The emergency fund or a stash of money that is meant to handle unexpected expenses is one of the building blocks of personal money management. Yet, many aspects of it are not obvious unless we have first-hand experience. A discussion. First the basics: We recommend putting away 20% of your take-home pay until you have…
Continue reading →In this article, we trace the growth of passive fund AUM in India over the last 10 years. Since 2015, the EPFO is a major investor in the Nifty and Sensex ETFs run by SBI and UTI. So we shall exclude these funds from the study. The total AUM of ETFs and Index funds (excluding…
Continue reading →In this article, we discuss how to set up a guide for our life partner or spouse to help them manage money in our absence. Let us call this the continuity kit. Absence here not only refers to the death of the main money manager but also refers to situations like job transfers, promotions (with less…
Continue reading →The freefincal Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener (Mar 2022) is now available. Use it to screen for consistently performing equity mutual funds. You can screen based on fund category & benchmark and spot mutual funds with a higher return than a benchmark at a lower risk. Inside, you get discounted links to our two courses:…
Continue reading →The top three personal finance blunders are, not saving enough for retirement; making too high an allocation to equity; and using high-fee financial products/services. Case studies help to illustrate how difficult these decisions are. About the author: Avinash Luthria is Founder, Hourly-Fee Financial Planner & SEBI Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) at Fiduciaries. He was previously a Private…
Continue reading →Abhijit asks, “Sir, I have been investing in ICICI Nifty Next 50 Index fund for the past three years. I am shocked to learn that the index has failed to beat Nifty for the past 6 years. The higher expense ratio for these funds makes the underperformance even worse. As you have pointed out many…
Continue reading →As readers may be aware, other than existing SIPs, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund is closed for subscriptions from Feb 1st 2022, to avoid breaching the overseas investment limit set by RBI. This restriction is for all mutual funds invested in foreign equity except ETFs. Many investors (who do not use SIPs) would like to…
Continue reading →A reader wanted a simple explanation for why the INR (Indian Rupee) fluctuates in value with respect to the USD (US Dollar). A discussion. It may seem strange but just like there is an equity market, bond market, commodities market (gold, silver, oil, cotton, etc.), money market, there is also a forex market. That is,…
Continue reading →Each month, we publish a list of stocks with low volatility and momentum. From this month onwards, we shall provide data for BSE 500 and BSE 100 stocks. There are now three different screener files available. (1) We shall use the BSE 100 instead of the Nifty 100 to define the large cap universe. This…
Continue reading →From time to time we keep pointing out that there is nothing special about a mutual fund SIP. It neither enhances returns nor reduces risk. It is merely an automated way of buying mutual fund units on the same day of each month. In response to our latest article and video on the topic – What…
Continue reading →The average retail investor fears debt mutual funds much more than equity funds. Debt mutual funds are harder to choose and the risks are harder to understand (especially when no effort is put in). To tackle these issues, the MF industry has come up with a class of products called Target Maturity Debt Funds. In…
Continue reading →A member of the Facebook group Asan Ideas for Wealth suggested we write a quick start guide for new earners/investors. We already have a detailed step by step free ebook on how to buy term insurance, health insurance, set up an emergency fund, start investing etc. You can download this at the end of the…
Continue reading →A reader wants to know, “I have just started a SIP in an equity mutual fund. I plan to continue this for 10 years. What return can I expect?”. The reader later clarified that he has no other investment planned for this goal. The honest answer to “What return can I expect from a 10-year…
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 →After the publication of our review of UTI S&P BSE Low Volatility Index Fund, we have received several requests from readers to compare low volatility indices with aggressive hybrid funds/indices. Such a comparison may seem wrong at first glance. After all, how can we compare a 100% equity portfolio with a 65%-80% equity portfolio? However, a…
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