In a circular dated 10th May 2023, NPS regulator PFRDA announced that retirees can now buy multiple annuities for “Retirement Income Optimization”. However, there are still considerable limitations and much more flexibility is required. The circular says (1) In the interest of optimising subscribers’ retirement income and providing them with a wider range of annuity…
Continue reading →This is an ETF screener 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…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I get the rebalancing and how the backtests prove how it works for most market conditions. But what about the quality of the assets we have chosen for investment?” “For example, if an Adani like situation arises for a fund house? How do we handle that? Well, one may say we must…
Continue reading →A member of the freefincal investor circle asks, Can we use the information ratio to analyze index funds? What is the information ratio? It is a measure of outperformance per unit risk associated with the outperformance. In other words, the information ratio is a risk-adjusted measure of the fund manager’s effectiveness in beating the benchmark. How…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “How important is turnover ratio in choosing a mutual fund? While selecting an index fund, should Turnover ratio be considered?” The portfolio turnover ratio is the lower of the total of new stocks purchased or sold over 12 months, divided by the fund’s average assets under management (AUM). For example if a…
Continue reading →One quesion many readers ask is, if I already have a pension, how should I plan for retirement? A user of our robo advisory tool writes, “I am studying and trying to understand the robo advisory tool. In the income flooring sheet, annuity laddering and DIY Bucket, I found that annuity is needed to be purchased”….
Continue reading →A subscriber to our YouTube channel writes, “Do we have any debt fund like benchmark Nifty 50 Index fund for 7-10 years period. I just want to follow only one fund. Of course, the major chunk is EPF, PPF, and ESOP. This is to build slowly in debt space for a future 25% allocation”. “I…
Continue reading →With the deadline to opt for a higher EPS pension shifted to June 26, 2023, subscribers have some time to evaluate the decision. A reader with 15 years of service in a PSU wants to know if an EPS pension will benefit him. He estimates that he has to shift about 13.5 lakhs from EPF…
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 →In April 2022, we met Arka and Rupali, who are trying to balance their personal aspirations, like travelling and exploring new opportunities, with their quest for financial independence. This is a follow-up audit. 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 →A viewer on our YouTube channel wants to know, “Which mutual fund category should I use to invest for a newborn child?”. It is heartening to note that you are seeking category names and not actual fund names. However, some work must be done before we can get there. Our investing mantra is process-first, products-last. …
Continue reading →In Dec 2022, Mr Alam shared his financial journey: From a net worth of Rs. 6000 to auto-pilot goal-based investing. He has shared specific details of investments in this follow-up. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives for the benefit of readers. Some of the previous editions…
Continue reading →I have invested in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) since 8th March 2010. This is a performance report of how the NPS invested has fared over the last 13+ years. We also compare the returns with EPF. Note: Kindly do not assume that I am recommending NPS instruments. My situation is quite different from most….
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 says, “You mention in multiple articles such as – How much equity should I hold after retirement? – An equity allocation of not more than 30% for typical retirements is recommended.” “Can you write/update an article explaining if/how this 30% number would change based on someone’s current corpus (as a multiple of annual…
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