In this edition of the reader story, we have an account of a reader making the classic mistake of combining investment and insurance, the price he had to pay. The reader wishes anonymity. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives for the benefit of readers. Some of…
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for fund selection, fund portfolio tracking and learning. It also includes hybrid funds that invest in bonds. It will satisfy investors who wish to invest in money market funds, banking and PSU funds etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile…
Continue reading →A balanced hybrid fund is an open-ended fund that invests in equity (40-60%) and debt (40-60%) instruments. No Arbitrage would be permitted in this scheme. A reader wants to know if we can invest in balanced hybrid funds and, if yes, when. If you are wondering why you have not heard of this type of…
Continue reading →Often many investors write to us saying they have a lump sum to invest in equity mutual funds and want to know how to plan and go about this —a discussion. Ask yourself the following questions 1: Have you done a goal planning exercise to determine the right equity: fixed income mix for your goals?…
Continue reading →A reader asked in response to the article – Why do you want more money? Don’t you have enough? Learn to say, “I have enough”! – ‘Can you share some moments of your life when you had a low net worth? What did you sacrifice to achieve what you are now today?” I have mentioned…
Continue reading →This index fund screener is based on tracking error and returns difference wrt benchmarks (aka tracking difference). The screener will help users evaluate how efficiently an index fund has tracked its underlying benchmark. It will also help a understand how tracking a midcap index or the Nifty 100, 500 differs from tracking the Sensex or…
Continue reading →There has been a lot of hype around getting loans using equity or debt mutual fund units as collateral. Many readers have asked if this is a good idea. In this article, we discuss whether loans against MF units are necessary. The basic idea is quite simple. You pledge your MF units (to the extent…
Continue reading →Asking us, “How much equity should I hold after retirement?” is a common concern for many nearing retirement. However, it is challenging to provide a definitive answer as it varies from person to person. Nevertheless, it is crucial to address this question well before retirement, considering the potential risks and planning accordingly, rather than waiting…
Continue reading →This ETF screener is based on tracking errors and tracking differences (ETF return minus index return). The screener will help users evaluate how efficiently an ETF has tracked its underlying benchmark. Update: 76 ETFs are now covered. The tracking error is the ETF’s standard deviation minus index monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error,…
Continue reading →A reader wants to know a way to convince his friend to start investing in equity —a discussion. To not invest in equity is a choice. Whether that is an informed choice or not is another matter. Friend or relative, I don’t think we should try and convince anyone too set in their ways to…
Continue reading →A reader says, “You have repeatedly demonstrated how to deploy a retirement corpus into different buckets using the freefincal robo advisory tool. In all these examples, you assume the retiree will have or should have enough money in a safe income bucket to handle inflation-indexed expenses for the first 15 years of retirement. I find…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “What should I do with my mutual funds if the market crashes? I started my SIPs three years ago. Today, I don’t know if the market will zoom up or come crashing down. Should I redeem and start again or hold the investments even though I may lose all my gains?” When…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I have a generic question about retirement planning. Can you retire if your annual expenses equal 6% of your corpus? Say my monthly expenses are 1 lac. My corpus is two crores. I do SWP for 1 lac monthly. If the returns exceed 6% pa, it will also cover inflation. Is there…
Continue reading →Regular readers may be aware that we occasionally publish articles on rolling SIP returns and point out there is no point in expecting a certain return from an equity or debt mutual fund. Instead, we should focus on our target corpus and manage our portfolio accordingly. Many readers get perturbed by this reality and ask,…
Continue reading →A viewer on our YouTube channel wants to know, What are the “must have” mutual fund categories in a portfolio? But do you even need mutual funds in a portfolio? The answer is no. Mutual funds are a good choice, but they are only a choice. There are other ways to invest, even if they…
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