolios. The truth was that they were looking for an excuse to justify the trail commissions they receive. Soon the…
Continue reading →In the second part 2, let us address the ‘kitna milega?’ with a little more analysis. The first part is here. Before we being to answer, what return one can expect, the objective of the study must be clear. We will be using past data to figure out, for a given duration (say 15 years), what is the average return…
Continue reading →Analyse mutual fund performance on year on year basis for the last 8 years with this tool. This is a modified version of the risk return analyzer where investments durations of 1 to 8 years were considered. In this version the duration is fixed at 1 year but it is rolled over. That is risk adjusted performance…
Continue reading →“I am beginner. What books should I read to learn the basics of personal finance and money management?”, is a standard question asked in most forums. The answer is not a list of books! The answer is not ‘Rich Grandma. Poor Grandma!’ I love books. I love buying them, collecting them, being among them, smelling them, shelving…
Continue reading →When you can spare the time, go to Google, and type, ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness’ and click on images. You will find a host of interesting memes and quotes. Please don’t do that now, for your presence here is valued, and your response is requested. The title should remind those familiar with the Beatles of…
Continue reading →There are two ways in which an investment in a debt mutual fund grows: (1) by buying bonds with high coupon rates and holding them until maturity. The growth in this case is by accrual of interest. (2) by choosing long-term bonds issued by the government and aim for capital gains when the bond price increases due…
Continue reading →Here are step-by-step instructions for choosing a liquid mutual fund. This post is inspired from a comment by Firoz Hajiani. I think the following steps might help the reader become familiar with some of the aspects that govern debt fund selection. The first question to answer is, Why choose a liquid fund? Many ‘experts’ suggest that…
Continue reading →Here is a list of investment options available for goals which are less than or equal to 5 years away. This is sourced out of my response to a thread at Facebook group, Asan Ideas for Wealth. I think the first step in goal-based investing is to demarcate short-term, intermediate-term and long-term financial goals. For…
Continue reading →Mutual fund star ratings are supposed to rate funds on a risk adjusted basis. That is, more the number of stars, better the risk-adjusted performance. If you look at some of the metrics they use to award star ratings, you might agree with me that this is not as easy as it sounds and that the…
Continue reading →I am a fan of actor Kevin Costner. I think he has taken pretty big career risks,pulled off some and failed in some, but has always stuck to his guns, which is admirable. He has even declared that if his stardom vanishes overnight, he can make a decent living with a blue collar job, because…
Continue reading →National Pension Scheme for corporate employees has gained popularity as employers can get tax benefits by showing their contribution to employee accounts as a business expense. Now the government wants to encourage NPS further by offering a choice to EPF subscribers to shift to NPS and then there are the tax sops, which I am…
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