I was recently asked in an interview, “What mutual fund would you recommend for investors with FOMO (fear of missing out)?” A discussion. The short answer is that investors with FOMO can never be satisfied. They will always clutter their portfolio with the next shiny product they come across. Unless and until they tell themselves,…
Continue reading →All mutual fund investors would have come across the saying that time in the market is better than timing the market. But is this true? Yes, time in the market is 100% better than timing the market for AMCs and distributors. This ensures no break in fees or commissions. But what about investors? There is…
Continue reading →A reader wanted to know if he could invest his entire retirement corpus in mutual funds (of varying risk) and draw an income from them via systematic withdrawal plans — a discussion. Short answer: It is silly to put 100% of a lifetime’s effort, toil and hard work into capital market-linked products. Diversify keeping safety…
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. The tracking error is the ETF’s standard deviation minus index monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error, the more efficient the ETF is…
Continue reading →A young reader recently asked us, “How much equity should I invest in for a long term goal?” This is a tricky question to answer! On one corner is a technical answer: Using reasonable return expectations for equity and debt (after tax!) and considering the inflation for my goal, I can arrive at an approximate…
Continue reading →Nine years ago, I resigned from my job at a private bank to pursue my MBA. During this time, I came across an online content and community forum called Women’s Web. I started writing content for them to make some pocket money during those two years. About the author: Ayushi Mona Singh is a marketing leader…
Continue reading →Several readers have asked us how to invest as the market reacts to the US tariffs. Regular readers would know what our stance is. The following is for those new here. The short answer is that your investment strategy should be independent of “current market conditions” or events. If it is dependent, you need to…
Continue reading →The latest freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener is now available. Use it to screen for consistently performing equity mutual funds. You can screen based on fund category & benchmark and spot mutual funds with a higher return than a benchmark at a lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool…
Continue reading →Broach the subject of retirement planning to a young earner, and you might get a response like, “I have just started earning. Let me enjoy life for a while and worry about this later.” When that “later” does arrive, it does so with its bag and baggage – home loan, car loan, older parents, older…
Continue reading →Many investors recognise the importance of equity investing pretty late. Even if they have some SIPs running, the amounts are quite small compared to their fixed-income investments (EPF, FDs, etc). This means their portfolios are loaded with fixed income. Readers often ask how to increase equity exposure from 10% to 50-60%. A discussion. In my…
Continue reading →This is a National Pension Scheme Fund Screener to shortlist consistently performing NPS schemes. You can also spot NPS schemes with a higher return than a benchmark at a lower risk. This is similar in design to the freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool and…
Continue reading →Growing up, earning ₹1.5 lakh a month in a metro city in India would have been the ultimate dream—a ticket to financial freedom and a glamorous lifestyle for many. But fast-forward to today, and for many young professionals living in metros like Bengaluru, this “dream salary” feels more like a cruel joke. These are my…
Continue reading →We publish a list of stocks with low volatility and momentum each month. We provide data for BSE 500 and BSE 100 stocks. There are now three different screener files available. (1) Stocks with low volatility and momentum from the BSE 100 large cap universe are available as a separate file (2) Stocks with low…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “Does investing Rs. 1.5 Lakhs in PPF before April 5th make sense anymore since I will be choosing the new tax regime?” – a discussion. The short answer is that dropping everything and investing Rs. 1.5 Lakh before the 5th of April every financial year never made sense. Now that most taxpayers…
Continue reading →When people say, “Over the long term, equity will provide good returns”, they often forget or do not want to consider how monthly or annual return sequences combine to result in the final annualized return (CAGR). Sometimes, the sequence of returns can be good or bad. This is known as sequence of returns risk, sequence…
Continue reading →