I have invested in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) since 8th March 2010. This is a performance report of how the NPS invested has fared over the last 14+ years. We also compare the returns with EPF. Note: Kindly do not assume that I am recommending NPS instruments. My situation is quite different from most.... The post Analyzing the growth of my 14-year-old NPS portfolio appeared first on freefincal ..read more

Futures and options trading on Nifty Next 50 commenced on April 24, 2024. Will this impact the index and, therefore, its passive investors (via index funds and ETFs) in any way? In particular, how will F&O trading impact the volatility and liquidity of the underlying index (or its constituent stocks in the spot market)? The... The post Will F&O trading on Nifty Next 50 impact index investors? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

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. I started direct equity investing only after achieving a comfortable level of... The post My Stock Portfolio Analysis: April 2024 appeared first on freefincal ..read more

A reader asks, “Our daughter is one month old. How should we start investing for her future?” Starting on a clean slate is always the best way to start. Let’s dive straight into the goal-planning steps. The goal-planning steps We need a target corpus after 17/18 years, depending on when she was born. That is... The post How should I start investing for my one-month old daughter? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

Recently, some media reports have claimed that the age limit on health insurance purchases has been removed. Is this true? If yes, will this benefit a large segment of the population? The IRDAI circular dated 20th March 2024, F. No. IRDAI/Reg/8/202/2024 (thanks to Kamlesh Rao for sharing it on the Facebook group Asan Ideas for... The post Can senior citizens now buy health insurance without age restrictions? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

A 30-year-old reader asks, “What MFs should I choose if I can invest Rs 1 Lakh a month?” Here are some model mutual fund portfolios for long-term goals (> 10 years away) independent of the amount to be invested. They are arranged in descending order of preference. We shall also mention relevant fixed-income options. Asset... The post What MFs should I choose if I can invest Rs 1 Lakh a month? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

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.... The post Debt and hybrid mutual fund screener (April 2024) for selection, tracking, learning appeared first on freefincal ..read more

A reader sent us the following message: “This article – Can I Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early by 45? – it was, as always, a good read, like most of your articles. I have been a reader of freefincal for quite some time. My rant/question may be long, so please bear with me. I would... The post Can the average person attain financial independence? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

In this article, we discuss the idea of annuity laddering (also known as income laddering) and how it is helpful in retirement planning. Annuity/Income laddering generally means a series of cash flows that become available at different points in the future. Typically, bonds or fixed deposits are used for income laddering. A series of FDs... The post What is annuity laddering in retirement planning? appeared first on freefincal ..read more

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... The post Index fund tracking error screener April 2024 appeared first on freefincal ..read more