Inflation | wealthymatters

The Yield Curve

April 6, 2011 5 Comments

The yield curve is a graph that plots the yields of similar-quality debt instruments against their maturities, ranging from shortest to longest. The yield curve is is also known as the term structure of interest rates. As yield curve shows the various yields that are currently being offered on debt instruments of different maturities it helps investors quickly compare the yields offered by short-term, medium-term and long-term debt instruments.

The yield curve can take three primary shapes. If short-term yields are lower than long-term yields i.e.the line is sloping upwards, then the curve is referred to a positive (or “normal”) yield curve. Below you’ll find an example of a normal yield curve.

Please Help Me Understand Gold

March 12, 2011 7 Comments

I graduated in 2000.In the same year I made my first purchase of gold.Since then I’ve been watching the price of gold.The first thing to attract my attention was the relentless upward movement in the price show in the graph below:

Logic suggested that what goes up in price must come down.So I tried looking for the historic prices of gold to try to see if there was a cycle . Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Precious Metals Tagged with CHF, commodity, cycle, demand and supply, depreciation, DOLLEX-30, fiat currency, Gold, Gold Investment, Gold Price, gold standard, historic price, hoarding, Inflation, Inflation Calculator, INR, Money, oil shock, postaday2011, Pound Sterling, Rand, RandomBlog2011, real money, recycling, sensex, South Africa, USD, Yen

Inflation Calculator

January 22, 2011 24 Comments

Inflation affects the purchasing power of a currency.So the one lakh rupees of last year does not buy the same amount of goods and services as the one lakh rupees of today.To find out exactly how much a given sum of rupees of the yesteryears would have been able to purchase in terms of today’s rupees or vice versa we can use this nifty calculator at http://www.yetanothersite.com/inflation-calculator-for-india.htm .Also by assuming an inflation rate we can project how many rupees we might need in future to buy something which costs a certain amount today.

This calculator is a great help in financial planning.We can use it to estimate how much something might cost in future.So by feeding in today’s rates and an array of inflation rates we can estimate how much we need to put aside to buy a house in the future or to pay for a child’s college education or just to retire, depending on various inflation scenarios.As an additional check on our projections we can feed in the data from our parents or grand parents time and check it against today’s prices.So if we know for a fact that our parents managed to retire comfortably on xyz rupees we can take the same number xyz, assume an inflation rate and project it out to our own retirement horizon.Then if we have the same lifestyle as our parents in retirement we too should theoretically be able to enjoy our retirements.

This calculator can also help us estimate the real returns on our investments.So if we bought a house for x rupees 10 years ago and we know its resale value today,we can project out the inflation adjusted rate for x rupees and compare it with the resale value.Similarly we can use this calculator to find out the real returns on any investment avenues we might be considering.We could also key in the data for various assets we have purchased over time and see how inflation has treated assets of various classes.

Do play round with this calculator,the insights it will provide are priceless.

PS: for the missing figures you no longer have to guess.Plug in the figures from here:https://wealthymatters.com/2011/06/29/some-inflation-figures/ , available courtesy CRISIL.

Filed under Theory, Tool Kit Tagged with Calculator, Inflation, Inflation Calculator, Real Returns

Company Deposits – Caveat Emptor

January 20, 2011 1 Comment

When inflation is high and interest rates on term deposits and bonds are low, or when fixed income instruments start offering equity like returns during liquidity crunches, company fixed deposits become tempting. Here are a couple of things to consider to rein in your greed.

1.No one became a billionaire via company deposits, unless he owned the company taking the deposits, so hold your horses.Company deposits can be tax inefficient, so think twice before sticking your in money here.

2.A company FD is an unsecured debt so if a company is liquidated, FD holders are paid after debenture holders and commercial lenders. By then there might not be enough to pay back the principal, much less interest. Liquidation proceedings take time so even whatever little money might be returned to you will take a while to come. So avoid companies with accumulated losses. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets Tagged with Company Deposits, Company Fixed Deposits, Fixed Income Instruments, Inflation, Interest Rate, Paper Assets, RandomBlog2011, Rating, tax, unsecured debt

Running The Interest Rate Race

January 19, 2011 2 Comments

In inflationary times fixed income instruments may not be such a great idea , especially if the interest rates are just not that high.But there is no way we can avoid these instruments.

1.We need them to add steadiness to our portfolios especially when the stock markets show volatility.

2.We need them to park the money we plan on using within a definite time horizon.

3.We need them again when we have to route a steady stream of payments into another investment and want to simultaneously avoid both the risk of a capital loss due to a short term investment in a mutual fund and the low returns of a liquid fund.

In such a situation we just need to find the highest possible interests which our funds can earn in a given time over and above the rate of inflation while simultaneously reducing the risk of capital loss. Read more of this post