Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

Many people looking for a health insurance policy for their families wonder if they should take a family floater or individual policies for different family members.  A family floater policy, as the name suggests, offers to provide health insurance to the entire family unit in a single policy. In some cases, this policy can also include family members beyond the nuclear family of parents and young children, like grandparents. A floater policy is like any health plan that comes with a list of benefits and exclusions, the only difference being that it considers the entire family as one unit. So if one member of the family makes a claim in a policy year, the cover reduces by that much on the entire unit or family for the remaining policy year. The biggest benefit of a floater policy is that it is cost effective because it insures the entire family under one sum insured limit. The insurance premium on a family floater policy is determined by the age of the old...

Mutual fund withdrawals are subject to tax depending on the category of the funds you own. Debt funds and equity funds are taxed differently. Systematic Withdrawal Plans (SWP) redemption is as per first in first out (FIFO) method wherein units first bought are assumed to be redeemed first. Hence your costs for the purpose of taxation will be considered as per FIFO method. If you redeem/withdraw your investments in equity mutual funds after 12 months, your investments would qualify for long-term capital gains tax. Long-term capital gains in excess of Rs 1 lakh are taxed at 10 per cent currently.   If you sell your equity mutual fund investments before 12 months, you will have to pay a short-term capital gains tax at a flat rate of 15 per cent. Debt mutual funds qualify for long-term capital gains tax only if investments are held for three years. The long-term capital gains tax on debt funds is 20 per cent with the inflation indexation benefit on your original investments. If debt ...

Those lacking financial discipline often fail to increase their SIP amount in sync with their rising income. Step-up SIP , also popularly known as top-up SIP , is an automated facility through which SIP contribution can be increased by a predetermined fixed amount, or a fixed percentage, at periodic intervals in line with your financial goals and level of income. The investor has to opt for this facility - increasing amount/percentage and intervals - right at the time of enrolling for the SIP. The periodic intervals can be quarterly, half-yearly, or annual. Few AMCs still don't have an option of automatically increasing the SIP amount, so you have to manually make a transaction of increasing the SIP amount. Difference between Conventional SIP and Step-up SIP Conventional SIPs do not allow investors to increase their contribution during their SIP tenure. The only alternative is to start a fresh SIP or make lump-sum investments. As a result, those lacking financial discipline often ...

Canara Robeco Bluechip Equity Fund Manager: Shridatta Bhandwaldar As a fund house, Canara Robeco focuses that capture compounding stories which have visibility, sustainability, and longevity of earnings. In this, Bhanwaldar focussed largely on stories which fall under consumption theme. Due to this, the scheme's portfolio had companies which are well-established, have strong competitive advantages in their respective sectors and entry barriers in those sectors will be high. Selecting companies based on these parameters has paid off and upped the scheme's performance. Companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Britannia and L&T have enhance the scheme's performance. Also Bhanwaldar stayed away from sectors which were draw-downs. He stayed away from sectors such as metals, telecom and PSU banks. SIPs are Best Investments as Stock Market s are move up and down. Volatile is your best friend in making Money and creating enormous Wealth, If you have ...

Here's a list of the seven new hybrid MF categories . Hybrid MF Schemes Category Scheme Characteristics Conservative Hybrid Fund Investment in equity & equity related instruments- between 10% and 25% of total assets; Investment in Debt instruments- between 75% and 90% of total assets Balanced Hybrid Fund* Equity & Equity related instruments- between 40% and 60% of total assets; Debt instruments- between 40% and 60% of total assets. No Arbitrage would be permitted in this scheme Aggressive Hybrid Fund* Equity & Equity related instruments- between 65% and 80% of total assets; Debt instruments- between 20% 35% of total assets Dynamic Asset Allocation or Balanced Advantage Investment in equity/ debt that is managed dynamically Multi Asset   Allocation# Invests in at least three asset classes with a minimum allocation of at least 10% each in all three asset classes Arbitrage Fund Scheme following arbitrage strategy. Minimum investment in equity & equity related instrumen...

Edelweiss Large cap 1/3 year return:   15.6 /10.14% Top 10 holdings (%):   37 LOOKING FOR companies with secular growth stories coupled with sharp portfolio management relative to the benchmark has helped the fund manager deliver superior results over the last one year. The fund also scores by having the lowest expense ratio in the large cap fund category. Decent exposure to stocks like Reliance, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS, Infosys, which accounted for a chunk of the Niftys return in the last one year, has helped the has helped the fund beat its benchmark over the last one year. SIPs are Best Investments as Stock Market s are move up and down. Volatile is your best friend in making Money and creating enormous Wealth, If you have patience and long term Investing orientation. Invest in Best SIP Mutual Funds and get good returns over a period of time. Know which are the Top SIP Funds to Invest Save Tax Get Rich - Best ELSS Funds For more information on Top SIP Mutual Funds contact  Save Tax Get...

