Decoding Personal Finance

Navigating Market Turbulence: Patience is Key to Investment Success In recent days, we've witnessed a series of unprecedented events. While the tragic Pahalgam killings of innocent civilians filled us with horror, the decisive action taken by the Indian Government and the Indian Army, aptly named ‘Operation Sindoor,’ to avenge the loss of many women who lost their partners, has instilled a sense of pride in us. The economic and financial markets have experienced significant volatility in recent months, with the Sensex plummeting to a 52-week low of 70,234 from a high of 85,978, only to close at 79,454  as on May 9, 2025. It's natural for investors to feel concerned in this tumultuous environment, especially given the uncertainties stemming from Indo-Pak tensions. The obvious question doing the round is, will the market go south wiping out investor wealth and is there cause to panic?  The questions raised are valid, and the concerns are pertinent. While accurately predicting th...

My Resolution 2024: To have NO resolution AT ALL!!   Just like every year end on the eve of the New year, I dug out my favorite diary to write my list of promises that I make to myself to workout, spend more time with family, be calmer, streamline my work timelines etc. etc.; under the head “My New year Resolutions 2024”!   As I sat down on my comfortable armchair with a glass of wine to get my grey matter to start kicking, I started going through my previous year’s resolutions made in the past years and realized that the list was just a repetition and was only being carried forward year after year with no major changes. Of course, I did try, and to be fair to myself, did manage to make my life better too with these resolutions but most were standing right there on the list being carried forward like a faithful friend year after year. Well promises are made to be broken or so I consoled myself to tackle the load of guilt that would start piling on even before the first month o...

                                      Why is my Mutual fund Under performing even though the Financial Market seem to be doing well? Since the last year and a half, many investors are puzzled when they look at their mutual fund portfolios.  If you are one of those who has a well diversified portfolio (which is the way to go), you would find that some of your funds are doing extremely well whereas there are some others that despite the financial markets going up, are giving dismal returns leading to the obvious and an uninformed question that; " why am I even investing in these slow performers?" and "why not invest everything into the leaders rather than the laggards?" Curiously, many of these under performers had been performing above par and the lag is seen only if the  investment has been recent(about 1-2 years old). Surprisingly same funds, if purchased about 5-7 years ago are sho...

  4 MUST HAVE FINANCIAL HABITS  Wealth creation and effective money management is an art that very few are able to crack. It  is easy to discuss but difficult to implement.  Probably that is why there are more advisors and less actually wealthy people!  So what is it that people do differently? When it comes to money, many people make very common but crucial mistakes that make all the difference in wealth creation and wealth destruction. These mistakes can prove to be expensive as they hurt the present and their financial futures if not corrected in time. Here are four good financial habits that must be incorporated into your life to improve your current financial status and secure your future.   Set a budget and stick to it! Budgeting is an important habit that can positively impact your financial well-being. To make changes and ensure that you live within your means, use your budget to understand your expenses better. Distribute your expenses into re...

  RBI puts a pause on further Rate Hikes: What does it mean for you?   In the bi -monthly Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy, post the three days of deliberation by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), RBI chose to press the “pause” button on further interest rate hikes for now. After a series of rate hikes (5 in total) and an increase of 2.5% in the repo rate, this move came as a surprise to many. The surprise was understandable, given that the inflation has still not cooled down to comfortable levels and in the West, the FED has actually increased the Interest rate by 0.25%. The Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends to other banks and is considered the base rate for other rate increases. On Thursday, RBI kept the policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.5%, the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate unchanged at 6.25% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate unchanged at 6.75%. A rate hike pause, when th...

Should I be concerned about my Mutual Fund Investments going down? As the Indices, remaining true to their essence go on a roller coaster ride, the usual concerns of investors(even the long term kinds) surface yet again. I Don’t blame them! After all it does require a lot of discipline and mind control to be able to digest your gains getting lower by the day. It is easy to blame the stock markets and compare the returns to other investment products like the Bank Fixed deposits which for now are giving better returns.  However, this comparison is not justified.  For one, while one is a fixed interest instrument giving regular payouts, the other gives capital appreciation and you can’t compare these two different things on the same parameters.  Secondly, a year or two back (when possibly you invested) these FD’s were certainly not as lucrative and were offering returns in the range of 5-6% (Post tax returns were even lower) while the stock markets posted better returns. Int...