I have hosted these Smiley Icons on my personal web site (www.satpathy.in). You can use them anywhere without any restrictions as long as you adhere to the following:
Enjoy!
In this post I will provide links to some of the best web sites for Indian Mutual Fund information.
Value Research is an independent provider of investment information. It was started by Dhirendra Kumar and is your best source of reliable information about Indian Mutual Funds. If you are serious about investing in Mutual Funds then you should take a look at these guys. They have a superb print magazine called Mutual Fund Insight. You can read a sample issue online. MFI is an investment that is worth it's weight in gold.
PersonalFn is a personal finance and investment web site from the Quantum Group. They have another interesting web site called Equity Master.
Money Control is a financial web site from the TV18 folks. Tons of useful stuff and tons of irritating adverts.
Money Control has a ton of tools and articles. Do spend a little time on their web site. I use FireFox with the AdBlock Plus plugin to nuke the advertisements on their web site. As a result their pages load faster and I don't have to deal with irritating adverts flashing all over the page. Heaven! I love FireFox!
AMCs
Links to the AMC web sites. Good for Fund information etc. Do check what Value Research says about a fund before you buy.
Phew! 33 AMCs currently in India!
Much has been written about building a mutual fund portfolio. You can try Money Control, Rediff, Value Research, PersonalFn etc for tons of good articles on the subject. However, there is a common problem with all these articles. They give you a ton of funda but don't really tell you how to go about building a portfolio.
This post is the first of a series of posts I will do on the subject. In these we will look at the various factors involved and we will actually build a portfolio(s).
To start, we will assume the following:
Investing for:
Lets look at each investment target:
Retirement
Assuming a retirement age of 60, we have 25 years to go. This is a very long time! So we can have a pure equity (diversified) portfolio. More on this later.
Children's College & Higher Education
Assuming two children with say a difference of 5 years between them, we are looking at a time range of 10 & 15 years (say). Again a long enough time frame for a pure equity (diversified) portfolio. More on this later.
Floating Fund for Periodic Large Expenses
This one is trickier. Let us break it down a bit. Let us assume we will use this portfolio to build up a corpus over a fixed period and then empty it, starting again for the next block. Let us assume we will use blocks of 3 years each. Now 3 years is a short time frame but still adequately long enough to have a significant equity exposure. But we are definitely not talking about a 100% equity exposure here. Also, this would typically be our least priority among the three portfolios we want to setup.
Given the above we can settle for a 60 - 40 or even a 70 - 30 equity - debt distribution. This is easier said than done! We will have to do some homework for this one!
____________________________
Now lets us look at some concepts:
Risk
I have not spoken of "Risk" so far. Risk is a relative term. It varies from person to person. And risk is a perception rather than an quantifiable entity. That is, we cannot say something like "my risk appetite is 25%" or "my risk appetite is low / medium / high" because it does not make sense. What is low risk? No such thing exists!
So what are we talking about here? Risk to me is about calculation. Note that one of our key assumptions is about the quantum of money that is available for investment every month. If you are squeezing your finances to come up with this amount, then you are taking risk. If this amount is coming from your income after your regular expenses (household, tax saving, insurance, loan payments, financial buffer etc), then your risk is low. Low mind. There is still the risk of losing the money you are investing. But that does not put your family and lifestyle at immediate financial risk. Rather the risk is spread out over a longer period and hence more manageable.
Return
Okay. Now for the interesting part. And the dangerous part. One of the first things we need to understand when designing a portfolio is what kind of return we can generate. The euphoria of the last few years has people dreaming of "doubling their money in a little while". This is only a pipe dream. Pleasant to dwell on but a chimera nevertheless. It is very important that we understand the kind of returns we can expect from our portfolios.
Historically the BSE SENSEX has returned about 18% per year. This is an average value of course. There have been bad years and good years. However this 18% figure is good estimate of the kind of returns we could expect. But then "past performance is no guarantee..." etc etc. So for our purpose let us assume a return of 15% per annum.
Targets
Ah!. How much? Big question. No straight answers. All I will say at this time is that we need to have a target before we can proceed. For the time being let us throw some numbers out:
Do these numbers make sense? Not at this time. They are just numbers. But we will go with them for the time being. Later I will revisit the topic of setting targets and show you how to do a good job of setting reasonable targets.
