Why am I not investing in NPS?

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NPS - why i will not invest in national pension scheme

Well, as you would know, under section 80CCD, an additional Rs. 50,000 of investments in National Pension Scheme or NPS can be claimed for tax deduction. Basically, you do not have to pay tax on investment upto Rs. 50,000 in NPS.

So, my friends have been calling me asking “Should I invest in NPS? There is an additional tax saving on Rs. 50,000 of investment.”

My simple answer to them is “I would not invest in NPS“, to which I receive surprised uhhs, ahhs and a variety of other expressions. In some cases, they strongly put forth their arguments as to why I am wrong.

It is amazing that tax savings still continue to drive our investment decisions. In this case too, the die hard fans of NPS are actually not the fans of NPS, but merely hunters of more tax benefit. 

The ‘bhakts’ of this benefit leave no stone unturned to make you believe that this is the best reason that one should invest in a high lock-in product like NPS.

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10 money mistakes you should avoid for sure

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10 money mistakes

“What money mistakes have you made?”, my friend asked casually.

“Well, tons of them”, was my confession.

“Really.”

“Oh Yes!”

“Would you share them?”

“Of course.”

10 money mistakes that you should avoid

Here are the money mistakes that I made, some of my friends made but probably you shouldn’t.

  1. Let money sit idle in a bank account earning 4%
  2. Go swayed by greed and get rich quick schemes
  3. Excessive use of credit card, revolving payments and interest piling up
  4. Invest all savings into fixed deposits
  5. Do not have goals and a plan
  6. Put all money into stocks and trade
  7. Make tax-saving your reason to invest
  8. Do not make yourself aware about money
  9. Try to time the market – when to invest, when to get out
  10. Don’t know the status of your portfolio

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Investment in knowledge pays the best interest

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This is my 100th post on this blog.

What started as a humble attempt to share ideas, insights and tools on money and investments with my fellow readers, has now turned into a journey of knowledge and discovery.

This blog has its purpose in sharing knowledge that is informative, useful and actionable.

And for this 100th piece, I would continue with this purpose.

Usually we talk about money, personal finance and investments here but as you would agree that is not the boundary of knowledge. It extends far and beyond. In fact, it would be incorrect to limit knowledge.

My personal belief is that true knowledge is a mix of several subject areas, learnings from the brightest minds from various fields, which then is applied in real life and thus, sharpened by experiences.

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Building MF Portfolio – Avoid these 5 mistakes!

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MF Portfolio - Mistakes to avoid in mutual fund portfolio

This is my MF portfolio – am I right?

I often receive reader queries on the blog stating their choices of schemes that should be a part of their winning MF portfolio. They then want to know if it is alright or any change is required.

I recently received another one. As I said this is not the only one. There have been several such in the past. So, this reader had been investing in the following funds and now wanted a ‘second opinion‘ if these funds continued to make sense.

Here is the list of fund scheme names with their options.

  1. ICICI Prudential Export & Other Services Fund  – Dividend
  2. SBI Pharma Fund – Dividend
  3. UTI MNC Fund – Dividend
  4. ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund – Dividend
  5. UTI Transportation & Logistics Sector Fund – Dividend
  6. Canara Robeco Emerging Equities Regular – Dividend
  7. Reliance Small Cap Fund – Growth
  8. MOST Focused Mid cap 30 Fund – Growth
  9. Reliance Pharma Fund – Growth

The reader was concerned that his portfolio had a loss, that is, the current value of the investments was less than the amount he had invested.

He also made it amply clear that he was looking for ‘maximum returns‘. He mentioned that it was his hard earned money, which to me means that he does not want to take a lot of risk.

And you know what – his retirement is only 5 years away!

This is a perfect textbook example of how one can make all the mistakes in one go.  I believe we all have lessons to learn here.

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Financial Goals – What gets measured, gets done

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Financial Goals

“What gets measured, gets managed“, is a quote often attributed to the renowned management guru, Peter Drucker.

A slightly different version of it says “What gets measured gets done”.

I will let you pause here for a few moments and reflect on these words.

…

…

…

Done?

Great!

I am sure as executives, professionals and business persons who have to manage teams, projects, businesses and P&Ls, you have come to hold these words as a mantra.

In any of the roles, you work towards a certain goal – a definite reaching point that involves use of time, effort and resources. A goal sets everything in motion in a particular direction

Now the simple point is unless you measure, you will not know how far have you reached, what has been the result of the efforts and what corrective actions need to be taken so that you make the right progress towards the goal.

Makes sense?

Personal Financial Goals – what gets measured, gets done

But is that an approach you apply to your personal life as well, say your health, your financial goals and investments? 

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How to track mutual funds portfolio all in one place?

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Track mutual funds portfolio - investment tracking - Unovest

How should one track mutual funds portfolio – all of it in one place? This has been a common problem expressed by many investors. Any why not?

There are 44 mutual fund companies in India along with 4 registrar and transfer agents who handle customer transactions.

If you happen to have investments in just 4 mutual funds, that is, HDFC, Quantum, Sundaram and Franklin Templeton, you are going to have an interesting time tracking all these investments with multiple folios in one single place.

Add to that investments in the name of family members and you have got a multiplication of your tracking troubles.

So, you are looking for a solution that enables you to:

  • Track mutual funds portfolio – all investment folios including of family – in one place
  • See a quick summary of your investments
  • An analysis of your investment holdings
  • Track your capital gain and loss for reporting in your income tax returns
  • Tag your investments to specific goals and monitor the progress

Is there a solution where you can do it all and more?

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