Yesterday, SEBI announced its new “Categorization and Rationalization of Mutual Fund Schemes”. In this post, I discuss the positive and negative aspects of this move. As with any change, it is a mixed bag, especially for existing investors. SEBI has made it clear that only one scheme per category will be allowed and that AMCs…
Continue reading →What is the objective behind creating a financial plan? Who is it meant for? Do young earners or DIY investors need the services of a fee-only financial planner to create a professional plan? In this guest post, Vikram Krishnamoorthy, SEBI registered fee-only financial planner tackles these questions and discusses the real purpose of creating a financial plan…
Continue reading →You would be surprised as to how many people ask, Why not invest in multiple mutual funds to “average” out returns? and how often such an advice is provided in the media and in real life too! This post is in response to a question from S.B.Raajesh Kannan as it gives me a chance to cough up some portfolio…
Continue reading →I received this interesting question from R Siva Prasad: “Sir, While selecting/screening a mutual fund, you advise to compare it with benchmarks. But I want to compare with Mutual Funds in the same category. As long as my fund is on top in the category why do I have to think about the benchmark? And if a…
Continue reading →Yesterday (Sep 24th) saw the birth of Fee-only India, a coming-together of SEBI registered fee-only financial planners at Mumbai. Ashal Juahari, admin of Facebook group Asan Ideas of wealth and I spent the day listening to and discussing with the fee-only financial planners from my list. An organisation of financial planners who do not sell any…
Continue reading →When we wish to choose a mutual fund, it is reasonable to expect it to have beat a benchmark (either the one chosen by the fund house or one representative of its category) consistently – say 8 times out of 10. Can we also impost an additional constraint? Expect the fund to fall lesser than…
Continue reading →Suppose you wish to “put” some money in cryptocurrency (or cryptocoins), say Bitcoin, altcoin, litecoin, fartcoin etc. would you trade or would you invest? It is obvious that due to poor liquidity, the crypto market is volatile. So instinct would tell us caution is necessary. So trading (frequent buying and selling) with regular profit booking seems…
Continue reading →As I sat down to write a post on “cryptocurrencies: should you trade or invest in them?”, I received an email from my classmate asking me to explain if the most popular cryptocurrency- the bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme? A pyramid scheme? or bubble? Since the two topics are closely related, I thought let me…
Continue reading →It was when my seven-year-old son declared that he wanted to be a fruit seller that I realised that the …. er … apple has not fallen far from the tree! Yes, I too had similar aspirations and I nurtured it for years until I heard the plight of a pharmacist. In this post, I…
Continue reading →Dear reader, the final step of an investment plan is the product selection. The freefincal robo advisory template will provide the user with all necessary inputs from asset allocation, investment strategy and suggest product categories. To accompany the robo template, I would like to publish a handpicked list of mutual funds which will be updated…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss a simple way to find out if a certain fund or a certain fund category is suitable for our need. We shall the use often-mentioned idea of standard deviation as a simple measure of volatility. Although not perfect, it is good enough to differentiate type based on daily market risk…
Continue reading →In this post, I discuss why I will not (never?) invest in Bitcoin or any of the 900+ cryptocurrencies in “circulation”. This is a refinement of an earlier post: Bitcoin: Should we use it as a currency or as an investment? in which I had stated my unease with it as an investment even though the concept…
Continue reading →This year marks twenty years of computer and internet usage for me. In a two-part series, I discuss my experience and learnings on managing multiple passwords (part 1) and computer security (part 2). From spending the whole day in the IIT, Madras library in the mid-90s to rarely entering it in the 2010s, it has…
Continue reading →Many readers have asked me to explain how a financial plan is created with examples. I requested SEBI registered fee-only financial planner (meaning, no commissions and works only for you), Sukhvinder Sidhu to explain the financial plan creation process with an example. This is meant for those new to DIY investing and also those who…
Continue reading →With each passing day, our parents are growing old and their ability to be independent is gradually diminished. Elder care or senior care is a young, but rapidly evolving business, however, the ground reality is that, even if we are willing to pay, the competence and training levels are nowhere near adequate. If there is…
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