The Ulcer Index is a measure of downside risk in actively managed mutual funds. It is a simple way to find out how stressful it is to hold a fund compared to a benchmark. Investors can make the analysis shown using the tools in the freefincal investor circle (details below). Context: The standard deviation (volatility)…
Continue reading →I was recently asked what tools and platforms you use for investing. I never stopped to think about it before. So, I did it in the hope that it may be of some interest to the reader. As older readers would know, I invest in NPS (mandatory), PPF (just enough to keep it alive and…
Continue reading →A retirement bucket strategy is an approach by which the retirement corpus is split into 3-4 buckets of varying risk. As retirement progresses and market conditions change, the retiree is expected to manage the buckets. That is, transfer money from one bucket to another to ensure the expenses (indexed to inflation, with some room for…
Continue reading →These are the freefincal handpicked list of mutual funds. New and old investors can use it according to their specific needs. The list, titled “PlumbLine,” has been published since September 2017 to help beginners use the freefincal robo advisor tool. Most importantly, Plumbline is a mix of my opinions, skin in the game (where I…
Continue reading →Specialized Investment Funds (SIFs) and information about them are popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Thankfully, they are not a retail product, as the minimum investment is Rs. 10 lakhs (that many investors with Crores of net worth consider themselves “retail” and “middle class” is another matter!). SIFs are supposed to fill the “gap”…
Continue reading →A while ago, I was speaking with a financial advisor, and the conversation shifted towards the use of AI in personal finance. He believed that those who see the help of AI are not really DIY investors. Does this make sense? Like most things in life, “it depends” on how we use AI. First, let…
Continue reading →This article compares my stock portfolio with an equivalent investment in a Nifty index fund and the Nifty 100 Low Volatility 30 TR index. We post this comparison each month. Before we begin, new readers need to understand the context of these investments. Update: We recently added a new tool to the freefincal investor circle…
Continue reading →The internet is full of investing advice to grow wealth or budget better. Most of this advice comes from financial advisors (who earn commissions from the corpus you generate), financial influencers (who prey on your vulnerability to earn lakhs from brands), and your neighbourhood insurance advisor (who is desperately upselling to pay their own EMIs)….
Continue reading →My health insurance with United India usually gets renewed in September each year, a good month before the renewal date. This year, the agent asked me to wait until September 22nd, when the premium will be free of GST. I thought I would document the costs. I do not claim that my insurer is the best…
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 who wish to invest in money market funds, banking PSU funds, etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile can be tracked….
Continue reading →I was recently asked, What are the key factors in building wealth? A discussion. 1. Luck/Chance: Let get rid of this first. Yes luck or chance plays a huge role in building wealth. Being born in a financially stable (but not wealthy) family is important. If the family is swimming in debt, then we will begin our…
Continue reading →We discuss the performance consistency of actively managed mid cap funds by comparing them with the Nifty Midcap 150 index. The freefincal active equity mutual fund screener, published monthly, uses the Midcap 150 to compare small cap funds. It also uses Midcap 150 Quality 50. We do not include the factor indices in this study…
Continue reading →This is how you can plan for your child’s education and marriage in 12 steps. 1. When to start planning. The moment the pregnancy is confirmed! 2. What do you do first? Evaluate your insurance cover and buy more if required. 3. How to evaluate insurance coverage? Let us consider a couple with a two-year-old…
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 or the Nifty 100 or 500 differs from tracking the…
Continue reading →We discuss the performance consistency of actively managed small cap funds by comparing them with the Nifty Midcap 150 index. Some readers may be surprised as to why we are not choosing a small cap index like Nifty Small Cap 250. This is because we are not trying to pursue a PhD here (I made…
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