Vipin Khandelwal

Insurance: All that is wrong with it and you!

September 15, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

I was aware that there was a lot of mis-selling happening with insurance products. I had heard horror stories in the media. I had seen my investor clients being made targets. At one time, an agent even tried to sell to me something that I really didn’t need.

For clarity, mis-selling means giving you a product that is not fit for your needs. For example, a ULIP (with a high degree of exposure to equities) is sold to a retired person who is looking for regular monthly income.

So, I knew about mis-selling but I had no idea to what extent this mis-selling was taking place, until I read this.

Debt mutual funds: Which ones to invest in?

April 17, 2016September 11, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

In an earlier post, we built a winning equity mutual fund portfolio. This time we will look at debt mutual funds and see which ones can best deliver on your investment goals.

As I set out to select debt mutual funds, I realised this huge challenge staring at me. If selecting equity funds was like running a marathon, selecting debt mutual funds is akin to climbing Mount Everest.

Why?

Investing to be a millionaire: What matters and what doesn’t?

September 8, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

A young friend of mine just began his working career.

We met for lunch one day. One of his questions to me was, “Vipin, how can I be a millionaire? And I mean a dollar millionaire. How should I be investing to reach that goal?”

Hmm. It wasn’t the first time I heard a question like that. Who doesn’t want to be rich, a millionaire?

To answer my friend’s question, I ran some quick calculations. Now, he has set his goal to be a millionaire, that too a dollar one. For ease of understanding, a million dollars at the exchange rate of Rs. 66 to a dollar would mean about Rs. 6.6 crores.

Whoa! That needs some work. Let’s crack it. Here we go!

Do you know these 5 smart tips for using credit cards?

September 5, 2015August 31, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

Recently, a friend called me. She sounded a little upset.

For the very first time, she had missed paying up her last credit card bill. This was very unusual given that she is very particular about paying her bills on time. But such things do happen once in a while.

Her question – “Vipin, I have received the current credit card statement. It has a late payment fee as well as an interest charge. What do I do now?”

“Well, don’t worry!” I responded.

This is not the only case related to use of credit cards. I have come across several others – most as first hand experiences.

Do you know? – Direct Investing in mutual funds is super easy now

September 2, 2016August 27, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

UPDATE A single platform for investing in direct plans of mutual funds – Unovest is now ready.

Create your FREE Account now.

Know more – FAQs.

Continue reading the article.

My problem with investing in mutual funds – is it yours too?

For most of us, investing in mutual funds is a big pain. First, you have to get through the ordeal of selecting the right few funds from amongst the hundreds on offer. Then, you have to actually make those transactions. For me, the latter is a bigger issue.

Talking of transactions, I am not a fan of paper. Not just for the sake of the environment but also for the inconvenience it creates. Too many forms, cheques, signatures, KYCs and what not.

Also, I want to route my investments directly to the mutual fund. In other words, I do not want to use a distributor. I will give the reasons in a while.

So, I have always been looking for a solution that makes it super easy and convenient to manage my mutual fund investments and allows me to transact easily. I am sure you too look for the same.

Stock market crashes by 10,000 points – What will you do now?

September 5, 2015August 24, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

What’s happening to the stock market?

The stock market indices world over are having a free fall.

The Indian barometer, Sensex, too has shed over 1600 points in just one day, which is a close to 6% drop in its value.

Why? Many pundits are busy deciphering the reasons but in this complex world, it would not be easy to find out what exactly has led to this.

In “Against the Gods – The Remarkable Story of Risk“, a book by Peter L. Bernstein, he mentions that a flutter of a butterfly can cause a typhoon halfway around the world.