In a circular dated 27 Oct 2023, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) announced the introduction of a Systematic Lump Sum Withdrawal facility in NPS. Here are the details. What are the existing NPS withdrawal rules, and where does this proposal fit? Existing rules: After the age of 60, an NPS subscriber has…
Continue reading →Over the years, many readers have asked us, “can I use X or Y investment for an emergency fund?”. Therefore it may be useful to list all such eligible investments and discuss which is suitable for whom. Perhaps if you have just started your career and your net worth is low, the following statement may…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “How can I calculate my safe withdrawal rate when I retire 25 years from now? I am 30”. What does the term “safe withdrawal rate” mean? The safe withdrawal rate, or SWR, refers to the amount of money that can be withdrawn annually from a retirement fund in the first year of…
Continue reading →Every time stocks in the small cap universe move up prominently, interest in small cap mutual funds and confidence in this sector zoom up even more. Notions like “A small cap mutual fund will beat all other categories (and indices) over the long term” start making the rounds among gullible young earners who naively believe…
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 appreciate the context of these investments. I started direct equity investing only after achieving a comfortable level of…
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for fund selection, fund portfolio 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 and PSU funds etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, Alok shares his money mistakes and recovery while completing ten years of mutual fund investing. 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 are linked at the bottom of this article….
Continue reading →Parag Parikh Arbitrage Fund aims to “generate capital appreciation and income by predominantly investing in arbitrage opportunities in the cash and derivatives segment of the equity market, and by investing the balance in debt and money market instruments”. The NFO period of the fund is from Oct 23rd to Oct 27th 2023, and the scheme…
Continue reading →Zerodha is launching two new funds: Zerodha Nifty LargeMidcap 250 Index Fund and an ELSS variant, Zerodha ELSS Tax Saver Nifty LargeMidcap 250 Index Fund. There are two aspects to consider: (1) The index and (2) the ELSS variant. The Nifty LargeMidcap 250 Index is 50% of Nifty 100 + 50% of Nifty Midcap 150….
Continue reading →A reader asks, ” My age is 37, and I have been investing for retirement for the last six years. Using a retirement calculator, I understand that portfolio real return % is essential in the calculation. I want to be on the safe side. So, what real return to consider for a 50-50 equity debt…
Continue reading →This index fund screener is based on tracking error and returns difference wrt benchmarks (aka tracking difference). The screener will help users evaluate how efficiently an index fund has tracked its underlying benchmark. It will also help a understand how tracking a midcap index or the Nifty 100, 500 differs from tracking the Sensex or…
Continue reading →Many young earners ask themselves, “What percentage of my salary should I invest monthly? Would 10% suffice, or should it be 20%?” They typically seek a quick and easy way to determine if they’re on the right path and to alleviate any guilt associated with their spending habits. Regrettably, this is one of several flawed…
Continue reading →The number of equity investors (stocks + mutual funds) in the last 5-7 years has increased dramatically. Most of these investors are young and have much to learn about market risk vs reward. Meanwhile, there is a silent transformation underway. More and more Indians are retiring in their 50s with higher and higher capital market-linked…
Continue reading →There is no limit on the number of sectoral or thematic mutual funds an AMC can produce. So, they do just that! These have huge fees and are marketed as the next big theme to profit from. But how consistent are they in beating a large cap index like Nifty 100 TRI? Note: These are…
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,…
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