A reader has multiple questions on goal-based investing, and we address them inline below. “I am 32 years old and have been investing in MF for the past three years, PPF for the past 9 yrs, and SSY for the past 5 yrs. I have two doubts about goal-based investments”. “1) I have mapped my…
Continue reading →SEBI-registered flat fee-only advisor Swapnil Kendhe explains the pitfalls of conventional retirement planning calculations. About the author: Swapnil is a SEBI Registered Investment Advisor and is one of the sought-after advisors on the freefincal fee-only financial planners’ list. You can learn more about him and his service via his website, Vivektaru. His story: Becoming a competent & capable financial advisor:…
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 →Here are a few personal finance milestones that can help you gauge “where you stand today” on the road to wealth. We will assume the basics like insurance, emergency fund, and goal planning are in place. If not, we recommend this free e-book: Re-assemble Step by Step Money Management Basics. 1. Your Liquid Networth exceeds…
Continue reading →We do not need intelligence to make money. We do need the smarts to make money. We need clarity, discipline, confidence, or conviction to stay the course. Today we have many free and paid materials on managing our money. One could learn to DIY from scratch without professional financial advice. However, very few are successful….
Continue reading →It turns out that there is a close connection between investing and borrowing (getting a loan). Those familiar with the formulae would tell you that they are identical! Here is how a home loan EMI can be understood in terms of a lump sum and monthly SIP investment. Suppose we want a loan of Rs….
Continue reading →In this article, we discuss simple tips to review your investment portfolio. Every portfolio requires a personalized benchmark for comparison. Our long-term goals, particularly the money required for these goals, form natural benchmarks for a portfolio review. First, the basics should be in place before we start investing or immediately after: Emergency fund Life Insurance…
Continue reading →This is an example of how indexation benefits help reduce long term capital gains on property sales. The sold property should be over two years old for applying for indexation benefits. There are several exemptions like sections 54 (reinvest in a new property), 54ec (buy specific bonds) and 54B (sell agricultural land in non-rural areas…
Continue reading →A reader has kindly consented to share his ordeal with Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) fraud and how he got his money back. Are you a victim of similar fraud? What did you do? Share your story with the freefincal community and promote awareness. All stories will be published anonymously. Send your story to letters [AT]…
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 →Since its inception, the National Pension Scheme (NPS) has made many user-friendly changes. The most recent of these is the introduction of the NPS Systematic Lump Sum Withdrawal (SLW) Facility, which allows users to gradually withdraw the non-annuitized portion of the corpus. Another notable change is the facility to defer annuity purchases (for pension) until…
Continue reading →Many who use our retirement calculators often are shocked to see the results. Some lose sleep, and some think the math is wrong. Eventually, many recover and start investing. See, for instance, this reader story: We lost sleep after using a retirement calculator! This is how we recovered. Here is a detailed explanation of the…
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 →There is a belief among some that hospitals may misuse the cashless hospitalization facility offered by medical insurance policies. As a result, they suggest paying out of pocket and then seeking reimbursement through the policy. This raises the question: is it more prudent to utilize the cashless hospitalization facility or pay upfront and seek reimbursement…
Continue reading →A retirement planning calculation is defined by its inputs and assumptions. This article discusses what portfolio return we should assume while planning for retirement. A return has little meaning as it has to be benchmarked to inflation. Also, we should not forget to factor in taxes. Another common mistake investors make while planning is using…
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