Axis Focused 25 3 year return:   16.58%   Fund Manager:   Jinesh Gopani Top 10 holdings (%):   56.2   Top 3 holdings:   Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS THREE FACTORS have worked in favour of Axis Focused 25. One, the scheme's fund manager Jinesh Gopani has focussed on core secular growth stories. In this, he focussed on companies which have high credit rating (AAA). These companies have been naturally blue-chip which to a large extent ensured high growth given their leadership position in respective sectors. Two, he generated alpha by focussing on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and some listed companies which have a unique story to tell in a given sector in comparison with their peers. Lastly, he focused on cyclical theme wherein companies embarked on capex cycle. Key companies which have enhanced the scheme's performance are Bajaj Finance, Endurance Technologies, Bandhan Bank, Gruh Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank. SIPs are Best Investments as Stock Market s are move up an...

When it comes to debt investments there seems to be an acute aversion to any sort of volatility among investors. But that need not be the case. In the current market bond yields have seen movements of as much as 100 basis points within a month. There are chances that many investors may want to redeem their debt funds fearing fall in their returns. But what may happen is that investors may miss out on potentially improved returns at portfolio level due to lack of adequate planning. Today mutual funds offer a number of different types of debt funds that cater to the investment requirement across the segment. As a thumb rule, the longer the investment horizon, the better is one's ability to withstand intermediate volatility and, thereby, enhance expected return. Understanding price-yield movement A basic fundamental of bond investing that yield and price are inversely related may not be commonly understood. Therefore it is important that investors t...

Ask any finance professional 'should investors diversify their investments?' The answer will be a resounding yes. Diversification is a key risk mitigation strategy . Generally, we view diversification as investing in unrelated asset classes. However, diversification also means spreading your risk across geographies. Usually individuals invest all their savings in their home country. This exposes investors to country risk. That is any negative economic or political event in the country affects their investment returns. A way to shield your clients against country risk is to invest internationally.  Investing directly in foreign markets   requires expertise and is subject to investment limits. However, investors planning to diversify internationally can do so via the mutual fund route. Let us understand the pros and cons of investing in foreign funds. Advantages: Risk mitigation - Helps in providing portfolio diversification Br...

An equity mutual fund is a mutual fund that invests in stocks. They are a lucrative and interesting investment avenue present in the market today. Over the period of time, we have seen people moving from low-return instruments like NSC , Provident Fund and fixed deposits . Equity mutual funds not only help you get capital appreciation but also help save tax. There are options available under equity mutual funds which are specially designed to give you tax benefits. These funds may even provide you inflation-beaten returns in the future. Here are the reasons why you should be investing in an equity mutual fund today: 1. They are aligned with your financial goal Most of the funds are open-ended, which makes it easy to link the investments with any of your financial goals, like child marriage, child education, vacation, retirement planning, wealth creation etc. Investors can achieve their financial goals, as the schemes comfortably fit in the duration of any...

You have just got a job but you are clueless as to how to manage your money. You either spend your entire disposable income or let your savings sit on the credit side of your saving account. Either way, you are not doing the right thing. Managing money can be an overwhelming process especially when you have just started earning. You are a millennial and still celebrating the fact that you are able to afford your rent, utilities and other expenses on your own. However, if terms like savings, investment, personal finance and money management are making you anxious, then try to understand these points: 1) Setting a monthly budget Big organisations run on the simple principle of budgeting. The marketing department sets a campaign budget; the product department sets a research and development budget. Similarly, we set a budget before we think of making a big purchase. The same concept applies to our monthly expenditure as well. Write down your income and expen...

Here's a list of all the debt fund MF categories Debt MF Schemes Category Scheme Characteristics Overnight Fund Investment in overnight securities having maturity of 1 day Liquid Fund Investment in Debt and money market securities with maturity of upto 91 days only Ultra Short Duration Fund Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 3 months - 6 months Low Duration Fund Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 6 months- 12 months Money Market Fund Investment in Money Market instruments having maturity upto 1 year Short Duration Fund Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 1 year - 3 years Medium Duration Fund Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 3 years - 4 years Medium to Long Duration Fund Investment in De...

Equity has fresh competition . In volatility that is. Gilts have turned pretty volatile the last few months so much so, that at times, they behave like small-cap stocks! Debt markets have been swaying based on the season's sentiment. Analysis of the movement post August last year shows the swings, thus reflecting the changing moods of the market. A year ago, it was all looking benign to the extent that some felt the RBI was behind the curve on cutting rates. Broken sentiment A series of events and news flows dented the confidence of the markets. From fears of the government breaching the borrowing target as a result of a tight fiscal deficit target to the nervousness post Gujarat elections, all the way to the Union Budget, we witnessed relentless pounding of long-end gilts. News bytes coming out of the RBI added to the already battered sentiment. Despite a bit of fire-fighting by the government, the back of the market was already broken. The Union Budg...