Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

Planning investments is a challenge for everyone, and more so for senior citizens. Choosing the right investment product per se is a difficult task for many investors. The task is even more challenging for senior citizens as they will have a limited corpus, while their need for income from the corpus does not remain constant. While a pension plan takes care of a regular source of income, life is not easy if the investor does not have a regular source of income. As a result, senior citizens have to do the balancing act between risk and returns. Needless to say, the risk element has to be as low as possible for this class of investors. Safety over returns As pointed out earlier, safety of capital has to be the underlying principle of investments, and risk can be a component only when the investor has the comfort of liquidity. For instance, the monthly income needs have to be met through fixed return products. Some fixed return products Senior citizens’ savings schemes: T...

The stock market is on a down hilll trek & the sentiment is gloomy. You may be looking for better options, but there are some segments you should steer clear from at the moment AVOIDING bad investments is as important as finding good ones. Post market crash, portfolio’s worth toady is not even a third of investments. With some genuine advise, people could have saved from investing at a wrong time. To make sure that you don’t fall into the same trap, we prepare a list of five segments you should refrain from investing in right now. REALTY & TECH STOCKS Stock market is a place where people with experience get money and people with money get experience. Words of wisdom, undoubtedly. But what should be your approach when it comes to where not to invest on Dalal Street? If analysts are to be believed, realty and technology sector stocks should be treated with extreme caution. The key to investing in the stock market is to avoid relying on hearsay. Given the volatility in the rupe...

Dividend-FD combo give you handsome return INVESTORS can earn as high a return as 20% per annum by simply investing in shares for dividend and then re-investing those dividends in fixed deposit to earn interest. We made a portfolio of six stocks, which pay higher dividends than the average and then estimated the return —which an investor would have earned if he had invested in these stocks on April 1, 2003, and held on to his investments till April 1, 2009. The reason why we chose April 1, 2003, as the starting point is that the Bull Run was just about to start then and therefore, prices were very low, resulting in high-dividend yield. And today, we have come full circle as there are so many stocks which are beaten to such an extent that the dividend yield is as high as 10%, in some cases even more. The six stocks, which we have chosen are Tata Steel, Varun Shipping, HCL Infosystems, Chennai Petroleum Corp, Graphite India and Allahabad Bank. Assuming that an investor had bought ...

IF the bull run during the last few years had encouraged retail investors to shed their apprehension regarding equities, the subsequent downturn has made them retreat to traditional safe havens like gold and fixed deposits. While it’s not surprising, this short-term view may prove to be detrimental when investing for a long-term goal such as creating a retirement corpus, which necessitates an investment horizon of at least 15-20 years. For those who are comfortable with this kind of horizon, there is no need to look beyond equities, as it is the ideal wealth creation tool, feel market experts. As per data provided by IDFC Mutual Fund, top-rated diversified equity funds have outperformed other asset classes over a period of 15 years. Between January 1994 and January 2009 , they delivered a return of 14.22% against 6.09% from gold, 8.64% from fixed deposits and 9.97% from real estate. Equities have always earned a premium over other investments options over a longer period of ti...

By number of funds as well as money invested, one of the most important type of mutual fund in India is something that is generally called a Fixed Maturity Plan. Of the 1920 mutual funds that are currently available, no fewer than 805 are FMPs, as they are known. And of the Rs 5.61 lakh crore that is invested in Indian mutual funds today, 68,000 crore is in FMPs. FMPs are generally used by companies and large investors as an alternative to bank fixed deposits. In general, these funds resemble FDs more than they do other mutual funds. These are closed-end funds, meaning that one can only enter them when they are launched and exit them when their pre-stated term is over. Actually, one can exit them earlier, but generally after paying a load that is high enough to be a serious discouragement. More importantly, fund companies offer an ‘indicative return’ for FMPs. Unlike other types of mutual funds, FMPs are run in such a way that this indicative return actually has some meaning. FMPs inve...

Fixed deposits (FDs) of companies that earn a fixed rate of return over a period of time are called Company Fixed Deposits. Financial institutions and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) also accept such deposits. Tenure: The tenure can vary from a minimum period of 15 days to five years and above, but short tenured FDs continue to be the best bet. Even if a 3-year-long FD looks lucrative, it’s advisable to pick a short-tenured one. In a falling interest rate regime (like the current one), it is advisable to invest in longer tenure FDs with higher interest rate. Security: These deposits are unsecured, i.e., if the company defaults, the investor cannot sell the documents to recover his capital, thus making them a risky investment option. Therefore, always pay heed to the rating before putting money into any such FD. Category of investor: Senior citizens, shareholders and employees are generally entitled to a higher rate of return (say, 0.5%) than other general category retail inves...

At a time when stock markets zigzag, what would be the right investment arena? Corporate FDs or equities? THE sharp fall in the equity markets has changed a lot of things including India Inc’s fund raising plans. This, in turn, has changed investment avenues for retail investors. Till about a year ago, the only way for retail investors to participate in a company’s growth was to buy equities either in the secondary market or invest in primary issues (IPO) or rights issue. However, the primary market option currently is almost closed with the virtual drying up of the IPO market. Bearish sentiments and lack of investors’ confidence due to wild volatility, on the other hand, has decreased the participation of investors in the secondary market. In such a situation, India Inc is now approaching the potential investors through fixed deposit (FD) schemes. In fact, FD schemes are not new to India Inc. Earlier, every major company had an FD department and it was considered to be one of th...

When it comes to investing, it is commonly observed that investors tend to replicate the investment strategy followed by their colleagues, friends or relatives. It is generally believed that an investment strategy that has worked for one will also work for others. However, this is the wrong approach, simply because 'one size does not fit all' while investing. Instead, investors need to build an investment portfolio that is right for them. Building an investment portfolio requires the investor to put in a fair degree of thought and time. The need for the latter is only accentuated in light of the overwhelming choices available. In this article, we present a 4-step strategy that will help investors build an investment portfolio. 1) The investment objective The first step should be to identify the investment objective and tenure. In our view, no investment must be undertaken without defining these parameters. For this, you need to ask yourself - "what am I investing for"...

I want to take a loan of Rs 1 lakh to buy a used car. How much will the car cost me at an annual interest rate of 8 per cent for four years? The compound interest formula can be used here to calculate the final cost, which would include the loan amount and the interest paid. The amount that is actually paid for Rs 1 lakh is Rs 1,36,048.90. The total amount of interest charged for borrowing Rs 1 lakh is Rs 36,048.90. Formula: Future value = P(1 + R)^N Type in: =100000(1+8%)^4 and hit enter. P: amount borrowed; R: rate of interest; N: time in years. Also used for: Calculating the maturity value on lumpsum investment (bank fixed deposits and National Savings Certificate, for example) over a fixed period at a certain rate of interest.

If you fall under this category, go for a conservative asset mix & adequate cover while securing your finances IN TODAY’S world, it’s a Herculean task to fulfill all your family responsibilities. It takes all your savings and emotions to make sure that your kids find their feet in today’s highly competitive world. And when these fledglings finally spread their wings and move on, you find yourself emotionally and sometimes monetarily drained. Take the case of 51-year-old K D Sharma. Within a few months of their daughter’s wedding, their son also decided to move out. The couple suddenly realized that now they are financially strained. Their life-long savings been utilized for securing the future of their kids and it appeared that they have to start afresh. So, if you are also undergoing through the same pangs, here are some tips that can help you chart out a new chapter after you’re done with all your responsibilities. ADEQUATE COVER Insurance advisors suggest protection against earl...