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• Simple web-based calculator for a single goal
• Comprehensive Google-sheets based calculator for all of your goals
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Articles

Behaviour (10 articles)

• Don't stop investing when the markets are down

  A common piece of advice given by many people is to stop investing when the stocks markets are down. This article explores if this advice makes sense.

• Why you should chase your target goal corpus instead of returns

  Many investors are obsessed with returns. This post shows a different target to chase to ensure the purpose of investments is met.

• How long does it take to earn what we spend on?

  This article introduces a simple budgeting tool that shows how much time it takes to earn something using our hourly wage.

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Budgeting (11 articles)

• How to review your sinking fund to always have money since cost of goals are increasing?

  This article shows you how to review your sinking fund so that you can keep pace with the inflation of your periodic expenses and short-term goals.

• Does the 50/30/20 budgeting rule work in India?

  This article shows you if you can apply the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule for investing for your goals in India.

• A health insurance premium fund: who needs it and why

  This article shows you a better alternative to paying premiums every month or quarter as well as manage when premiums increase over time.

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Children (12 articles)

• Case study: how a family in their mid-30s with a newborn kid can FIRE and invest in real estate?

  This article shows how a double-income couple with a newborn child can invest for their future goals of FIRE and real-estate investment.

• Why parents should invest for the downpayment of their child's first home?

  This article explains why parents should add a new goal in their financial plan to save for their child’s first home in a major metropolitan city.

• What is the best way to invest for your child's college education?

  This article shows you the right way to invest for your child’s college education with the result backed by historical data.

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Set Goals (27 articles)

• How to map your mutual funds to your investment goals?

  This article shows how investors can map their various investments, like mutual funds, FDs, NPS, stocks etc., to different goals.

• SMART goals: how to create an emergency fund

  An emergency fund is essential to protect yourself from unexpected problems where a lot of money needs to be spent. This article will show you how to create one step-by-step.

• SMART goals: investing step-by-step for buying your dream home

  This article offers the steps for identifying, quantifying and investing for buying your dream house.

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Loans (9 articles)

• How does an overdraft loan like SBI Maxgain work?

  This articles describes overdraft home loans like SBI Maxgain and BOB Home Loan Advantage.

• How does your risk profile change with a home loan?

  A home loan is a multi-year commitment to your cash flows and changes your risk profile. So how should you change your income and investing?

• Should you sell your mutual funds to buy a house?

  This article talks about the best funding mix for buying your dream home from investments and home loans.

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House Purchase (17 articles)

• How much EMI do I have to pay for my home loan?

  This article shows a handy ready reckoner for home loan EMI amounts for all tenures and interest rates along with the amount of principal and interest to be paid.

• How to file TDS for Property Purchase: A Step-by-Step Guide

  This article explains the steps for paying TDS on purchasing property in an easy step-by-step manner.

• TDS on Property Purchase: A Step-by-Step Guide

  This article explains the concept and steps for calculating TDS on purchasing property from builders, on resale or from NRIs, with and without a home loan.

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Basics (8 articles)

• SMART goals: how to create an emergency fund

  An emergency fund is essential to protect yourself from unexpected problems where a lot of money needs to be spent. This article will show you how to create one step-by-step.

• What is a Personal Accident Insurance policy: who needs it and why?

  This article explains the pros and cons of a Personal Accident Insurance policy and makes a case for getting one to safeguard your financial goals.

• Health insurance: what, why, how much to get and from where?

  This article explains why health insurance is important, how to choose one that suits your needs, the tax benefits and where to buy it from.

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Asset Allocation (20 articles)

• Should Indian investors invest 100% in equity for their goals?

  This article shows a comparison of different asset-allocation values for debt and equity for different holding periods for Indian investors.

• How have different portfolios of stocks and bonds performed in India?

  This article shows the historical performance of stocks and bonds in India since 1999 for different asset allocations.

• How to construct buckets for your retirement portfolio?

  This article explains how retirees should allocate their investments between equity, debt and cash buckets for their post-retirement portfolio.

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Choosing Investments (38 articles)

• Which is the best month to invest in PPF to get the highest interest?

  This article explains how PPF interest calculation works so that you can invest in the best month to get the maximum interest.

• What is the latest Employees Provident Fund (EPF) rate? What are the historical rates for EPF?

