investing Archives – Vipin Khandelwal

Announcing “Money and You” Workshop Bangalore

November 7, 2016October 15, 2016 by Vipin Khandelwal

Investing Workshop - Money and You - Vipin Khandelwal

More than an year ago, I started this blog with a simple objective –

to share simple actionable ideas on money and help you become a smarter investor.

Thank you for being a reader of this blog. The truth is you are the one who has made it worthwhile.

It has been an exhilarating journey over the past 1 year. I believe now it’s time to take it to its next level – to come and meet you – face to face.

There is different power in personal interactions – it propels our thoughts into actions. It provides room for discussion and discovery.

With that perspective in mind, I am happy to announce my new initiative – investing workshop – “Money and You”.

The A4 Test for your Personal Finance

August 21, 2016 by Vipin Khandelwal

Hoarders

That’s the word that defines some investors.

You will know what I mean once you know what their personal finance and investment portfolio contains.

Count the number of mutual funds in their portfolio – 20, 30, 40 upto 50 sometimes.

Then the number of stocks in their portfolio – anywhere from 20 to 100.

A whole lot of insurance policies – from a few to a dozen.

Add to all this the Bank Fixed Deposits, PPF, EPF, NSCs, Bonds, etc.

They have been literally hoarding.

It’s utterly complex.

If all these items are listed on paper, one will need several sheets.

Why do we make life so complicated? Is this greed? Is this ignorance? Effect of having several advisors? Or these investors have a different formula that appears to work for them?

I have not been able to find an answer to this puzzle.

The question now is if this is complex, what is simple?

Your Ultimate Money & Investing Checklist

October 28, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

Lately I have been receiving several questions on “where do I invest xyz amount?”. Typically, the sender wants to know the funds for starting an SIP or making a lump sum investment in mutual funds.

The issue is that this approach is half-baked. There is an attempt to jump straight to investments not understanding that there are prior steps to be completed before addressing the investment question.

Typically this results in random acts of investments (buying this and that) without knowing whether something is really a fit. Such investments can hold back your investment portfolio from delivering the right outcomes. Buying traditional insurance policies and choosing dividend option in an equity mutual fund are examples of such nonsense.

As far as money and investments are concerned, one needs to take a step by step approach. Personally, I would like to see the initial steps marked complete before the investment question is raised.

One tool that can be of great help to you is a checklist.

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!

Who should be your investment advisor?

May 10, 2016August 2, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

So, who should be your investment advisor? The mutual fund distributor, the insurance agent, the bank RM or your uncle? Let me try and get around this question by looking at the other side. But first, a story from my personal experience. The story of the Bank Relationship Manager A few years ago, I was … Read more