Last Words
So far I have only laid out some assumptions and touched upon three items, namely Risk, Return & Targets. I have made some statements about portfolio structure but have not elaborated further. I will come back to each of these topics later.
In the next post we will look at stitching these things together.
Simplifying Personal Finance, one of my favorite blogs, has a very good post about calculating EMI. There is a follow up post about using MS Excel for the same calculation.
I have created a simple Excel sheet for this purpose. Just enter the loan details and the EMI figure will be calculated for you.
AnandTech seems to be the first to take an iPhone apart. Go see for yourself before the Apple legal folks get to it.
For the past year or so I have seen my monthly electricity bill rise from about Rs. 300/- to about Rs. 1700/-. This increase has happened without a corresponding increase in the number of electrical appliances in the house. In fact, I have replaced all incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs and the old fridge has been replaced with a new one. No other change in appliances & consumption patterns.
And yet my bill has increased by a factor of 5!
I was somehow not surprised when I read about other people at work having similar bill increases. It seems to be very common to have had one's bill doubled or tripled.
In my quest for answers I visited the local APTRANSCO sub station at Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad. There I met an official called Venkatesh. This person asked me about the number and nature of appliances I use at home and then finally directed me to another APTRANSCO employee called Jagadeesh. I called the number I was given and Jagadeesh came to take a look at the electric meter in our apartment complex. He pronounced it okay and told me that I should have an electrician take a look at the wiring in my flat. He also told me that he knew a good person and would bring him over.
Well, this electrician did come over today (July 1, 2007). Along with Jagadeesh. They poked around with the meter for a while. When I asked them to look at the wiring they had a whispered conversation among themselves and then informed me that they had a solution to my electrical woes:
"We will replace the meter with a older, rotary type meter, one with a plastic body. No body from TRANSCO will come to inspect. You should not tell anybody about this. The new meter will work 60 - 40. That is, it will suppress 40% of whatever bill you have. If somebody inquires, then just claim that this is the meter that has always been present. Cost Rs. 3000/-. Plus baksheesh for now, say about Rs. 200/-"
By now I had figured out that I was being conned. I ended up paying 150/- to these APTRANSCO employees to get rid of them, with the promise that I would call them tomorrow about the change of meter.
I have no intention of hacking my meter or changing it illegally. Now I am looking for ways to measure my electrical consumption independently of the APTRANSCO meter installed in my flat. Any ideas?
ABANDABAG
(uh ban' da bag) n. The suitcase that keeps going around and around the luggage carousel.
ABRACADAVITY
(a bra ka dav' it ee) n. The unexplainable phenomenon of having a toothache disappear the moment you walk into the dentist's office.
ABSORBIMAX
The point at which a sponge starts spreading around liquid instead of soaking it up.
ABZOT
(ab' zaht) n. The device in a currency changer that determines whether a bill is too wrinkled or not.
A.C. ARIA
(ay cee ahr' ee' a) n. The dull hum of fluorescent lights.
ACELLOYELLOS
(a sel' oh yel' oz) n. People who speed through caution lights.
ACCIDUE
(ax' ih dew) n. Small pile of broken glass, chrome, and other debris that remains at the scene several months after an accident.
ACCOMOMAMMADATION
(a kom' o mam' uh day' shun) n. The inconspicuous manner in which a woman adjusts a fallen bra strap.
ACCORDIONATED
(ah kor' de on ay tid) adj. Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time.
ADAM 69
(ad' um six tee nyn') n. Two cop cars parked in opposite directions exchanging information.
ADHOKUM
(ad' hok um) n. In commercials, the belief that because the actor is wearing a white lab coat, he must be an expert.
AEROBICROACHER
(ayr oh' bi kroach ur) n. A person who gradually gravitates toward another's space while exercising.
AEROBUCKS
(air oh' bux) n. The money you paid to join a health club that you stopped going to after the first month.
AEROMA
(ayr oh' ma) n. The odor emanating from an exercise room after an aerobics workout.
AEROPALMICS
(ayr o palm' iks) n. The study of wind resistance conducted by holding a cupped hand out the car window.
AETS
(ehtz) n. Greek symbols on water fountain handles.
AFFEINIC
(a feen' ik) n. The panic which overcomes you when you realize your coffee cup is empty, and the meeting just started.
