Many on the verge of retirement ask us, “how much equity should I hold after retirement?” This is a tough question to answer as it depends on the individual, but some general guidelines are possible. Asking this question on the verge of retirement with no prior market experience can be harmful. It is essential to…
Continue reading →This article lists six model equity portfolios by combining different equity index funds. We now have both the evidence and the variety to create such portfolios. We have mentioned several times in the past that index funds are the way to go for new mutual fund investors. Even in the mid cap and small cap…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “What are the best options for Income bucket investments?” This a reference to our retirement bucket strategy. So we shall list all possible investments suitable for building retirement buckets. A bucket strategy is a post-retirement investment plan to manage inflation-protected withdrawals (income) and investment for the near-term and long-term. So we have…
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 →United has recently made significant changes to its Family Medicare Policy and Super Top-Up Medicare Policy. I discuss why we purchased the revised top-up cover with Rs. 95 lakhs sum insured in this article. If you are looking to buy base or super top-up health insurance, this may be useful: Select the right health insurance…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “I am 50 years old and plan to retire next year. My yearly expense is Rs. 12 lakhs. What is the corpus required to sustain 35 years in retirement?” The Rs. 12 lakhs annual expense (or Rs. one lakh a month) is only for the first year of retirement. For each subsequent…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “I recently read your mutual fund investment journey. I then read similar stories shared by readers about their financial independence. One common feature in all these stories is the high salaries involved. My salary is quite low (I am ashamed to disclose it). I don’t see any immediate prospects of increasing it”….
Continue reading →This is an index fund screener 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 is quite different from tracking…
Continue reading →A mutual fund portfolio growth visualiser is now available as an add-on module for our Google sheet-based mutual fund and stock investment tracker. Key features of the portfolio growth visualiser module Requires either the mutual fund or mutual fund + stock investment tracker. (see features below) This is an add-on module to the existing tracker…
Continue reading →A reader writes, “Sir, you have mentioned several times that equity mutual fund investing comes with no guarantees. I find this quite unsettling. Each time the market falls, I feel worried and am in two minds about investing. My mind tells me to stay invested, but my heart is worried. Please advise.” It is true…
Continue reading →This is an ETF screener based on tracking errors and tracking differences (ETF return minus index return). The screener will help a user evaluate how efficiently an ETF has tracked its underlying benchmark. The tracking error is simply the ETF’s standard deviation minus index monthly return differences. The lower the tracking error, the more efficient…
Continue reading →Here are a set of questions to determine how secure your financial life is. Personal finance is all about protecting our family against extreme situations (aka outlier risks). Everything we do, buying insurance, saving, investing etc., falls under this protection act. So let us get started. Don’t worry if you answer “no” or “not yet”…
Continue reading →A reader asks, “I’m unable to understand the need to venture into debt funds for my needs. What are the advantages they offer on the alternatives for the long term – PPF, EPF, SSY etc.? I’m primarily saving for retirement, and currently, almost all of my debt part is into epf and ppf (about 50%…
Continue reading →“Has anyone ever gotten rich using mutual funds?”. You may have seen this question do the rounds on social media and personal financial forums from time to time. This is asked by two sets of people. (1) Those who wish to push other products: Insurance, stock advisory services or a PMS and (2) young investors…
Continue reading →We profile debt mutual funds from time to time in our fund profile section. This time we consider SBI Magnum Ultra Short Duration Fund. Launched in May 1999, the fund currently has an AUM of Rs. 12,513 Crores. What is an ultra-short duration fund? Ultra-short duration funds are defined as “investment in Debt & Money Market instruments…
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