  This article gives you the current and historical interest rates for EPF so that you can track how the rate has moved since the 1950s.

• EPF vs. mutual funds: which is better?

  The article presents a historical analysis of investing in stocks vs. EPF since 1979.

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Mutual Funds (29 articles)

• How to clean up your mutual fund portfolio?

  This article shows you various strategies to clean up your mutual fund portfolio.

• Mutual fund report card: Kotak Gilt Fund

  This article shows the historical performance of this fund as an example of a long-running gilt fund to demonstrate the risk and return in a gilt fund.

• Gilt funds do not always go up in value. Should you invest in gilt funds?

  This article explains if Indian investors should consider investing in gilt or government securities mutual funds for their goals.

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Risk (6 articles)

• How conservative investors risk falling short of their goals

  A reader query prompted this post on the risks of not investing in volatile assets for long term goals.

• The unknown risk in NPS that few people talk about

  What should you do if there is a fall in your NPS corpus just before retirement at 60? This post details the problems and shows how to remediate the risk.

• How does your risk profile change with a home loan?

  A home loan is a multi-year commitment to your cash flows and changes your risk profile. So how should you change your income and investing?

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Portfolio Construction (46 articles)

• Where to invest your monthly income if you spend only 45% a month?

  This article answers a question about investing a certain percentage (here 55%) of your monthly income.

• How to map your mutual funds to your investment goals?

  This article shows how investors can map their various investments, like mutual funds, FDs, NPS, stocks etc., to different goals.

• How should couples invest for their goals?

  This article shows how couples should invest together for their financial goals to manage their portfolio without any hassles.

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Portfolio Review (27 articles)

• How should couples invest for their goals?

  This article shows how couples should invest together for their financial goals to manage their portfolio without any hassles.

• How to clean up your mutual fund portfolio?

  This article shows you various strategies to clean up your mutual fund portfolio.

• What are lazy portfolios and why you should implement them for your goals?

  This article shows what lazy portfolios are and how investors can quickly implement the concept to make reaching their goals more manageable.

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Insurance (15 articles)

• Term Insurance with Return of Premium: a Complete Waste of Money

  This article explains why Term insurance with return of premium (TROP) is more expensive and wastes money that you should invest instead.

• Why shouldn't you buy term insurance up to age 80? Or 100?

  This article explains why it is a waste of money to buy a term insurance policy beyond the usual retirement age of 60.

• A review of the LIC Tech Term plan in 2023

  LIC has relaunched its popular online-only term insurance plan as “New Tech Term” in Nov-2022. If you are looking for a new term insurance policy should you consider this?

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Calculator (17 articles)

• How Net Present Value (NPV) Can Help You Make Smarter Financial Decisions

  This article explains the concept of NPV - a financial tool that helps you compare investment options to use in buying insurance, SGB and in many other cases.

• How to make sure that you always have money for short-term goals?

  This article gives you an easy-to-use tool to create, save and track short-term goals to make sure that you have money to spend on them.

• Should you choose the new tax regime from 1st April 2023?

  This article describes how to use the Arthgyaan goal-based investing tool as a calculator to determine if switching to the New Tax Regime makes sense.

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Retirement (36 articles)

• How much money does this 39 year old investor need to invest per month to retire at 58?

  A quick retirement calculation for a reader query who has a good amount of corpus already saved for retirement.

• How big will your portfolio grow in retirement?

  This article gives you a glimpse of how the power of compounding creates a multi-crore portfolio in retirement.

• How to get guaranteed income in retirement by combining dividends and pension?

  This article shows how to combine dividends from an equity portfolio with pension plans to get guaranteed income for life.

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FIRE (13 articles)

• Case study: can this double income single kid family reach FIRE at 50?

  This article shows how a double-income couple with a 2-year old reach their FIRE dream at the age of 50.

• Case study: how a family in their mid-30s with a newborn kid can FIRE and invest in real estate?

  This article shows how a double-income couple with a newborn child can invest for their future goals of FIRE and real-estate investment.

• What is CoastFIRE? How to achieve CoastFIRE in India?

  This article explains the concept of CoastFIRE and lets you calculate when you can achieve CoastFIRE.

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Pension (8 articles)

• How to get guaranteed income in retirement by combining dividends and pension?

  This article shows how to combine dividends from an equity portfolio with pension plans to get guaranteed income for life.

