Estate Planning in India: Wills, Nomination, Trusts and Succession Structures
Estate Planning in India: Wills, Nomination, Trusts and Succession Structures Ask ten people in India whether they have an estate plan, and most will say they do not need one yet. Ask the same ten people whether they have named a nominee on their bank account or their mutual fund folio, and nearly all of […]
Intergenerational Wealth Transfer: Structuring Assets Across Multiple Generations
Intergenerational Wealth Transfer: Structuring Assets Across Multiple Generations India is standing at the edge of the largest handover of wealth it has ever seen. Estimates from family office research put the figure at close to USD 1.5 trillion changing hands across generations over the next decade. Behind that number sit ordinary families: a father who […]
Financial Planning Under Uncertainty: Scenario Analysis, Stress Testing and Contingency Planning
Financial Planning Under Uncertainty: Scenario Analysis, Stress Testing and Contingency Planning Most financial plans are built on a single, comfortable assumption: things will go roughly the way they went last year. Salaries will rise a little, markets will average out to their long-term return, and no unpleasant surprises will show up along the way. Then […]
Goal-Based Investing vs Benchmark-Based Investing: Rethinking Portfolio Success
Goal-Based Investing vs Benchmark-Based Investing: Rethinking Portfolio Success Every year, around the time annual portfolio statements land in the inbox, a familiar question shows up. Did my portfolio do well? Most investors answer this by opening a comparison chart. Nifty 50 returned so much, my mutual fund returned a little less or a little more, […]
Dynamic Asset Allocation: When Should Investors Change Their Equity-Debt Mix?
Dynamic Asset Allocation: When Should Investors Change Their Equity-Debt Mix? Most investors pick an equity-debt ratio once, usually when they open their first SIP, and then leave it untouched for years. A 70:30 split feels comfortable at twenty-five. Nobody revisits it until a market crash forces the question. That is precisely the gap dynamic asset […]
Decumulation Strategies: How to Convert a Retirement Corpus Into Sustainable Income
Decumulation Strategies: How to Convert a Retirement Corpus Into Sustainable Income Building a retirement corpus takes twenty, thirty, sometimes forty years of discipline. Spending it well takes a different skill altogether, and almost nobody teaches it. Most Indian investors spend decades learning how to save, invest in SIPs, and chase compounding, then retire with a […]
Sequence-of-Returns Risk: Why Retirement Portfolios Can Fail Despite Strong Average Returns
Sequence-of-Returns Risk: Why Retirement Portfolios Can Fail Despite Strong Average Returns Two people retire on the same day with identical corpuses of ₹1 crore. Both invest in the same fund. Both withdraw ₹6 lakh a year to cover living expenses. Over fifteen years, both portfolios earn the exact same average annual return of roughly 5.1 […]
Longevity Risk in Retirement Planning: Building a Portfolio for an Uncertain Lifespan
Longevity Risk in Retirement Planning: Building a Portfolio for an Uncertain Lifespan Ask most people in India what frightens them about retirement, and they will talk about medical bills, or a market crash wiping out their savings just after they stop working. Few will mention the one risk that quietly decides whether every other plan […]
Liquidity vs Return: Optimising the Personal Balance Sheet Across Market Cycles
Liquidity vs Return: Optimising the Personal Balance Sheet Across Market Cycles Every rupee in a household sits somewhere on a line between two poles. At one end is cash, or something close enough to cash that it can be turned into cash without loss. At the other end is an asset bought for growth, an […]
Tax-Aware Asset Allocation: How Taxes Change Portfolio Construction
Tax-Aware Asset Allocation: How Taxes Change Portfolio Construction Most investors build a portfolio around one question: how much should go into equity, and how much into debt. That question matters, but it stops halfway. A portfolio is not judged by what it earns before tax. It is judged by what lands in your bank account […]