Why investing in EQUITY IS important during all periods of your investment journey

 Continuing my earlier blog, my thoughts on investing , particularly the parts of the investing which needs attention, I would like to share here.
First, the goals for which investing is being carried out, are to be defined.
It can be 1) Educational goals for your children
               2) Purchase of a dwelling (House / Flat)
               3) Marriage expenses of the children
               4) Last , but the most important, to provide for income, in the post retirement life.
After the goals and the amount required for them are determined ( I know these things are estimates, which may need periodic revision, but that can be tackled later), the instruments through which the corpus aimed are to be determined.

                               Now, during working life, investing can be a little aggressive. Growth is to be                                 given a  premium, but at the same time, stability of the portfolio is also                                         important..

                           Here is where the asset allocation is important. We must have a clearly                                 defined strategy, both during working life and in the  post retirement  period.

                            While the general consensus is that we should strive for growth during                                     working  life, for the stability of portfolio, the percentage of investment in                                 bonds/ debt side  is also of equal importance. 

                          One can very well have a have an 80:20 asset allocation to Equity vs Debt                                 during working life. Many can be found to have only equity in the portfolio in                                the never ending quest for returns while ignoring safety.

                           This is to be continuously reviewed and the percentage is to be revised ,                                    some  years ahead of your retirement to maintain a comfortable ratio.

                            However, in post retirement life investing also, a definite percentage of the                                 corpus is to be retained in the equity to give the total corpus a decent                                       enough    growth rate , that enables it to beat the inflation and have a positive                             real return  (Growth rate- inflation).

                         This is very important during the post retirement period in which people give                             more emphasis on safety of the capital. While I agree safety of the capital is                               very important, one cannot go overboard and invest only in safe instruments.

                         A balance, that is , the ratio, with which you are comfortable, is to be                                         maintained.

                          This is personal finance and the ratios as well as the corpus are very                                         personal  and vary from person to person.

                       The important thing is to maintain a balance and not go overboard in either                               direction, not being too aggressive in working life, while accumulating corpus,                            nor to be too safety oriented in post retirement phase denying your corpus, a                             much needed " kick" in the growth rate.

                       I will return with my thoughts on the subject shortly.

Visit after a long time- Thoughts on investment

 It has been 15 years since i wrote a blog on this site.

High time I return to pen my thoughts.

I feel that the awareness about investing , more specifically, goal based investing

is very less in India.

I find people asking " which is the best avenue to invest?"

If i say, if you don't have expertise, mutual funds is the best vehicle ,

I am asked " which is the best scheme to invest in?".

First and foremost, I must acknowledge that I have been influenced to a 

great extent by www.freefincal.com , next by Facebook group Asan Ideas for Welath, 

then i was trying to learn a lot from videos of Prof M Pattabiraman, "Pattu" the brain

 behind freefincal.com site and one of the prinicpals behind FB group,   Asan Ideas for

 Welath, (AIFW).

So, friends, if you want to start the investment journey, apart from the above sources,

please look for my thoughts, in this blog.

Will start posting from now.

Why is the pedestrian traffic like this in Trivandrum?

Traffic in Trivandrum is chaotic in the best of the days and downright hellish at worst.

But the contribution of pedestrians to the chaos is in no small measure.

There are contributing factors to it, I agree, like lack of foot path , well marked zebra crossings etc.,. But that does not mean the public can take things for granted and cross whenever and wherever they want.

I would like an impartial observer to come and watch the traffic in Thampanoor , Statue and Medical college areas, not only in the peak hours but also in the non-peak hours too.

Pedestrians cross whenever and wherever they want with scant regard to the oncoming traffic and the signals! Almost one is forced to think that they do not value their life at all ! In any traffic signal, you can bet your last rupee that the pedestrian will choose to cross the moment the signal turns in favour of the motorist. If you give him a piece of your mind , you will get a reply back " Entha, vandiyilu brake ille (Don't you have brake in your vehicle)?

It is a good thing to hear that the traffic police is planning to conduct awareness classes for the pedestrians too.

Hope better sense prevails.

