Fee Only India (FOI) is an informal association of like-minded, client-centric SEBI-registered investment advisors (RIAs) in India who share one common philosophy — the client’s interest always comes first. In this article, Melvin Joseph, one of the oldest SEBI RIAs and a founding member of FOI, explains what sets FOI apart. Over to Melvin. To…
Continue reading →A 28 year old reader wants to retire by 50. Can he do so? Let us do the calculation using the freefincal robo advisory tool with the following assumptions (remaining assumptions stay the same): Monthly expenses Rs. 50,000; Post-tax return expected from equity investments % 10.00 Post-tax return expected from current taxable fixed income %…
Continue reading →It is not pleasant but it has to be said. To get rich, we must stop behaving like the typical retail investor. We must stop calling ourselves the Aam Aadmi or the middle class. Btw no one reading this belongs to the Indian middle class. They may have a middle-class mindset, but that does not…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we meet a 41-year-old unmarried woman who freelances to earn a monthly income of Rs 50,000. 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…
Continue reading →A prospective client once told me, “I had a financial plan made three years ago. It showed my net worth growing, my SIPs hitting my goals, and a clear path to retirement. But today, the numbers are completely different. My portfolio is lower, expenses are higher, and my asset allocation is a mess. What’s the…
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 →There is more to retirement planning than determining if the corpus is large enough to handle inflation! Financial independence and, therefore, the ability to retire early is not an end. It is the means to consider options from a position of comfort and security. Therfore, anyone wanting to quit salaried existence early must have a…
Continue reading →Readers often ask us, “I have a moderate risk appetite; how should I invest in mutual funds?” or “Which mutual funds should I choose with a moderate risk appetite”? “What does moderate risk appetite mean?” We cannot define in any meaningful way what risk appetite is, let alone categorize it as low, medium, or high. …
Continue reading →A reader sent us this message with a title, Financial situation for 40-45 years: “I wonder why this age group is usually never the focus for financial planners or even bloggers. Understand that this group (like me 1983 born) were pushed into survival first 10 years in IT, and by the time salaries rose and life…
Continue reading →This index fund screener is based on tracking error and returns difference wrt benchmarks (also known as tracking difference). 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 →In this edition of the reader story … “This is a chronological account of my investing journey since I started earning in 2017. I am not an expert investor. I have made mistakes, learned along the way, and slowly built discipline. I am sharing this in the hope that it helps early earners who are…
Continue reading →PPFAS AMC has begun onboarding clients to its Gift City retail funds: Parag Parikh IFSC S&P 500 FOF and Parag Parikh IFSC Nasdaq 100 FOF. We discuss what investors should consider before investing. From the investor’s perspective: As usual, investors should first consider their needs and avoid focusing on product features or succumbing to FOMO….
Continue reading →Imagine you have persistent chest pain. You have two options: Option A: You visit a cardiologist. You pay a consultation fee of ₹1,500. He runs tests, asks uncomfortable questions about your diet and exercise, and gives you a boring, difficult lifestyle plan to follow for the next 20 years. Option B: Your friendly neighbourhood Uncle…
Continue reading →This ETF screener is based on tracking 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…
Continue reading →Several investors often ask if they should stop their investments and wait for the market to cool down or pick up after a sideways market. Or they are waiting for the right time to invest a lump sum or start a sip. Our short answer is: If you want equity to change your life, don’t…
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