Personal money management steps are simple to appreciate but hard to implement. These are some of our behavioural finance learnings on why investors struggle to invest and manage money prudently. 1 We often forget that personal finance is personal. Every move that we make ideally should be tailored to our needs. Right or wrong decisions…
Continue reading →A reader writes, “Sir, I started my first job a couple of months ago. I want to start investing in equity via mutual funds but I am worried about the market. The bull run from April 2020 to Oct 2021 was too early for me and now when I have money the market has started…
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. Before we begin, investors need to appreciate the context of these investments. I started direct equity investing only after achieving a comfortable level of financial independence and ensuring my son’s future…
Continue reading →A reader asks in response to our recent article – How to beat inflation after retirement along with guaranteed pension – “Is it wise to retire early in my 40s if my portfolio is sufficient?” There is more to retirement planning than determining if the corpus is large enough to handle inflation! Financial independence and therefore…
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 →This is an in-depth dive analysis into vacation planning, finding cheap flights, budget accommodation, what to do when travelling, and how travelling slowly is better financially and psychologically with links to the web pages and hand-holding at every step. The travel training kit (e-book) will include a deep dive analysis into vacation planning, finding cheap…
Continue reading →Getting a guaranteed pension after retirement and beating inflation after retirement has traditionally been two extreme solutions in retirement planning. In this article, we explain how these solutions can be combined to build a robust and nearly fool-proof retirement plan. In the former, we talk about buying an annuity from life insurers for a guaranteed…
Continue reading →In the last edition of the reader story, we met Arka and Rupali, a young couple, trying to balance travelling and investing. In this article, they share more details on how to manage our travelling dreams within our income. So, you want to travel?? Are you thrilled by that picture-perfect sunset by the Maldives sea, the…
Continue reading →In this report, we look at how dynamic bond funds have altered their portfolio over the last few months in anticipation of an interest rate hike. Bond market sentiment is monitored via the bond yield which is inversely proportional to bond price. If yield fall, it implies existing bonds have become more valuable (higher price)….
Continue reading →The freefincal mutual fund portfolio overlap tool (first published July 2017 and updated May 2019) is now fully updated to work blazing fast on Google Sheets. The features of the tool are listed below. Updated Aug 2024 with SEBI classification of stock sectors! It allows you to compare the portfolio of five mutual funds. These…
Continue reading →A reader posed an interesting question: Suppose I wish to hold my entire retirement corpus as cash without investing it or saving it or buying pension or monthly income products, what will be the corpus required? At a first glance, this may seem like a silly question. Yes, it is certainly impractical, but working this out…
Continue reading →In this article, we discuss one of the most common questions in various member forums: how can I use blogging (or vlogging) as an income source?. This reminds us of parents who ask, “what is the scope for X degree?” What they mean is, “will my child get a nice fat salary if she pursues…
Continue reading →This is an index fund screener based on tracking error and return difference wrt benchmarks. The screener will help a user 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 the Sensex…
Continue reading →In an update to our earlier reports, we compare the performance of actively managed small cap mutual funds with four benchmarks and discuss why it does not make sense to invest in small cap mutual funds. We shall compare every possible 3-year, 4-year and 5-year return of small cap funds between 1st Jan 2013 and…
Continue reading →In this edition of the fund profile, we take a look at the Kotak Short Term Bond Fund. We evaluate its portfolio history and discuss when it can be used. According to SEBI, a Short Duration Fund is a fund that invests in debt & money market instruments with Macaulay duration of the portfolio between…
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