I see huge hoardings with a life size picture of a retired couple on a water scooter smiling ear to ear. The hoarding is trying to convey how you can live life fully without making any compromises even post retirement. Post retirement is a different period specially in financial terms. The regular salary stops. Either […]
Stuck in the absolute – How bias affects our decisions?
I have been having a recent email exchange with a Unovestor. I was persuading him to consider more reasonable returns from his investments. His comments: “If I cannot expect even 15 to 18% returns from equity or mutual funds then what is the point of investing in them. Even real estate investment held over long periods of time […]
How much risk can you take?
Risk is such a commonly used word in our daily lives. It is also the one, which is not fully understood. The term we more often use is “chance”. Let’s use this chance to understand risk. What is risk? Risk is the uncertainty that we face when we venture into the ‘unknown’. If I could express it in the following […]
The biggest investment mistake
Being an advisor, I get an opportunity to evaluate several investor portfolios. Almost every time, my observation is the same. The portfolio selection is driven by one single parameter – best past performance. This is the single guideline that, most probably, drives your investment decisions too. Whether you invest in stocks, mutual funds, gold, commodities, real estate or for […]
Should you have different portfolios for different goals?
Venkat has identified 6 goals in his financial plan. His own retirement due in 30 years. His daughter’s higher education due in 15 years and 18 years respectively. He needs a downpayment for his home in 10 years. He wants to maintain an emergency funds portfolio and finally, he wants to buy a car in 5 […]
Notes on PPF, VPF, NPS and Debt funds as investment options
Recently, someone pointed out to me that the PPF interest rate is now at 7.9% – the lowest in 40 years. In fact, The interest rates on various saving schemes are falling and savers are finding it difficult to decide where to put the money for getting better returns. There is a slight problem with this thinking. We tend to look […]