Many state and central government employees are against the national pension scheme (NPS) and want to restore the old pension scheme. Some state governments have also reverted to the old pension scheme. Unfortunately, this is financially unsustainable. Take, for instance, the DA announcement on Sept 28th 2022. “The additional financial implications on account of this…
Continue reading →A Financial Health Check Tool developed by M. Pattabiraman is now available at SEBI’s Investor Education Portal. A prototype was tested in Jan 2023 with members of the Facebook group Asan Ideas for Wealth, and their feedback was implemented. Later, the SEBI Investor Protection Education Fund Advisory Committee gave further feedback, and the tool has…
Continue reading →In this article, we consider non-financial aspects of planning for our children’s future. We have already covered the basics of how to be financially ready for college expenses. We shall limit ourselves to “doing well” in school and college although there is ample overlap with all walks of life. Many people have the incorrect opinion…
Continue reading →Income tax filing might look like a tedious process. However, it brings a smile to your face when you see there is a refund due from the income tax department. So, after you file ITR, the wait starts, especially if the refund amount is a little more significant. In this article, we will learn how…
Continue reading →Recently, a reader shared his post-retirement investment strategy: Hold expenses for five years in a cash bucket (savings funds + liquid fund + money market funds + safe bank fixed deposits) at all times during retirement and invest the rest in equity! I do not share the reader’s enthusiasm and would prefer the approach adopted…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “If you started investing one year and four months back with 60 -40 equity-debt, Its current value is 59 – 41. Should you rebalance now or wait for the further difference?” What is portfolio rebalancing? Asset allocation is the most important aspect of your portfolio. It tells you how much equity you…
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 →Many clients often inquire whether to use their personal or corporate health insurance policy first. Let’s figure out whether you should use your corporate or personal health insurance in case of hospitalization, assuming there are no room rent sub-limits in both policies. I thank Melvin Joseph Sir (Finvin Financial Planners), who provided valuable input for…
Continue reading →By now, everyone knows the drill. For a long term goal, you can have 50-60% of equity exposure (preferably in an index fund) and the rest in fixed income. Get set, go. Sadly, the race has just begun, and there are plenty of pit stops to worry about. The number of people who care about…
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 →It is clear from how many readers, particularly young earners, respond to freefincal content these days that they are overconfident about their equity investments. Especially investments in small cap funds, mid cap funds, etc., that have soared in recent months. This could spell trouble for their dreams. I hate to break it to you, but…
Continue reading →Groww Nifty Total Market Index Fund is an open-ended scheme replicating/ tracking the Nifty Total Market Index (TRI). In this article, we compare the rolling returns of the underlying index with Nifty 50 TRI. The Nifty Total Market Index tracks the performance of 750 stocks covering large, mid, small and microcap segments. Nifty 500 index…
Continue reading →United India Insurance has revised policy terms and premiums for its Family Medicare and Individual Health Insurance Policy w.e.f 14th Sep 2023. I recently renewed my family’s medicare policy with them and found that the premiums for me (age 49), my wife (age 47) and my son (age 13) have not increased. These are individual…
Continue reading →A reader sent us a rather strongly worded email after reading the Handpicked List of Mutual Funds Oct-Dec 2023 (PlumbLine). He was unhappy that we are against investing in active mid cap and small cap fuds and wanted to know why. Our decision stems from our monthly equity mutual fund screeners. These use rolling returns…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I have an ongoing home loan. The EMI is about 25% of my take-home pay. I cannot be at peace because of this home loan and wish to pre-pay the loan as soon as possible. Am I right?” It turns out that that reader had sold all existing stocks and mutual fund…
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