Theory | wealthymatters

The Nuances of Liquid and Liquid Plus Funds

July 10, 2011 1 Comment

Mutual fund schemes known as liquid funds /money market funds/cash funds and ultra short-term bond funds/liquid plus funds are options for parking funds for the short term.They allow for a high degree of liquidity.They are alternatives to keeping money in a savings bank account or a short term bank fixed deposit.

Liquid funds invest in money market instruments of residual maturity up to 91 days.Liquid funds have the lowest volatility in returns among all categories of mutual funds because there is there is no mark-to-market (MTM) valuation of the portfolio on a daily basis unless there is a trade in the secondary market in the underlying security .Practically there is no trade in money-market instruments and valuation of daily NAV happens on an accrual basis, i.e., by adding the coupon accrued for the day without any mark-to-market impact. Read more of this post

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Why Avoid Small Cap Mutual Funds

July 10, 2011 2 Comments

Mutual funds are largely retail investment products.They are more suitable for saving money rather than make it grow at astonishing rates.They are largely targeted at middle class investors.However wealthy investors too continue to invest in mutual funds.The advantages of getting professional investment management and not having to deal with researching stocks , trading and tracking a portfolio is too much to give up. However mutual funds investing exclusively in small cap companies are not very popular with more sophisticated investors.This is because mutual funds are not the best way to invest in small cap companies.

Consider this: There are 62 funds in Value Research’s Mid and Small Cap category. Of these, no more than six are either exclusively or primarily focused on small-cap stocks. These funds have had a patchy performance with a large amount of volatility and have been unable to give attractive returns even over relatively long periods of time. Of course, volatility is a given in any small cap portfolio because smaller companies tend to react violently to any change of mood. However, the whole idea is that the investment manager will eventually be able to build a decent base of investments in a set of small-cap companies that are on their way to growing out of the category and into being mid-cap companies. Here lies the problem. If a knowledgeable and expert investor were to do this directly, he would probably identify a handful of companies and then would slowly build positions in them.

Investing in NCDs

July 4, 2011 4 Comments

A non-convertible debenture is a fixed income instrument where the issuer agrees to pay a fixed rate of interest to the investor. An NCD cannot be converted into equity of the issuing company unlike convertible debentures.NCDs are good substitutes for fixed deposits,especially company deposits.

Debentures are of two types secured and unsecured. The debentures with a “charge” on the assets of the issuer are called secured debentures. So in case of a default by the issuer, the secured debenture holders are paid by selling the assets against which the charge was created. Secured NCDs offer lower interest than their unsecured counterparts. Read more of this post

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Edward Zajac – 94 year old investor

June 25, 2011 1 Comment

This is a story I came across in the Economic Times.It seems to be a reprint from Bloomberg.I have this story pinned to my notice board just to remind me how Dumb Money can become Smart Money.Here is a person who seems to have made good money without trying to become an expert at investing.He has accepted his lack of expertise and found a way to benefit from the expertise of the “smart money”.His method involves just looking at some basic facts before putting his money in a company.The skills required are really basic.The rest of his magic merely seems to be a result of compounding due to his Time in the Market and the wisdom that comes from experience.To follow him we don’t need to understand financial statements or master technical analysis.

Buy & hold strategy not dead yet for 94-year-old investor

NEW YORK: Stick with stocks, says investor Edward Zajac. He should know. The 94-year-old has been trading for 72 years and said he’s made about $2.5 million.

“I am a live, open-hearted investor,” said Zajac. “I’m willing to hold that stock 5, 10 years, if I have to.” Zajac, who lives with his daughter in Henderson, Nevada, bought his first stock, Petroleum & Resources, in 1937 while attending the University of Illinois. He’s invested full-time since 1968, after retiring from installing computer systems to travel the US in a recreational vehicle with his wife. Read more of this post

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Learning From Sir John Templeton

June 24, 2011 3 Comments

wealthymatters.com Sir John Templeton (November 29, 1912 – July 8, 2008) was a legendary investor and a pioneer of global investing. He took value investing to an extreme, picking industries and companies he believed to be at rock bottom, or as he called it “points of maximum pessimism.”He bought when there was blood on the streets. For example,when investors fled the New York market after the Second World War was declared, Templeton borrowed $10,000 to scoop up stocks priced at less than a dollar, often in companies that were near bankruptcy. In four years, he sold the stock, paid off the debt and pocketed $40,000—the seed money for Templeton Growth Fund, a market beater for many years.

Templeton did not care where a company was located. If it was selling below what he considered to be its asset value, and if it was in an industry or nation that was “out of favor,” he was interested in it. He was among the first to invest in postwar-Japan and among the first to sell out of Japan in the mid-1980s. He was one of the very few who invested in Peru when the communist Shining Path was running rampant, and by doing so, he reaped a fortune for his investors. Read more of this post