This edition of the fund performance report looks at the HDFC Children’s Gift Fund. Launched in Mar 2001, the fund has an AUM of over 6,000 Crores. In Oct 2017, HDFC MF merged HDFC Children’s Gift Fund Savings Plan into HDFC Children’s Gift Fund Investment Plan and then renamed the resulting fund as HDFC Children’s…
Continue reading →This is a list of the worst-performing equity mutual funds over every possible five, four, and three periods between 1st Jan 2013 (introduction date of direct plans) to Jan 5th 2023. Some caveats before we begin: (1) The definition of a “worst mutual fund” is as arbitrary as the definition of a “best mutual fund”….
Continue reading →A reader asks, “Can you please write an article on how to decide the inflation rate while planning for retirement?”. This question has troubled me long and hard over the years, and I think I have finally arrived at an answer: “Use the rate that will work for you”! This response may seem arbitrary to…
Continue reading →The freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener (Jan 2023) 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…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “I recently used your equity mutual fund screener, and it is probably the best tool available for selecting consistent performers. You are comparing Small cap mutual funds with Nifty Midcap 150 TRI. Can you please explain why you do this?” Suppose the Indian Cricket team has played 15 matches in about half…
Continue reading →There is more to retirement planning than beating inflation, investing enough and managing the corpus post-retirement. When we just start investing for retirement, everything seems a blur. The corpus seems impossible. The amount we need to invest seems impossible. However, the corpus does not seem as steep with time, discipline and some luck. The investment…
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 →1st Jan 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the introduction of direct plan mutual funds. This article discusses whether their introduction has caused more harm than good for investors. About 46% of total assets are in direct plans (a good chunk of it is as institutional and HNI assets). The honest answer to this…
Continue reading →Here is a money management action plan for young earners fresh out of college. Use your first paycheck and make your parents and the rest of the family happy. Use your second paycheck to get something for yourself (money is there to be spent, after all!). Just make sure these are not high-end recurring expenses….
Continue reading →All of us dream. Some of our dreams are serious enough to become goals, and like it or not, many dreams are financial. That is, they require money to implement. Here are three key factors that decide our financial success. That is, how well we can achieve our financial goals. Although each individual is different,…
Continue reading →These are the freefincal handpicked list of mutual funds for Jan-Mar 2023. New and old investors can use it according to their specific needs. The list is called “PlumbLine” and has been published since Sep 2017 for beginners to accompany the freefincal robo advisory tool. Most important! Plumbline is a mix of my opinions +…
Continue reading →SEBI has included nine freefincal calculators created by M. Pattabiraman in its investor education website. Ms Monika Halan, the SEBI Investor Protection Education Fund Advisory Committee chairperson, suggested including these tools, and the committee inaugurated them on 22nd Nov 2022. The concerned SEBI team, headed by Mr Manjesh Roy, converted the excel files to online…
Continue reading →A reader writes, “I am 29 years old and had started a few LIC policies on my parent’s insistence six years ago. I pay an approximate total of 3000 a month for 25 yrs, or so the policy insured sum is 1 lac for seven policies, and the return the life insurance agent said I’d…
Continue reading →Over the last decade, the number of capital market participants (stocks or mutual funds) has increased sharply. Retirement corpora have gradually shifted from 100% fixed-income to higher and higher equity exposure. This shift implies both retirees and advisors must be mentally prepared to face big challenges. An extended rate cut for a good part of…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, Gayatri takes us through her personal finance journey, and how she has gradually filled the gaps in her financial planning and is on track to achieving financial freedom. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives for the benefit of readers….
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