A reader says, “When interest rates go high, the value of debt mutual fund investment decreases (although reason and logic are well understood). There is nothing one can do about it. However, if money is in a bank fixed deposit (instead of a mutual debt fund), one can always rebook the FD at a higher…
Continue reading →Many readers often ask us variations of, “My PPF account is maturing; should I extend it or open a new one?” We discuss how to handle PPF accounts that are about to mature. When and how to extend them and when not to. A PPF matures after 15 financial years from the FY of opening….
Continue reading →This is a debt mutual fund screener for portfolio selection, 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 PSU funds, etc. The credit quality of the bonds in the portfolio and the bond maturity profile can be tracked….
Continue reading →A reader wants to know how real estate taxation works for resident individuals after the amendment to the Finance Bill 2024. Here are the details. I bought land at a price of 5L in 1995. The valuation report by the government registered and reputed valuer with all my value additions (fencing, water well, small house…
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. Update: We recently added a new tool to the freefincal investor circle…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, we meet a reader who has built a 1 Million USD portfolio through disciplined savings and investments. 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 the bottom of this…
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 to understand how tracking a midcap index or the Nifty 100, 500 differs from tracking the Sensex or…
Continue reading →I have tracked the amount invested for my goals in the same Excel sheet for the last 14 years (2011 to 2024). This sheet only tracks the amount invested and not its current market value (for this, I use a Google Sheets Tracker). These are some lessons from the journey. Between 2010-11, my retirement planning…
Continue reading →As readers may know, five mutual fund portfolios can be compared with the Google Sheets-based freefincal mutual fund portfolio overlap tool. Mr Sundararajan Srinivasan has updated the tool by replacing the existing (incomplete) Stock Sector listing with the standard SEBI classification. Features It allows you to compare the portfolio of five mutual funds. These can…
Continue reading →These are four assets that you should not add to your net worth! Over the years, many readers have vehemently disagreed with me on this, but I have always followed a sound thumb rule: if I cannot use it, or should not use it, cannot liquidate it at will, then it is not part of…
Continue reading →This ETF screener is 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 is…
Continue reading →In this edition of the reader story, a reader who has been managing money for five years shares his observations and lessons. In our experience, when young earners come forward and share their experiences, it inspires others (even older investors) to do better, sometimes more than stories by accomplished investors. About this series: I am grateful to…
Continue reading →We explain the difference between profit booking and rebalancing using mutual funds in simple language for newbies, Profit-booking is a colloquial trade name for selling stocks or mutual funds. Let us understand profit booking with an example. Suppose you purchased 100 stocks for Rs. 10. The initial investment value is Rs. 1000. After many months,…
Continue reading →A reader says, “My equity allocation is 66%. My target allocation is 60%. But to rebalance, I must shift Rs. 48 Lakhs (approximately) from equity mutual funds to fixed-income instruments. The tax I must pay will be significant, and it bothers me. I invest almost Rs. 4L a month in my portfolio with almost 3L…
Continue reading →Before getting started, let us try to understand the meaning of the term ‘retirement corpus’. Then, we will move on to discuss the four things that can make a dent in your retirement corpus. About the author: Ajay Pruthi is a fee-only SEBI registered investment advisor. He can be contacted via his website plnr.in. Ajay is part…
Continue reading →