Posts tagged with "asset-class"


  • Revisiting My Stance on SGB

    A reader asked if I could share my views on Sovereign Gold Bonds. I have already expressed my views on SGBs more than 3 years ago. Since it has been a while I thought I should revisit and see if my views have changed. Although nothing has changed from my perspective, it may still be a good investment for some. So I decided to do another post on SGB with the latest information.

    ...continue reading
  • Should You Sell Debt Or Equity For Retirement Expenses

    After reading my post on “withdrawal plan in retirement”, one reader asked why I suggested that one should sell debt mutual funds to handle the retirement expenses. In that post I gave an example where an investor has only debt and equity mutual funds and in that scenario, it is preferable to sell debt mutual funds to handle everyday expenses and then do a rebalance once in a while to get the asset allocation to the ratio that you prefer. The reason for this recommendation is quite simple. It is to avoid selling mutual fund units of an asset class at their low point. Since equity mutual funds go up and down quite a bit in value, it is possible that in some years you might sell at a low point and dent your compounding effect. I will explain how with an example.

    ...continue reading
  • Withdrawal Plan In Retirement

    After my post on lumpsum vs SIP investment, a reader asked – “Wanted to understand the other side - how to redeem from our funds after we retire? Say we have calculated the number and we have enough. But, the challenge is how to get to a withdrawal mode from accumulation mode. You have showcased how you do it in some articles but can you do it with some numbers for a fictitious person? Ex: Age 40. Amount 6Cr spread across multiple equity and debt funds and US Stocks. Now, how to withdraw to last till their age of 85 for an expense of 1L per month (corpus is 50 times)?”. I thought it is an interesting question that needs answering. I will go with the numbers given by the reader and work out an example in this post.

    ...continue reading
  • Lumpsum vs SIP

    Is it better to do a lumpsum investment or do systematic investment? Like many things in life, the answer is – it depends. There is usually no one good answer. But taking some examples we can see which works better in what situation. Of course these are just my opinions and they may not apply to your situation. Also, there may be many other cases which I do not cover. Finally, remember that whether you do lumpsum or SIP, in the long run the difference in returns will usually be miniscule unless you time the lumpsums very badly. With that out of the way, lets get to some examples.

    ...continue reading
  • Asset Allocation After Retirement

    What asset allocation should you go for after retirement? That is not a common question I hear from readers of my blog because most of them are still in the accumulation phase and don’t have to worry too much about retirement yet. But it is something that I struggle with myself from time to time since I am already retired. If you are close to retirement or are already retired, maybe this post will help. In case you don’t already know what an asset allocation means, please read my post on it.

    ...continue reading
  • Real Estate Investment vs Equity Investment

    While you know my aversion to real estate investment in India, I don't discourage anyone from investing in it. If you don't mind the corruption related to property deals, you might make more than simply investing in equity and debt mutual funds. But before you decide which way to go, make some informed decisions. In this post I will try to simplify some calculations which can help you guide in the right direction. I will also mention some risks involved in each of those asset classes.

    ...continue reading
  • Year In Review – 2019 Net Worth

    The final post in 2020 Year in Review series, is my net worth. Like last year, I took stock of my investments and asset allocation. As a reminder to the readers, the idea is not to know how much I am worth, but mainly to understand my asset allocation. Even so, it is fun to check out the net worth, so here it goes.

    ...continue reading
  • 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.

    ...continue reading
  • Let's Understand Asset Classes

    Did you know that if you only invested all your money in stocks you would get incredible returns over the long term? But what if you cannot stomach the risk where your investment could erode by 70% within a few months? Would you be able to sleep soundly if you found that your Rs. 50 lakhs investment became Rs. 15 lakhs? If you don’t like the wild roller coaster ride then you might want to diversify your investments into different investment baskets of varying risks. Generally risk is correlated with returns, so lower risk usually means lower returns too. To alleviate risk and to diversify, we need to understand asset classes. But what is an asset class anyway?

    ...continue reading