• Understanding dividend investing: should you invest in stocks or mutual funds for dividend income?

  This article explains the concept of dividends and shows which option is better for dividend income: stocks or mutual funds.

• How to mix an SWP from an equity mutual fund with a pension plan in retirement?

  This article shows how much you can withdraw from an equity mutual fund if you have a pension plan as well in retirement.

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Market Movements (13 articles)

• Nifty above 20000: what should you do with your equity SIPs? Start, stop or continue?

  As the market keeps rising to new all-time high figures, how much returns should equity investors expect from their investments running in SIP form.

• Should you stop your SIPs now that the market has reached an all-time high?

  The article shows you what has happened in the past when the stock market hit an all-time high and what the investor should do next.

• How have different portfolios of stocks and bonds performed in India?

  This article shows the historical performance of stocks and bonds in India since 1999 for different asset allocations.

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Tax (37 articles)

• Maximizing Your Finances: Smart Moves for Your Tax Refund Windfall in India

  Expert tips for maximizing your tax refund so that you can do the best thing to do for your portfolio in India.

• How to file TDS for Property Purchase: A Step-by-Step Guide

  This article explains the steps for paying TDS on purchasing property in an easy step-by-step manner.

• TDS on Property Purchase: A Step-by-Step Guide

  This article explains the concept and steps for calculating TDS on purchasing property from builders, on resale or from NRIs, with and without a home loan.

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NRI (13 articles)

• Who is an NRI and who is not? Understanding FEMA and NRE/NRO bank accounts

  NRIs need to follow FEMA rules once their tax residency status changes from resident Indian to NRI. This article shows how to calculate the residency status based on the amount of time spent inside and outside India.

• Calculating Minimum Salaries for Indian Expats Looking to Shift Abroad

  Discover how expats can secure the right salary abroad to get a better than India lifestyle using the concept of purchasing parity.

• NRIs: How to File Your Income Tax Return on Rental Income from Indian Property

  NRIs must file your income tax return on rental income from Indian property the right way. Learn about the tax deductions you can claim and how to file your return without hassles.

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Reader Questions (6 articles)

• How much money does this 39 year old investor need to invest per month to retire at 58?

  A quick retirement calculation for a reader query who has a good amount of corpus already saved for retirement.

• How to include your property with a home loan in your portfolio?

  This article shows the right way of valuing your property with a home loan for your investment portfolio.

• How to review your sinking fund to always have money since cost of goals are increasing?

  This article shows you how to review your sinking fund so that you can keep pace with the inflation of your periodic expenses and short-term goals.

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Real Estate (6 articles)

• How to include your property with a home loan in your portfolio?

  This article shows the right way of valuing your property with a home loan for your investment portfolio.

• How much real estate should you hold in your portfolio?

  This article discusses the role of real estate as an asset class. It shows a few options for valuing and including it in your portfolio.

• Why parents should invest for the downpayment of their child's first home?

  This article explains why parents should add a new goal in their financial plan to save for their child’s first home in a major metropolitan city.

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International Investing (10 articles)

• How the government has provided relief to travellers and international investors by tweaking the LRS and TCS rules from 1st Oct 2023?

  This article provides the latest updates to the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS) rules as applicable from 1st Oct 2023.

• What is the impact of 20% TCS rule on all LRS investments from 1st July 2023?

  This article shows the impact of the new 20% TCS rule on all investments under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme from 1st July 2023 onwards.

• Which mutual fund has lower tax - international funds at 20 percent vs domestic at 10 percent?

  This article settles the question of which type of capital gain calculation is better - debt-type funds taxed at 20% with indexation vs equity-type at 10%.

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Gold (11 articles)

• Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) 2023-24 (Series II): Who Should Invest?

  Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) 2023-24 (Series II): know all the details about it to decide if you should invest.

• Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB): Which Series is Best for You?

  This article explains which Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) series should be bought from the stock market if you are planning to invest in SGB.

• The Ultimate Guide to Which Type of Gold Gives the Best Returns

  This article helps you choose the right type of gold for your long-term investments since all options do not give the best results.

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Review (12 articles)

• Mutual fund report card: Kotak Gilt Fund

  This article shows the historical performance of this fund as an example of a long-running gilt fund to demonstrate the risk and return in a gilt fund.

