Vipin Khandelwal

Get rich quick schemes – the making of a scam

February 6, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

Online fraud dupes 7 lakh people of Rs 3,700 crores

This was a top news headline last week. 3 people spread a net to dupe 6.5 lakh people of Rs. 3,700 crores.

I am wondering how ‘easy’ or how ‘difficult’ it was to accomplish this. I think it was easy.

All they has to do was package it as the “get rich quick scheme” with a twist.

Buy a predefined package from the company.
Receive a steady stream of pages that you press like and links to click on.
Every action earns you money.

It wasn’t difficult to make it believable too.

The likely pitch must have been – thousands of companies want to enhance their social presence by increasing the number of users that like their page. [You see those sponsored pages advt. on Facebook.] These companies spend a lot of money to see their social worth going up.

This is an opportunity for each individual to make money in the process, including you. All you have to do is click on a link or like the page.

Easy!

The mathematics of the get rich quick scheme

The Budget Day – a common man’s appeal

January 31, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

The budget day 2017 - common man's appeal

No election, no war
not even a cricket play
next thing that gets the nation together
is the National Budget day!

Will the govt deliver this time?
there already has been much pain
expectations left high & dry
don’t want more in any other name

Celebrity Endorsement – The mutual fund industry’s wrong priorities

January 22, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

“Hey, great news! AMFI, the industry lobby of mutual funds, has been able to seek a big concession from SEBI.”

When a colleague broke this news to me, I instantly asked:

“Will it make it easier to invest in mutual funds?”

“NO”, he said.

“Will it make mutual funds simpler to understand?”

“NO”, he said again.

“Will I finally be relieved of the post sale trauma and get better service?”

“NO, NO, NO!” By now he was irritated.

“Oh! Then what is this big thing for?”

“It is not about the investor. It is about the fund industry. They finally got SEBI to relent and allow celebrity endorsement.

Soon, you will see an Amitabh Bachchan, Saina Nehwal, Virat Kohli, Vijender Kumar, Geeta Kumari Phogat talk about mutual funds and their benefits.”

“Ah!” I felt disappointed with this revelation.

The conversation ended but my thoughts didn’t.

Dhan ki Baat #1 – Make money even when you are sleeping

January 20, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

Welcome to the first edition of Dhan ki baat!

You might wonder if this is a pick on the other Mann ki baat. To tell you frankly, it is.

You know I write mainly about personal finance and investments, Dhan ki baat is the only thing I can do best.

It is said that to acquire genius and expertise, you need to work hard on the basics till they become second nature to you. That’s also called laying the foundation. I guess same is true for investing as well.

Let’s cover something fundamental today. You might have read about it before or heard from someone. It is still a good reminder.

Is investing in ETFs and index funds better?

January 11, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

This article assumes that you understand active vs passive funds. Click here to read the primer.

Index funds as well as ETFs or Exchange traded funds are very popular in US and Europe. So much so that Vanguard, the largest mutual fund company in the world, offers only ETFs.

ETFs follow a passive management style. They simply mimic the index in terms of its holdings and produce a similar return too. The cost of these funds is very less since there are no fund management charges or active trading involved.

Now, seeing the popularity of these funds, it comes as no surprise when the investor, more specifically, the NRI investor comes asking for ETFs and Index funds to invest in.

The reasoning is clear – beating an index consistently over a period of time is a difficult task. The investor is better off investing in an ETF based on an index thus save expenses and improve his returns.

Let’s test this hypothesis as of today.

What I learnt about Bitcoin?

January 7, 2017 by Vipin Khandelwal

I was late. I rushed to the boarding gate to catch my flight only to be told that it is delayed by 45 minutes.

It was 9 pm and a delay announcement was not a welcome piece of information. It never is.

I looked around to find a place to sit and just a little away, there was – one seat, next to a gentleman. He was a Japanese.

Politely, I asked him if there was someone occupying the seat. He gestured I could sit. I quickly plonked myself.

I had a good amount of time to while away. I first pulled out my phone to check messages.

“Bitcoin is selling at Rs 78k today.” Piyush pinged me.