AGE OF CLAUSABILITY
(ayj' uv klaw' za bil' ih tee) n. The point at which we stop believing in Santa.
AGONOSIS
(ag uh no' sis) n. The syndrome of tuning into "Wide World of Sports" every Saturday just to watch the skier rack himself.
AGREGENDA
(ag ruh jen' duh) n. Events you write in your appointment book but forget to attend, or just dread going to.
AIRCAPPED
(ayr' capt) v. To be temporarily crippled when the airline passenger in front of you drives his seat back into your knees.
AIRDIRT
(ayr' dirt) n. A hanging plant that's been ignored for three weeks or more.
AIREPT
(ayr' ept) n. Fear of wiping out an entire shelf of souvenirs with one's luggage in an airport gift shop.
AIREY CAREY
(air' ee kare' ee) n. The guilt felt after using the electric hand dryer in a public restroom because it keeps running long after your hands are dry.
AIR LASER
(ayr' lay zur) n. The stream of high-velocity air above your airplane seat that can be adjusted to: (a) sting your face, (b) sting your ear, (c) sting your hair.
AIR LOIN
(ayr' loyn) n. Unidentifiable serving of meat given as dinner on airplane flights.
AIRPLAUSE
(ayr plawz') n. Gratuitous ovation awarded a pilot on completion of a safe landing.
AIRPUNT
(ayr' punt) n. Any of a series of kicks that advances one's baggage toward the airport counter.
AIRSUPIAL
(ayr soop' ee al) n. On an airplane, the pouch in front of you that holds the airsickness bag and in-flight magazine.
ALCATRASH
(alk uh' trash) n. The garbage floating in the San Francisco Bay.
ALEXASPERATION
(al ex ass' pir ay shun) n. Forgetting to give the final "Jeopardy" answer in the form of a question.
ALFABETORATE
When looking up words in the dictionary, silently reciting the entire alphabet to find the letter you need.
ALFALFABET
(al fal' fuh bet) n. Backward letters used only on clubhouse doors.
ALFRED HITCHCOOKING
(al' fred hich' cooh king) v. Continuously stabbing at a block of frozen vegetables to make them cook faster.
ALKASLUDGE
(al' kuh sludj) n. The white powdery residue that remains in a glass after you drink one of those fizzing antacid medications.
ALL-TEMPA-CHOICE
(all temp' uh choice) n. Trying to decide whether to put a stranger's wet clothes in the dryer or to leave them in the washer in an empty laundromat.
ALPHAFLUB
(al' fuh flub) n. Any mismatched letter on a movie marquee (i.e., Fetal Attraction, Running Sacred).
ALPOGOALIE
(al po go' lee) n. Any dog smart enough to use its paw to pin down a dog dish.
ALPOLECTIC FIT
(al' po lek' tic fiht') n. Convulsive state of a dog upon seeing you arrive home in the afternoon.
ALPONIUM
(al po' nee um) n. (chemical symbol: Ap) Initial blast of odor upon opening a can of dog food.
ALPOPUCK
(al' po puk) n. Any empty dish pushed around the kitchen floor by a dog trying to get the last morsel.
ALPOSAPIEN
(al poe say' pee an) n. Dog that looks more human than canine.
ALTEATRAZ
(al tee' traz) n. The small leaves that manage to escape from tea bags.
ALTICHEWD
(al' ti chewd) n. The point during a flight when ninety percent of the passengers are yawning and contorting their jaws in hopes of regaining normal hearing.
ALTIPULP
(al' tih pulp) n. The few remaining magazines (Poultry Digest, Ultra Triathlete, etc.) you come across when you go to the rack for reading material while in flight.
ALUMINERD
(a loom' ih nurd) n. One who attempts to smash a beer or soda can with his foot, but who doesn't quite center the blow-thus sending it flying across the room.
AMAZINGRAZIN
(uh may' zin gray zin) n. The ability to cut a piece of cake with a little plastic fork on a flimsy paper plate while holding a big drink, a cute little napkin, and a cup of nuts.
AMBIPORTALOUS
(am bih port' ahl us) adj. Possessing the uncanny knack for approaching a set of double doors and always pushing the locked one.
