A reader inquires, “As I approach my 50th birthday this year, I’m contemplating retirement. What steps should I take to determine the necessary retirement corpus for 2023? My yearly expenses amount to approximately Rs. 6.5 lakhs.” As mentioned in a recent article – I thought a pension was unnecessary, but age taught me a retirement planning…
Continue reading →At freefincal, we have often used the Sensex price returns to portray risk via rolling lump sum and SIP returns. We have added 2% to the price return to account for dividends. This is because the price data starts from 1970 while the total returns data (that assumes dividends are reinvested without tax begins only…
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 →A reader says, “Hello, sir- I have made the folly of investing in ULIPs. I have read enough articles from people like you, who I trust to know it was a mistake. What I want to understand is what do I do next? Should I wait till the five-year lock-in and then withdraw my capital?…
Continue reading →Everyone desires to save tax, and Indian investors are particularly motivated by tax savings. Salaried individuals can reduce their tax liability by utilizing Section 80C, Section 80D, and Section 24 (for tax savings on home loan interest). Investing 50,000 annually in the NPS (National Pension Scheme) can also provide further tax benefits. These are the…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we meet a 28-year-old who has created an elaborate retirement strategy to navigate the stormy waters of the IT industry. 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…
Continue reading →Let’s get rich with Pattu, produced by Ofspin is a weekly podcast on money management. We have completed eight episodes so far, and you can now listen to the show on nine different channels! Each episode will cover one aspect of money management – insurance, emergency funds, planning for retirement, financial independence and early retirement,…
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 →Last year, while preparing a retirement planning illustration based on laddered annuities, we listed the annuity rates of LIC Jeevan Akshay – an immediate annuity plan. These are the revised and higher annuity rates applicable from Feb 28th 2023. Additional resources Use this annuity ladder calculator to plan for retirement with multiple pension streams How…
Continue reading →In this article, SEBI-registered flat fee-only investment advisor, Swapnil Kendhe, addresses common misconceptions about index investing that passive investors should ignore. 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…
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 →A reader has asked us to explain why diversification is the only free lunch in investing with some India-centric data. As the name suggests, free lunch refers to some benefits without a catch, fee, or cost. There is no free lunch in nature. Can there be one in investing? What does “Diversification is the only…
Continue reading →A frustrated reader asks, “Sir, I finally managed to file my ITR this time after several attempts. Why do we have to go through this exercise each year? Is it possible to get rid of it?” It may be possible to eliminate many (certainly not all) return filing compliance requirements, but how many of us…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we meet “RK”, who discusses how he lost six months’ income in F&O over a span of three months and then traded it for systematic investing. 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 reader wants to know, “I have just started a SIP in an equity mutual fund. I plan to continue this for 15 years. Can I expect a 15% return?”. The honest answer is, “No idea. No one knows”. We have discussed this at length before. Do not expect returns from mutual fund SIPs! Do…
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