What is the real picture on AIrlines in India today?

On reading about the proposed Pvt airlines strike and Capt GOpinath's utterances , one is really confused.

AirDeccan under Capt Gopinath, thouhg it was posting losses, was expected to break even after a slightly longer time frame. This kind of lowcost airlines will have break even later as per their business model.

But see Capt Gopinath's comment on Airlines forming a cartel and fixing an artificial price and now crying. Is this the true picture?

I also read an article by Mr Francois Gautier in rediff.com about the airfare in India, where he was mentioning that the fare from Chennai to DElhi is more than the fare from Paris to Newyork! If this is the kind of fare that we are charging , then there is more stuff to the utterances by Capt Gopinath.

Really AIrlines are not revealing the true picture and the more quickly it becomes clear , it is better for the general public.

And ,last , but not the least. With less than one percent of public using this service, Govt should not give a bailout package out of common man's hard earned tax money and that includes Air India too.

IPL T20 and GNU/Linux - My thoughts

IPL T20 Cricket tournament is halfway through the initial rounds. After seeing the initial matches, me , a die hard Test Cricket Votary, is convinced that this will kill Test Cricket. Test cricket is what constitutes cricket and all its strengths. T20 is not cricket , probably an attempt to warp cricket into a soccer-ized mould to package it to delirious public. And this has proven that whatever majority wants need not be right. Maybe this is blasphemous to say in a democratic set up, but still what goes by majority need not always be right. After all majority of people chose Hitler.
Or should I rephrase this: Whatever ordained by majority , the most poular , or the most voted need not be right.
In the same way, MS products might be used by 95 % of people. MS Wallahs have cannily identified the market and gave products which will tax the user the minimum. If you concentrate on that, they knew that people will take anything. But GNU / Linux , you have to work, you have to read man pages, rely on yourself more and then the community. That is why it is not getting to be popular. Anyway a few rough edges are being mended by Ubuntu, but I think readers may get the point I am driving at.

My experience today with Paramount Airways!

I am not a very frequent traveller. Maybe I travel by air about 6 to 8 times an year and mostly by INDIAN only because it is on Official tours. I am travelling for the past 5 years by air.

Today I travelled by Paramount Airlines and had a chance to experience the service rendered by them


The details are given below:
Date of travel :12/11/2007
Flight No: I 7473
Seat No : 11 F
Sector : Chennai - Trivandrum

The reception at check in counter itself was warm. Then the facilities at their speciailsed lounge were also very good.
The announcements were very clear, neat and crisp. The delay of 20 minutes (1600 hrs changed to 1620 hrs) was announced well in advance and repeated at regular intervals so that passengers coming in at various times into the airport did not miss it.

The aircraft itself ( blue bird) was found to be in a neat condition. The interiors were pleasant . More than that, the warmth of the staff receiving us was very real . The one with folded hands welcoming us with warm smile was really different from the automated plastic smiles and cursory good mornings or good evenings I encountered till date.
The food served inside was good, tasty and appropriate for the time at which it was served. The service was quick and efficient.

Why I felt all this is because today morning only I boarded DECCAN for Trivandrum - Chennai sector. The irony is that I paid Rs 890/- more for the DECCAN ticket and was given a complimentary water bottle (!!!) inside the aircraft.

The sad thing I felt was that while DECCAN Flight in the morning was full, Paramount flight had roughly around 25,30 passengers only. Yet flight was operated and service was rendered. Had it been DECCAN , probably they would have cancelled the flight and left us to fend for ourselves!
Let me think that this sparse passenger population is an isolated incident. I wish Paramount airlines all the best and more and more growth and prosperity!

Hooray! Delhi HC observations on Politicians

It was a really heartwarming to see the news item in which Delhi HC has told politicians that if they feel so much threatened that they need not come out of their homes or offices.

Superb! For so many years we common citizens put up with the hardships caused by these obnoxious creatures but now judiciary has taken up cudgels in defence of the common man.
I think somebody should go to Delhi and perform a " Milk abhishekam" to the judge who pronounced this observation.