AMBIVIGLANCE
(am biv' ih glance) n. The half-smile and semi-wave you give someone you think you know, but aren't really sure.
AMPLIFICATION
(am pli' fi cay' shun) n. The act of having the checker embarrass you in front of the entire supermarket by checking the price of a personal item over the loudspeaker (i.e., "Sam, how much is the Ex-Lax?")
ANACEPTION
(an a sep' shun) n. The body's ability to actually affect television reception by moving about the room.
ANAFONDICS
(an a fon' diks) n. Exercising to a workout album at 16 RPM.
ANAGATHA
Any mysterious item that appears on your desk.
ANANANANY
(an a na' na nee) n. The Inability to stop spelling the word "banana" once you've started.
ANCESTORY
(an ses' tor ee) n. Grandparent's theory that no matter how rotten your life is, they had it worse when they were your age.
ANCHORITY
(an chor' ih tee) n. A group's final, hard-fought decision on what toppings to order on a pizza.
ANDRE AGGASSEAT
(ahn' dray ag' ah seet) n. The really tall chair the tennis umpire sits in to get a bird's-eye view of the court.
ANTALIXIC
(ant a lik' sic) n. One who passes over licorice jellybeans.
ANTENNAEEEING
(an ten' ah ee' ing) n. When the hair on your arm touches the hair on someone else's arm.
ANTICIPARCELLATE
(an ti si par' sel ate) v. Waiting until the mailman is several houses down the street before picking up the mail, so as not to appear to anxious.
ANTICKED
(an' teeked) n. The feeling you get when you see something you used to own but threw away-which now goes for $90 at a flea market.
ANTSPANTSERGETIC
(ants pants ter jet' ik) n. A city jogger who feels compelled to stand in place and run furiously when he comes to a stop light.
ANXIETEE
(angs eye' it tee) n. A golfer's nervousness when teeing off on the first hole.
APPCRAMLICATION
(ap kram li kay' shun) v. Squeezing vital statistics (such as name and address) into the miniscule space provided on a form.
APPLAFLAMMAPHOBIA
(ap la flam uh fo' bee uh) n. Fear that upon departing for vacation, you've left an appliance on that will burn the house to the ground.
AQUABLOCKS
(ah' kwa blox) n. Ice cubes that aren't quite "done" but that you use anyway because you don't have time for them to fully solidify.
AQUACOUSTICS
(ak wa koo' stiks) n. Sound waves in the bathroom that enable anyone to sing on key.
AQUADEXTROUS
(ak wa deks' trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.
AQUAGORY
(ahk' wa gore ee) n. The horror stories you hear from mothers who tell you not to swim after you've eaten.
AQUAIT
(ah' kwayt) n. The time allotted at the drinking fountain for the warm or "old" water to flow before you can drink the cold or "new" water.
AQUALIBRIUM
(ak wa lib' re um) n. The point where the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect height, thus relieving the drinker from (a) having to suck the nozzle, or (b) squirting himself in the eye.
AQUAMORTIS
(ak wa mor' tis) v. Continuing to water a plant weeks after it has died.
AQUELLO
(ah kwel' oh) n. The brilliant yellow that distinguishes all waterproof materials.
ARACHNIDIOT
(ar ak ni' di ot) n. A person, who, having wandered into an "invisible" spider web begins gyrating and flailing about wildly.
ARG (AUDIO RETINAL GYRATION)
(ay ahr gee) v. To move the head in a circular fashion while attempting to read a rotating record label.
ARENASNEAK
Embarrassment experienced after moving to a more expensive seat at the theatre or a sporting event, and getting caught.
ARPING
(ar' ping) v. The act of rotating one's head in an effort to read a record label.
ARROGAMATICS
(aer oh' guh mat' iks) n. Bevy of celebrities who don their own "personal scent" and then name it something overblown and frivolous.
ARROWNEOUS
(ayr ow' nee us) adj. The quality of one who drives against the arrow in a parking lot.
ASCOT DU JOUR
(ass' kot da jhur') n. The businessman who tucks his designer tie between the buttons on his shirt during lunch, thus preventing soilage.
ASHTRACTION
(ash track' shun) n. The point at which you stop paying attention to what a person is saying and start wandering just how much longer the ash at the end of his cigarette is going to grow before it falls into his lap.
