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In the 11th May 2016, edition of the Mint newspaper, as a part of an investor awareness initiative – swatantra, I answered a few questions centered on how a salaried individual could invest his bonus. As is usual in such instances, the lack of space constrains the answers one can give and in addition the editor’s sword dangles […]

With the raging controversy surrounding the restrictions the Government of India proposed in the recent budget around provident fund withdrawals, specifically with the insistence of taking up single premium annuities with matured pensions, I felt it relevant to dig into a typical annuity and understand what this product could offer retirees. The annuity, which I

In my blog of 31-Mar-15, I promised to bring to you a report card on the performance of Aroha Capital one year from then. One year has passed and it is time to take stock of our performance. As discussed in my then blog, Aroha Capital provides investment advice across the spectrum of investor risk tolerance

In the recently concluded 6th India Investment Conference conducted by the Indian Association of Investment Professionals, I was fortunate to sit through a talk by Professor John Kay, an eminently respected British economist. Professor Kay’s talk was titled “Other People’s Money…”. The talk intrigued me to delve more into his ideas of financial intermediation and I then came

An examination of various client portfolios at the end of December 2015 has shown that high-risk portfolios of our clients have significantly outperformed their benchmarks; however low-risk portfolios, while not losing money in absolute terms, have underperformed their respective benchmarks (SBI one-year FD rate or CPI rate of Inflation + 2%). The content of this

Unit Linked Investment Plan (ULIP) products have been marketed by insurance companies with great success. The tax benefits under section 80C to premium paid for ULIPs has been a significant pull aspect of the product. A ULIP many a time is essentially a mutual fund product being masked under the pretention of being an insurance

Financial Planning article in August issue of The Financial Kaleidoscope from NSDL (scroll down to page 3)

The Ministry of Finance (Government of India) has recently released a report on recommending measures to curb mis-selling and rationalizing distribution incentives in financial products in India. At the outset, I would like to extend my admiration on the way the report has highlighted and brought into laser focus the critical issues that trouble the distribution

Amidst the market mayhem we have witnessed in the past fortnight, market pundits have voiced a variety of opinions, including the likelihood of persistent volatility, the relative safe haven India offers among emerging markets, and the need to stay invested. There sure is a grain of truth in many of these opinions – but that

Amongst my rather small group of clients and at dinner table conversations with family and friends I keep getting asked on what is going to happen next to the world economy, where are the Indian markets poised? The implications of Brexit, the Chinese market crash, and the impending rise in US interest rates. As an