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How to Choose a Debt Mutual Fund
Hopefully you have read my post on how to choose a mutual fund. This post is kind of an extension to it. I will specifically explain what things you need to look for when picking a debt mutual fund as opposed to the general advice given in the other post. While I don't consider myself an expert, I will give you some tips based on my experience. But first, the usual disclaimer:
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Bored In Retirement. Not.
When I announced my early retirement, some well wishers asked me if I would get bored with so much time on my hands at such productive age. When I told them that I will be working on some fun projects, which should keep me busy, they still wondered if I would feel bored after 6 or 9 months. Some call or email me every few months to see how I am doing. My relatives ask my parents if I am getting bored. It is now almost 9 months since I retired and yet my To-Do list keeps on growing and there is no scope for boredom. But it is fun that way because I am working on the things that keeps me interested and excited to jump out of the bed every morning to tackle them.
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Debt Funds vs Fixed Deposits
If you ask someone whether Fixed Deposits are better or Debt funds are better, more likely than not, you will hear a biased answer towards either of them. Some swear by FDs and their safety, while others say debt funds always give better returns than FDs. Lets bust some myths and try to get an understanding of how these two types of investments work.
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The Peer-to-Peer Lending Experiment
It is 3 years to this day, when I first decided to get my feet wet with a new type of investment -- peer-to-peer lending. While peer-to-peer lending is nothing new in countries such as the US at that time, it was relatively new in India. After reading about the lending platform called LenDenClub, I decided to give it a try to see if I could get some good returns.
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Do You Need International Exposure
India is a growth story. As a developing nation, we obsess over growth rates. While most analysts hope for a sustained 8% growth rate from India, our government has sometimes vowed to take India into double digit growth. I am not really sure if that is even possible. Nonetheless, every time the growth rate falls just below 7%, media and analysts make a huge deal about it worrying why the rate is so low. A developing nation is expected to have a high growth rate and so do a lot of investors. So, should one invest in international funds which have a slower growth rate?
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Record Your Expenses
In my previous posts, you have seen my monthly and annual budgets. Now it is time I explained how I actually track and record my expenses, so I know how I am performing compared to the budgeted numbers.
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My Annual Expenses Explained
In my last post, I went over my monthly expenses. In this post I will go over my annual expenses so you too can plan your annual expenses along those lines. For the year 2018, I budgeted an annual expense of Rs. 3,60,000. That comes out to Rs. 30,000 per month. Annual expenses are those expenses that occur less frequently than a year. So things like property tax, buying a car, painting your house etc will come under annual expenses. My annual expenses planning is shown below.
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My Monthly Expenses Explained
In one of my previous posts, I briefly mentioned that I planned my monthly expenses to be around Rs. 50,000 per month. In this post, I want to explain a bit more on how I arrived at those numbers. May be it will help you figure out your own expenses in your retirement.
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My Daily Routine
Ever since I retired, lots of people have been asking about my daily routine. So I though I should probably write about it and help the folks :) and this is that post. Before I get started, you have to remember a few things about my reasons for retirement. First, I did not retire to do a startup and run like crazy. That is not to say that I am playing video games and watching TV all day either. I found my Nirvana by doing just enough and not too much. I have a lot of free time and my brain does not get overrun with multiple thoughts demanding its time and causing it to stress. So you might be surprised to see that my daily routine is almost completely about doing non-productive stuff. None of what I do on a daily basis will make the world a better place, or gift humanity with a new invention or device that begs for your attention. Some people feel that I am wasting my knowledge, skill and expertise by not doing anything.
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Year In Review - 2018 Net Worth
The final chapter in the Year in Review series, is reviewing my net worth. At the end of every year, in addition to reviewing my returns and expenses, I also take stock of my net worth. It is an exercise not to check how much I am worth, but more to get an understanding of my asset allocation, and see if it is converging towards my planned allocation. Lets take a look at the constituents of my net worth first.
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