ASPHILATION
(as fil' ay shun) n. The feeling of suspense experienced when viewing a cigarette with a long ash that's ready to fall off.
ASPIRBAYERPERPAIRPERFECTION
(as pur bayr' pur payr' pur fek' shun) n. The ability to always extract exactly two headache tablets from the bottle.
ASPITRON
(ah' spit ron) n. The tiny brain in an aspirin that tells it exactly what part of the afflicted body to go to.
ASTEREXASPER
(as tuhr eggs as' pur) n. An asterisk with no corresponding footnote.
ATACHAHHHHH CASE
(ah ta chahhhh' kays) n. A spilled briefcase.
ATE T & T
(ate tee' un tee') n. The phone-booth phenomenon that occurs when the one page you need in the phone book is missing.
ATHELESOTERICS
(ath uh less oh ter' iks) n. The obscure sports no one really participates in except during the Olympics-skiing and shooting, synchronized swimming, and the luge.
ATTACHMINTS
(at tatch' mintz) n. Little heart-shaped Valentine candies that say "I Love You," "Be Mine," and "I'm Yours."
ATTRINYL
(a try' nil) n. (chemical symbol: At) A black, bulletproof, totally inflexible type of plastic, used primarily in covers of pay phone directories.
AUDIOSIS
(odd ee oh' sis) v. Hearing a sound you don't notice until it stops, e.g., the furnace or refrigerator shutting off.
AULD LANG DANG
(old lang dang') v. To be with the wrong person when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
AULDLANXIETY
(old lang zi' et ee) n. Experience of waking up on New Year's Day and wondering how much of a fool you made of yourself.
AUTOAUTHORATION
(ot' to auth' or ay' shun) n. Any exasperating attempt made through a car window to ask the driver in the next lane if you can get in front of him.
AUTOBLIVIAN
The unfamiliar twenty-mile stretch you drive hoping to see a recognizable building to confirm you're not really lost.
AUTOBONDING
(aw' toh' bond ing) v. While on the road, the compulsion to wave at the person next to you because they're driving the exact same model car.
AUTOCHONDRIAC
(aht' oh kon' dree ak) n. The knowledge that at any moment you'll have to take your car in for a major repair, even though you just got it back from the mechanic.
AUTOCRYPTIC
(ah' toe krip' tik) n. Personalized license plates that require careful scrutiny to decipher. (These are particularly distracting to the driver behind the vehicle displaying them.
AUTOLAUNCHE
(ah' to launch) n. When everything falls out of the glove compartment as you open it.
AUTONESIA
(ah toe nee' zha) v. To forget where you parked your car.
AUTOPIA
(ah tow' pee uh) n. The secret and hopefully safe place valet parkers take your car-and where you would have parked on your own had you known where it was.
AUTORATING
(aw' to ray' ting) v. Talking to your car on a cold, wintry day, begging it to start.
AUTOVENGE
The satisfaction of seeing the driver weaved in and out of traffic arrive behind you at the next light.
AVANT GARB
(ah' vant garb') n. The formerly fashionable, but now useless, clothing that is hard to part with (i.e., bell-bottoms, love beads, disco shoes).
AVISTIFIED
(ay viss' ti fyed) n. Bewilderment experienced when the valet parker asks you for a description of your car, and you can't answer because it's a rental.
AVIWASTE
(ay' vih waste) n. The white lines remaining in the sky long after an airplane has disappeared.
AWSLICE
(aww' slice) n. The first slice of a wedding cake. The one which ruins the design and causes everyone to sigh.
AZUGOS
(as' you goes) n. Items to be carried upstairs by the next ascending person.
I love Sniglets. I met my first Sniglet when I was in school. It was the following:
ANANANANY
(an a na' na nee) n. The Inability to stop spelling the word "banana" once you've started.
I fell in love! From that day I have collected Sniglets.
You ave guessed right. A Sniglet is a word that does not appear in the dictionary but should.
I will start posting from my collection on a regular basis. Do check back.
Thanks to Phydeaux3 I have added a new Archive Calendar to the sidebar of this blog. Complete instruction's on Phydeaux3's blog.
Phydeaux3, you rock!
I am planning to write about personal finance & investing in India. The focus will be on Indian Mutual Funds, Insurance and other topics of interest.
Stay tuned.
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