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 →In this article, we discuss whether there is a factor index that has consistently lower risk than broad-based indices or market capitalisation weighted indices like Nifty 50, 100, 500, etc. A factor index is an intermediate between an active and a passive strategy. It is rule-based but also passive. The catch is, the rules tend…
Continue reading →Remember buying a phone, bike, or car. How much time did you spend analysing the product—checking features, prices, taking feedback from friends, or reading online reviews? And how much time do you spend reviewing a financial product? You would probably say this is not an apple-to-apple comparison, or it’s an apple-to-orange comparison. No, I am…
Continue reading →This ETF screener is based on tracking errors and differences (ETF return minus index return). It will help users evaluate how efficiently an ETF has tracked its underlying benchmark. The tracking error is the ETF’s standard deviation minus the index’s monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error, the more efficient the ETF is in…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I am a senior citizen and an investment banking professional with over three decades in the Middle East. As an NRI, who would return to India”. “The facts: Am a senior citizen , aged 63, with self owned debt free houses. Will live in one of them. A retired life for a…
Continue reading →So gold and silver prices are zooming up, and everyone wants a slice of the metals in their portfolio. Here is a checklist before you buy gold and silver for “diversification”. 1. Did you know that the worst time to buy an asset or commodity for the first time is when everyone is talking about…
Continue reading →A reader says, “I am 30 years old and currently invest in the HDFC Sensex Index Fund for my equity allocation and the Parag Parikh Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund for my debt portion. Articles from freefincal have been very helpful in understanding and making investment decisions for myself. While I must not seek financial advice…
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 to identify mutual funds that offer higher returns than the benchmark while maintaining lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our robo advisory tool…
Continue reading →Many international funds/ETFs, such as Motilal Oswal S&P 500 Index Fund or Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund, are domestic mutual funds that invest solely in foreign equity shares. Some other funds, like Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, invest a certain portion of their AUM in foreign equity shares. The question now is whether an Indian…
Continue reading →In response to our article, NPS Multiple Scheme Framework – What you need to know, wherein we have written, “we still do not have any clarity on how Tier 2 funds are taxed! Readers point me to various articles discussing tier 2 taxation, but there is no official statement from the finance ministry on this, as…
Continue reading →The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has recently announced a Multiple Scheme Framework in the National Pension Scheme for all non-government subscribers. In this article, we explain the features of this framework. First things first, there is no change in the current schemes and their rules (as of now). The current schemes will…
Continue reading →A reader (age: 41, spouse, 36, wants to retire asap) wants to know, “What should be my retirement corpus if my current monthly expenses are Rs 1 lakh?” We shall use the freefincal Robo Advisor tool to consider some scenarios. 1. Current monthly expenses that will persist in retirement: Rs. 1,00,000. We can exclude expenses…
Continue reading →Home loan borrowers make this common mistake. For a Rs. 50 Lakh home loan payable over 20 years at 8% interest, the EMI is Rs. 41,822. As is well known, much of the EMI initially is interest. It is incorrect to sum the total interest paid (Rs. 50,37,281 in this case) and claim that as…
Continue reading →Section 54F gives an exemption from long-term capital gains arising from the transfer of a long-term capital asset that is not a residential house if the proceeds are used to purchase or construct a residential house in India. The key is that the gain must be a long-term capital gain for Section 54F to be…
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