Vipin Khandelwal 
So you had an LIC endowment policy which you have surrendered and are now wondering if you have to pay any tax on the same or not.
Or, you have a pension plan from ICICI Pru, HDFC Life and others which was not making money for you. You were naive then to buy into it but not any more. Better to put it in a more rewarding investment.
But do you know, what is your tax liability on the same?
Welcome to the first Funny Mutual Fund Show.
The Mumbai Monsoon is on full steam. It is pelting like crazy and its driving everyone crazy too. No one’s spared. Not even me.
As I watch the rains, my Funnybone came up checking on me and I got chatting.
So, here are snippets from this chat I had with my Funnybone.
Here we go!
One asset class that has always baffled me is Real Estate.
It is the first investment most of us make. Sometimes, to get a roof on the head and sometimes because “you can never lose money with real estate“.
Like all good myths, there are these stories of how ‘someone’ has made it big time in property investments.
You and I too get carried away and start to dream big. The shopping spree starts – buy a couple of apartments, commercial shops and offices and even land tracts.
We hope to have the inspiration of the genius work for us too.
Apparently, this real estate investor has been able to traverse through various real estate cycles and made money, big time.
I too want to believe that the genius does exist somewhere.
I filed my Income Tax Return for FY 2017.
The online e-filing system of the Income Tax Department has only become more convenient. Like last year, I used it this time too for filing my income tax return.
It took me less than half an hour to do it. This is how I went about it.
Have you seen Lage Raho Munnabhai, the movie?
Munna (played by Sanjay Dutt), in an attempt to impress the girl he is in love, reads a lot about Mahatma Gandhi. He reads so much on Gandhiji that he starts hallucinating. He sees Gandhiji talking to him and even offer his good counsel. In one of the high points, he even inspires Munna to take on a shrewd businessman using his favourite weapon – ahimsa or non-violence.
I loved the movie. I watched it with my friend Hemant.
Hemant was sure that he didn’t need health insurance. “This is a waste of money. I am fit and fine. I rather invest that premium money in stocks and get it to multiply. Why lose out on paying silly premium on a policy, which i will not make a claim on?” Hemant argued.
Before I could say anything, his phone rang and he excused himself to take the call. I was trying to form my argument to help him understand why it was important.
While I sat wondering I felt someone standing next to me. Surprisingly, I didn’t see anyone walk in. I wanted to ask who he was but he quickly put his hand on his lips.
Who doesn’t know about HDFC Mid cap Opportunities fund? It is one of the star funds from the HDFC MF stable.
The fund started its journey in July 2007, almost at the height of the previous bull market. Its current fund managers are Chirag Setalvad and Rakesh Vyas.
The fund seems to have done really well. The regular plan of the fund boasts point to point returns of 28.63%, 20.95%, 26.26% and 17.82% for 1, 3, 5, and 10 years respectively. (see image below)
Compared to its benchmark, Nifty Free Float Midcap 100, the performance of which is 28.32%, 16.91%, 19.25% and 11.49% for the corresponding periods. The benchmark performance excludes dividends.
Even the expense ratio of the regular plan is one of the lowest in what most of its peers charge.
It has been an impressive streak of performance, no doubt.
Yet, every time an investor came asking for advice about this fund, I would say NO.
Why? Where’s the problem?