The most important factor driving the need to start retirement planning early is the magic of compounding. Compounding may seem slow in realtime but its long-term effects are so powerful that it forces one to plan finances decades in advance. A book …

MyGate recently paywalled the feature that allowed pre-approving deliveries up to 30 days ahead. This was handy for managing frequent e-commerce deliveries, say from Swiggy or Amazon. But now, each delivery requires individual approval, making the …

The task of filing taxes on foreign capital gains and dividend income is an involved one. If you are not careful, you could either end up in breach of tax law or end up overpaying, neither of which is pretty. Though hiring a CA can be helpful, …

Until recently, I was unaware that some people care about the NAVs (Net Asset Value) of mutual funds. I have never looked at the NAV of a fund though I have been investing in mutual funds for 12+ years. Why? Because NAV is a mere accounting number …

A common financial advice is to save 6+ months of living expenses as an emergency fund. But once you have accumulated the corpus, what is the best way to park it? There are three aspects one should keep in mind when deciding where to invest: Safety …

In the previous post, we discussed various options offered by Indian mutual fund companies for international diversification. Though convenient, they may not be the best option for everyone. For instance, if you are handling a large sum, say ₹30+ …

Today, there are multiple ways for Indian investors to diversify their portfolio across international markets. These can be divided into two broad groups: Local, India-based: Foreign assets are held and managed by the Indian mutual fund companies. …

Until recently, I was content that I had ensured enough health insurance coverage for my ageing parents. But some recent discoveries made me realise that I needed to do much more. In this post, I describe why I decided to enrol them into new plans. …

If you have a complex income tax return (ITR), it is a no-brainer to hire a competent Chartered Accountant (CA) to help with the filing. But that does not guarantee that your ITR will be error-free. In the last few years, I have consulted some …

Taxes substantially impact investment returns. But do you know that you can reduce their effect and boost returns by using the time value of money (TVM) ? Intrigued? Let’s dive in. As a corollary of the time value of money, tax that is payable in the …