• A review of the LIC Tech Term plan in 2023

  LIC has relaunched its popular online-only term insurance plan as “New Tech Term” in Nov-2022. If you are looking for a new term insurance policy should you consider this?

• Should you invest in ELSS Index Funds like the new IIFL ELSS fund?

  This article discusses a new category of ELSS funds relaunched in India that are run as index funds. Should investors invest in ELSS index funds for tax-saving purposes?

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News (9 articles)

• What is the NPS Tier II default scheme? Should government sector subscribers opt for it?

  This article explains the PFRDA announcement about a new default scheme under NPS Tier II for government employee subscribers.

• Why you must complete your mutual fund nominations before 1st October 2023?

  As per SEBI rules, mutual fund investors must have nominees in their folios by 1st October 2023 or explicitly opt out. Otherwise they will face restrictions in selling units.

• What to do if you get the transactions reported by you in Form 60/61 relating to FY 2021-22 SMS from the Income Tax department?

  This article shows you what do do if you receive this cryptic SMS from the income tax department.

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Life Stages (2 articles)

• Life stage investing: how should couples manage finances

  Having a common understanding of the role of money is one of the pillars of a successful life as a couple.

• Life stage investing: how to manage finances when you are joining your first job

  This post from our life stage series shows how your finances need to be managed when you transition from being a student to joining your first job.

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NPS (6 articles)

• What is the NPS Tier II default scheme? Should government sector subscribers opt for it?

  This article explains the PFRDA announcement about a new default scheme under NPS Tier II for government employee subscribers.

• Which is better: save tax by investing 50,000 in NPS or 35,000 in equity mutual fund?

  This article shows you if it is better to take advantage of Section 80CCD to save up to 15,000 tax by investing in NPS Tier 1.

• Is NPS the right option for your retirement planning?

  This article talks about if investors should go with NPS for retirement planning or look at other options which give them more control.

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Step by step (14 articles)

• How to file TDS for Property Purchase: A Step-by-Step Guide

  This article explains the steps for paying TDS on purchasing property in an easy step-by-step manner.

• Where to invest your monthly income if you spend only 45% a month?

  This article answers a question about investing a certain percentage (here 55%) of your monthly income.

• How to check your income tax refund status?

  This article shows you how to know the status of your income tax refund from Income Tax India website.

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FAQ (6 articles)

• Frequently asked questions on Section 54F: the complete guide

  This article compiles an exhaustive list of FAQs on the concept of tax saving while purchasing a house under Section 54F.

• Frequently asked questions on NRE Fixed Deposits (NRE FD): the complete guide

  This article compiles an exhaustive list of FAQs on the concept of NRE Fixed Deposits (NRE FD).

• Frequently asked questions on Tax Deducted at Source (TDS): the complete guide

  This article compiles an exhaustive list of FAQs on the concept of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS).

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Health Insurance (4 articles)

• What are top-up and super-top-up health insurance policies? Do you need either?

  This article talks about deductible-based health insurance plans like top-up and super-top-up and shows which one you should buy and why.

• How to make a health insurance claim that ensures you get back the claimed amount?

  This article shows the steps to correctly file a health insurance claim so that it gets processed quickly and you get back as much as possible.

• Health insurance: what, why, how much to get and from where?

  This article explains why health insurance is important, how to choose one that suits your needs, the tax benefits and where to buy it from.

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Safe Withdrawal Rate (5 articles)

• How to mix an SWP from an equity mutual fund with a pension plan in retirement?

  This article shows how much you can withdraw from an equity mutual fund if you have a pension plan as well in retirement.

• What happens if you do an SWP from an index fund in retirement?

  We examine the results of running a long-term SWP in index funds for retirement.

• How long will your money last if you retire today?

  This article shows that if you decide to retire today, how long will the corpus last realistically based on real rates of return.

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Case Study (6 articles)

• Case study: how can this middle aged investor with two children plan for retirement and children's goals?

  This article shows how a single-income middle aged couple with two small children reach their retirement and children’s goals.

• Case study: can this double income single kid family reach FIRE at 50?

  This article shows how a double-income couple with a 2-year old reach their FIRE dream at the age of 50.

• Case study: how a family in their mid-30s with a newborn kid can FIRE and invest in real estate?

  This article shows how a double-income couple with a newborn child can invest for their future goals of FIRE and real-estate investment.

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