Only the slabs of the new tax regime have been reduced (lowered for some slabs) in Budget 2023. The new tax regime will now be the default regimen, and taxpayers will have to specifically select the old regime if they wish to use it. Update: Download the free revised income tax calculator below! This is…
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 →Based on the IRDA annual report, we discuss the claim rejection data for standalone health insurers for FY 2021-22. We can only answer how many claims health insurers reject yearly for standalone health insurers. IRDA does not provide break up details for the total claims processed by general insurers. For general insurers (including PSUs), we…
Continue reading →After the recent supreme court ruling on the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), EPFO subscribers, as of 1st Sep 2014, can retrospectively contribute 8.33% of their basic + DA to the EPS via a deduction from the EPF. The option to do this has been opened only to a section of employees and is expected to…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we meet 27-year-old Pretorius. He shares his mistakes, his redefined goals and how he tries to focus on the big picture and keep things simple. About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives for the benefit of readers. Some of the…
Continue reading →Claim settlement ratio = the number of claims paid divided by the total number of death claims received. The Life Insurance Claim Settlement Ratio 2023 (data is from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022), sourced from the IRDA annual report, is tabulated below. Life Insurer Claim Settlement Ratio for FY 2021-2022 Aditya Birla Sunlife…
Continue reading →Edelweiss CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index Fund is an open-ended debt Index Fund investing in the constituents of CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index. The fund is classified as having “relatively high-interest rate risk and relatively low credit risk”. Let us consider the salient features of the fund….
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 →A reader says, ” I am 45 years old and am doing well. My company recently shut down operations in India, and I have been offered a hefty severance package. I wanted your advice on generating 10% annual returns ( or the best returns possible)”. “Here is my financial status: Severance package: 70 Lakhs Self-owned…
Continue reading →From April 1st 2018, long term capital gains on stocks and equity mutual funds over Rs. one lakh have been taxed at the rate of 10% (plus 4% education cess) without indexation benefits. P V Subramanyam of subramoney recently pointed out to me that we will be paying more tax on equity mutual fund gains…
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 asks, “I have been investing in MF through SIP for 15+ years. I have the habit of reviewing my mutual fund portfolio in January every year (15 years so far) and comparing my MFs to their peers. I check for 1 year returns. If my MF is in the top 3 for the…
Continue reading →As regular readers may know, we publish an annual personal finance audit every December – our 2022 audit was posted a few weeks ago. Since 2020 regular readers have been sharing their investment journey and portfolio reviews. Suhas was among the first to do this. He has graciously agreed to share the 3rd update on…
Continue reading →A reader asks, ” At 45, notional gains from debt mutual funds (Liquid, ST, Gilt, Arbitrage) + divided (Usual suspects HDFC, ITC, HUL etc.) per year is about 18 lakhs. With a planned retirement expense of 9 lakhs pa, that is twice the pa requirement. Corpus for other goals is set side separately”. “I know…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “I am aged 60 and have just retired. My total corpus is close to Rs. One Crore, but my monthly expenses are slightly over Rs. 40,000. This means my initial withdrawal rate = annual expenses divided by corpus is about 5%.” “This is higher than the “old” safe withdrawal rate estimate of…
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