This intriguing question was recently asked by my friend. Intriguing because it can be answered in two ways: In one word! Or by considering all possible ways an emergency fund would see some action! By action, I of course refer to emergencies only! American financial coach Dave Ramsey, often says, “Christmas is not an emergency!”…
Continue reading →Note: The variable RD calculator gives the total post-tax interest. I have assumed that only the variable payments are subject to a penalty. That is if a variable payment is not made before a certain date (reader Srinivas says it is 10th in his case) then interest on the variable payment for that month will…
Continue reading →Worried about fluctuating stock market returns? Worried about sliding gold prices? Not sure how much to invest in equity or in gold? Here is an example of a portfolio based on an ingeniously simple notion that has proved to be remarkably stable irrespective of market conditions – stock/commodity/debt/currency markets! The Permanent Portfolio in an alternative…
Continue reading →This is a guest post by Jaina Shah (Co – Founder and Director – Credexpert). Credexpert is a credit and debt counselling company and has a team of industry experts who handhold individuals through their credit life cycle. Follow these simple 5 steps and you will always have no debt stress or find yourself in…
Continue reading →Since we cannot change the way the stock market operates all we can do is to make sense of its returns and invest wisely.In this post I use Sensex data to understand the nature of its fluctuating returns (including dividends!). The Excel sheet attached which will be of interest and utility to all investors regardless…
Continue reading →How would you answer if someone asks you: “I know that a systematic investment plan (SIP) in a mutual fund is an effective way to accomplish financial goals, but how often should I invest? Each month? Each quarter? Or should I invest daily? Which option provides better returns?” There are two ways of answering this:…
Continue reading →It is a terrible idea to open a fixed deposit in your spouse’s name with your money. In general, this arrangement is a terrible idea with any taxable instrument. Terrible, because of the complex way in which the interest income will be taxed. Of course this is applicable only if you are a law abiding…
Continue reading →These are the latest FD calculators: Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in months and years) Update Oct 2013: Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in months and years) with pre-tax and post-tax annualized yield for each month of investment. Download the FD calculator (suitable for FD durations in days) Download…
Continue reading →Part I: A Step-By-Step Guide to Long Term Goal-Based Investing Download the Step-by-Step Goal-Based Investing Calculator Macros need to be enabled. Macro used is derived from Excel Workbook A standard goal calculator is also included for comparison. Part II: The What, Why, How and When of Portfolio Rebalancing Rebalacing Simulator Lite: Suitable for investors unfamiliar…
Continue reading →Rajesh Dalmia a certified financial planner and director of Mandar Learning Academy has authored an impressive do it yourself financial planning guide for investors to understand the basic features of insurance planning and goal-based investing. The guide has four excellent calculation charts that enable one to calculate Necessary life insurance cover Corpus’s needed for retirement,…
Continue reading →‘Conflict of interest’ is a concept poorly understood by most Indians: from the dislodged BCCI chairman for obvious reasons to a school teacher offering private tuition. Conflict of interest also looms large in the Indian financial advisory business. I would bet that more than 95% of financial advisors get remuneration of some sort from mutual…
Continue reading →If you are holding fixed deposits, you could use this calculator to compute: tax you need to pay each financial year after accounting for TDS advance tax instalments to be paid (if applicable) This calculator is a spin-off my recurring deposit calculator which was featured in OneMint. The calculator was requested by Anshu and is…
Continue reading →This summer I am spending quite a bit of time with my 16 year old nephew. He is a philosopher, writer, artist and entrepreneur! He makes money by doing chores for his parents. He makes money by doing drawing assignments and other odd jobs for his friends! When I asked him where this money goes…
Continue reading →Question 2: Name mutual fund types with near zero probability of money-loss? I am big fan of lowering risk and tax. Before I save and invest I try to choose instruments with minimum risk and tax out-go. Of course the type of risk differs: loss-of-money-risk when saving and loss-of-value-risk (or inflation risk) when investing. Choosing…
Continue reading →‘How much risk an investor can take’ and ‘how much risk he should take’ are two very different things. ‘Invest as per your risk appetite’ is half-decent advice. However it is not universally valid. A person who hates equity can choose to avoid it only if he can afford to regularly invest a sizable (often…
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