AVFINPAL- Your Financial Pal

  In the dynamic world of finance, creating an all-weather investment portfolio is like constructing a sturdy shelter that can withstand various economic climates. Whether the market is sunny, rainy, or stormy, a well-diversified portfolio can help protect your investments and provide a stable foundation for long-term growth. Indian stock market benchmarks the Nifty 50 and the Sensex fell over 1 percent each. The pandits are debating whether this is led by the cautious message floated by SEBI for the mid and small cap (corrected close to 5 percent today) or due to US inflation prints seeing a mild uptick in February, raising concerns that the US Federal Reserve may postpone rate cuts beyond June and but obvious this is a result of long due value migration from small and mid-caps which are overheated.  Well yes, the indices have corrected and might slide a bit more before they see some sunny days. The agenda today isn't to discuss the market movement or where the market is headed. H

A few months ago, I met a mid-aged man at a family gathering. After having spoken for a while, he confided in me that he would never in his life, waste his money on making investments, even in blue-chip stocks. Trust, me when I say I don't blame him for this notion against the equity investment as indeed equities can be brutal to your financial health if it isn't with proper thought, planning and guidance.  After having a brief discussion with him, I thought to myself that he must definitely be a conservative investor. Cut to a few weeks later when I met approached me for consultation, he very enthusiastically informed me that he had recently experienced a windfall of Rs. 50 Lakh from the sale of a late grandparent’s property.  However, most of that amount had already dwindled down, courtesy of investments in penny stocks, on an exciting holiday to the Maldives and rather surprisingly, on horse race betting. When I commented on the unlikeliness of this occurring the last time

The reality of retirement planning isn’t as dramatic as it sounds. It is, in fact, easier if you start early because you never know what befalls in the future. So where do you get started? What could you possibly do effortlessly to save for your post-retirement days and not depend on other family members?  Well, We have talked about retirement planning many times before so in this post, we won't be taking up the details regarding retirement planning. In this article, we are going to be discussing one of the most famous and most ignored retirement planning instruments NPS. Yes, you have read that right I used two contradict words in the last line but apparently, it is true. NPS has become one of the most talked-about and famous investments and retirement tools. Yet a lot of us don't know what it is actually about. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you would be at least able to judge if you took the right decision by investing or ignoring the NPS. But before we start underst

When I first learned about investing, I thought you could only buy individual company stocks or bank instruments. Subsequently and in an interesting way in my childhood, I was introduced to this new asset class altogether which was paying me a certain amount (higher than bank FDs)  periodically and was much more secured than equities.  Yes, you might have guessed it by now I am talking about "Bonds". Several times during my childhood, my grandparents decided to give me government bonds as part of my birthday present and  I was inquisitive to know more about it but my curiosity was killed by telling me it isn't a thing for kids.  At the time, I definitely didn’t understand what the phrase "face value" or "YTM" or "Cupon" meant or why I couldn’t use these official-looking pieces of paper.  I guess more video games and clothes could be a better option back then.  Cut to few years, as the value of those decades-old bonds has matured, I started re

Being a millennial has its virtues and shortcomings, but more often than not, millennials are considered to be financially indisciplined, frittering away their money on avocado toasts and lattes. Recently, one of my clients brought his son to me for a session on personal finances and investments. The main concern of the father-son duo was that they weren't able to figure out where all the salary is going and how can he be more prudent towards his finances. While having a discussion with him I realized that the issues he has been facing are common among the young professional and the main problem was lack of financial literacy and the segregation and consensus of the young generation's mindset from their parents.  So in this article, we will be discussing the aspects of finances that every young professional should consider to manage their finances in a more responsible manner (as their father would want them to). 1. Pay Yourself First:  Before you get on to pay the vendors for

People think of the investors as people who find out a lot of ways to get success: sometimes by picking up individual stocks in the share market, sometimes by choosing on to the best of the mutual funds available and few do it in some other ways too. The art of investment to create wealth and accomplish long-term objectives has been recognized time and again. But not everyone avails full advantage of it. What distinguishes the most prosperous investors from the rest are HABITS. Well, it is quite appropriately said by someone that there are a lot many ways to do something, and the same philosophy applies among investors as well. When we see the lives of some successful investors, we would always come across some similarities in all of them and that is what we are going to talk about in this article further on. Contrary to popular belief, successful investing is not about “timing” the market or choosing the “best” funds. In fact, truth be told, the perfect market entry or exit time is qu