For Whom Wealth Matters
April 5, 2012 9 Comments
In case you ever wonder how much higher or lower FD rates are likely to go here is a table showing historical rates.Personally I consider 8%pa as a sort of cut off point and have an aversion for FDs of any length when rates are below 9%.So I try to book them for longer tenures when rates are higher and ride out the lean periods.When FDs are lean pickings the PPF is likely to be a better bet. Read more of this post
February 3, 2012 Leave a comment
Below is a nice write-up I found here: http://www.numbersleuth.org/trends/.It has some pretty sage advice if you like to gamble or speculate.
Personally,while my brain can grasp the fact that Warren Buffett’s style of investing is the best way to make and keep money,I find it hard to control my urge to speculate.I deal with this problem by clearly delineating what resources I will gamble with and what I won’t ever hazard ,come what may.Next I’m willing to do what ever I need to to better my odds.Do read the article below;I have highlighted the important part.It will remind you of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s advice to buy with conviction.
January 22, 2012 Leave a comment
ELSS =Equity Linked Savings Scheme ,is a special category of mutual funds that invest predominantly in stocks. They are very comparable to diversified equity funds. The only differences between regular diversified equity funds and ELSSs are the 80C tax benefits on investments upto 1 lakh and the lock-in period of 3 years,incidentally the least among all 80C tax-saving avenues. It means that once you invest in an ELSS , you cannot withdraw your investment for a period of 3 yearsHowever,the DTC proposes to phase out the tax breaks on ELSS , so this avenue may be closed in the coming years.But, you can still invest in it this year and get tax breaks.
The best ELSSs have not done too badly during downturns and have given excellent returns in boom times.The reason has been the lock-in period. These funds have not suffered due to large scale redemptions when the market sentiments have tanked.Moreover, fund managers keep a portion of the mutual fund corpus, around 7-10%, as cash,even in good times, so that they can meet all redemption requests. This cash is invested in very short term debt investments, generating meager returns. This impacts the overall returns of the mutual.Since the fund manager of an ELSS knows that funds cannot be withdrawn for 3 years, he can invest all the funds in equities and keep less money as cash and provide good returns in the long term. Read more of this post
January 18, 2012 Leave a comment
For any drop in interest rates by 100 basis points, or 1%, very broadly you can see a capital appreciation of 5% on a 5-year bond, 7% on a 10-year bond and 10% on a 15-year bond.The higher the duration of the bond, the greater the capital appreciation.
Since bonds like NHAI and SBI come from the government, they track benchmark 10-year Gsec rates.The 10-year yield now stands at 8.25%. Suppose this were to drop by 100 basis points over the next one year, then it is possible that the NHAI 10-year bonds with a face value of Rs 10,000 could gain Rs 700 per bond and trade at Rs 10,700 and the 15-year bonds will trade at Rs 11,000. Thus for a 15-year bond, an investor could make a capital gain of Rs 1,000, or 10%.
However it is better to buy these bonds with an objective of holding till their maturity, and not merely for capital gains. This is because bond markets are not well developed in India and show very little activity. So, exiting many bonds could be a problem. Also there are very few products with a maturity of 10 to 15 years, hence the market prices may not reflect the true price.
January 18, 2012 2 Comments
Balanced funds are mutual funds that invest in both equities and debt instruments.They normally keep their equity component in the range of 60%-75% and the rest in debt products or cash.Some balanced mutual funds are considered to be more aggressive in that they have a larger equity component.For example, HDFC Prudence keeps its equity allocation around 75% in most of the cases and rest 25% in debt or cash. However,others like Reliance Regular Savings Balanced are considered less aggressive and have a lower equity component around 60-65% .
From the taxman’s point of view, any mutual fund which has equity component more than 65% is considered as an “Equity Fund” and so long term capital gains from sale of balanced mutual fund units too are exempted from tax after one year just like in the case of pure equity mutual funds . Read more of this post
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