A reader asks, “My name is Joy. Age 40. IT employee. My expected retirement is by 50. My current retirement portfolio is at 30X. Equity: Debt ratio is 45:55 ( don’t plan to increase equity more than 50%). I already have health insurance and an emergency fund (in FD)”. “Within Debt, I’m investing monthly in…
Continue reading →In this article, SEBI-registered Investment Adviser IRIA) Ajay Pruthi provides his take on how a client should select an RIA. Ajay is a member of fee-only India, an informal association of SEBI RIAs who charge a flat fee. He is also on freefincal’s list of SEBI-registered advisors. You can contact Ajay via his website, plnr.in. Please…
Continue reading →In a recent talk, I, as usual, discussed how risky gold is and said that only those who understand the basics of portfolio management should consider buying gold funds or ETFs. See: What you need to know about gold before investing in it. Also see: A checklist before buying gold or silver for”diversification”. Usually, this angers some…
Continue reading →A reader says, “You often say we are the victims of our experiences. Can you please explain what you mean by this?” A discussion based on a recent interaction with a full-time stock trader. We often equate experience with wisdom. Sometimes, it is accurate, and sometimes not. What is always true (in my “experience”!) is…
Continue reading →A subscriber to our YouTube channel asks, “Assuming we retire at the age of 60 and live up to 85 years. I have been investing in the NIFTY 50 Index since age 30. Can I not hold NIFTY 50 even in retirement for a consistent passive income through SWP? Seasoned investors in the USA do…
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 →This article discusses how a debt mutual fund works in simple language. The ELI5 in the title stands for “explain like I am 5”. We all know how a fixed deposit works. The bank borrows money from us and pays interest regularly or upon maturity. This is also how a bond works. Now consider three…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I have been reading Subramoney and Freefincal for a few years. My father thought the stock market was like a lottery and never invested in it. After a few missed opportunities and very low savings at age 30 (<1x my annual expenses), I got my first decent job and realized I had…
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 →A reader says, “Was going through your article on “Should I withdraw from PPF to increase my Equity allocation”. I am in exactly the opposite situation. I am 51 and want to retire now. My Equity allocation is 58%, and my Debt is 42%. Should I sell my equity and move to Debt to maintain…
Continue reading →While reading about living trusts and retirement planning, I came across a very important regulatory update from SEBI – one that directly affects how your investments are handled if you become temporarily or permanently unable to sign documents due to a physical condition. About the author: Manmohan Sethumadhavan is a freelancer, investor, and personal finance enthusiast…
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 →From October, our popular equity mutual fund screener (thousands of our readers use it) will include the Ulcer Index as a parameter along with rolling returns, downside capture, upside capture, trailing returns and standard deviation. The Ulcer Index is a measure of downside risk in actively managed mutual funds. It is a simple way to…
Continue reading →A reader wants to know how he should invest Rs. 10 lakhs in equity mutual funds. A discussion. There are some questions an investor needs to ask himself before proceeding. 1: Will this amount be associated with a single goal or multiple goals? If it is the latter, for each goal what is the current…
Continue reading →I am amazed to see a ton of videos advising youngsters to invest in their 20s; the sooner they start, the better it is for them. Compounding is the eighth wonder of the world, etc. Maybe all of that’s true. But I didn’t start investing in equities until I was 29. I am 34 today,…
Continue reading →