Need Expert Advice?Our Gurus Can Help

Ans: Hello;

Your home loan of 12 L with 8.7%(considered fixed for calculation sake)and 20 year tenure is expected to have an interest outgo of 13.36 L

If you start a SIP of 1200 with 1% top-up each year then it will yield you a corpus of 14.55 L, after 20 years,thereby covering your interest outgo

If you want principal also to be covered for recovery through your investment then you must make a SIP of 2100 with 1% top-up each year which will yield you a corpus of around 25.56 L, after 20 years, thus exceeding your entire loan outgo(principal+ interest) of 25.36 L.

Here I have considered moderate return of 13% and recommend you to invest in PPFAS flexicap fund.

CIBIL score of above 750 is considered excellent and bank should offer you best possible ROI. Do check with other banks for best offer.

CIBIL Score calculation depends on:
Repayment history(35%)
Credit Utilisation (30%)
Credit history(15%)
Credit Mix(10%)
New Credit(10%)

My opinion is you are already in the excellent cibil rating category and should get best ROI from the bank.

CIBIL score increase happens over a period of time based on positive development on aforementioned criteria.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Happy Investing!!

Ans: You should have minimum of 6 months expenses put aside as emergency fund.

Some banks offer higher interest rate on savings account but it is subject to Monthly Average Balance requirement. (For eg IDFC First bank)

Some banks offer flexi fixed deposits, higher rate of interest with flexibility of withdrawal like a savings account but it comes with auto renewal feature. (For eg, Axis Bank)

Mutual funds offer liquid debt funds that can offer better interest rates, flexibility in withdrawal and some also offer instant redemption of 90% of corpus upto max 50K and balance corpus redemption is on T+1 working day. Mostly invests in low maturity secure debt instruments so are associated with low to moderate risk. (For eg. ICICI Pru Liquid Fund-Growth)

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: Exit on any rise. Maintain strict stop loss(348-345)to avoid further losses.

As a caveat please consult your research analyst.

Ans: Thanks for candidly sharing your goals, current income and savings/investments.

You have adequate term life cover but recommend to cover family and parents with healthcare cover of 50 L as a minimum considering increasing cost of medical treatments and rise in illnesses with age.

Your existing investments are considered as 95 L (Ignoring Emergency fund and saving account balance)

Crypto holdings are considered 0 since they are highly volatile, unregulated and not backed by any tangible asset.

1.5 Cr house reconstruction expenses 12 years hence translates into around 3 Cr considering 6% inflation.

So start a SIP of 90K for 12 years into Nippon India Multicap Fund & HDFC top 100 Fund(50:50)which may yield a corpus of 3.12 Cr(Considering modest return of 13%)

Next goal is car purchase after 6 years so initiate a SIP of 40K in HDFC balanced advantage fund which will yield a corpus of 40L considering modest return of 10.5%

Next goal is a corpus of 3-5 Cr when you will be 55 so you can do a SIP of 50K in PPFAS flexicap fund which will yield a corpus of 5.73 Cr assuming conservative return of 13%

Further important goal is corpus for child education so considering timeframe of 14 years recommend to do a SIP of 50K in HDFC Children's Gift Fund which will yield a corpus of 2Cr+ assuming modest return of 12%

Finally retirement goal of 30Cr assumed to be 25 years from now so you may start a SIP of 70K in ICICI Pru Retirement Fund Pure Equity Plan which yield you a corpus of 15.9 Cr considering modest growth of 13%.
Plus your corpus of 95 L at a modest return of 9.5% will yield a value of 9.18Cr after 25 years
So your total retirement corpus is now 15.9+9.18=25.08 Cr
Further the amount getting released after achievement of all other goals apart from retirement can be redeployed in a value based BAF(HDFC; 10% return) for residual span towards retirement goal.
i.e. 90K for 13 years --2.89 Cr
40K for 19 years--2.73 Cr
50K for 5 years----0.39 Cr
50K for 11 years---1.2 Cr
Total_-----------------------7.21 Cr

Adding this to our earlier calculated retirement corpus gives us comprehensive retirement corpus of 7.21+25.08= 32.21 Cr

Anything you get from Crypto is bonus!!

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing!!

Ans: If you do SIP of 61K in a retirement mutual fund for 10 years, you can expect achieve a corpus of 1.5 Cr after 10 years.(Modest return of 13% assumed)

You can use this corpus to buy annuity, invest in PMVVY and SCSS or do a SWP for regular payouts.

You can invest in Post Office monthly income scheme for monthly payouts(current interest rate is 7.4%; If singly held then investment limit is 9 L and for joint holding it is 15 L; 5 year tenure) at this stage.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Happy Investing

Ans: Your current savings add upto 2.745 Cr.

Assuming you keep them invested and considering composite moderate return of 8% this will grow upto a sum of 8.71 Cr after 15 years.

Ongoing investments will lead you to a corpus of 6.66 Cr after 15 years(Appropriate conservative returns considering the various investment instruments)

6.66+8.71=15.37 Cr

Retirement corpus goal 10 Cr?
Children education fund goal 2Cr?
Children wedding goal 1Cr?
Additional home(2) buy 2Cr?

Keep reviewing and rationalising your stock holdings and hedge it if necessary as per advice from investment advisor.

Consider SSY in the name of your daughter (8.2% currently with quarterly review by GOI)since it's an E-E-E tax exempt scheme.

Do consider suitable family floater health cover apart employer group coverage.

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing

Ans: I recommend you to invest in HDFC Retirement Savings fund equity plan.

It comes with a 5 year lock-in.

If you do a SIP of 50K for 15 years you can expect a corpus of 3Cr+ (14% return assumed).

As you get closer to your target transfer your gains into suitable debt fund to avoid volatility affect your gains.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: You may invest remaining 5K in Mirae Asset Large & Midcap fund

A quant fund is a type of mutual fund that uses pre determined algorithms to arrive at an investment decision. Their is no scope for human judgement in it. These funds may be good ideally but we live in a imperfect world.

I prefer to have an actively managed fund where the fund manager uses his discretion to read between the numbers and take judicious investment call.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: I would recommend you to revise the the MF combination as follows:

Nippon India Small Cap: 3500
Motilal Midcap Fund: 2000
ICICI Pru Bluechip fund: 2000
PPFAS flexicap fund: 3000

Your target is achievable in 20 years but recommend that you top-up SIP every year(15% return considered)

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing

Ans: Date of possession will be considered as date of acquisition (May 24) so this will be short term capital gain as per your slab rate.

Improvement and transfer expenses may be deducted from your short term capital gain (8L) but do consult a CA to ascertain as to what is allowed as deductible as per IT laws

Ans: Yes your target is achievable in the given time frame.(13% conservative return assumed). I am sure you have planned for some regular income after you stop working(~6 years from now) to meet the regular expenses. Please make sure you have good family floater health insurance apart from employer's group health policy if any. Insurers typically insist 3-4 years of continuous coverage after which pre existing illnesses are covered. Consider investing in SSY in the name of second daughter if possible. As you approach your target move corpus away from equity MFs into liquid or ultra short duration debt funds.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates.

Happy Investing

Ans: You may invest this corpus(3 Cr) in SBI magnum gilt fund. The 5 yr returns are best in the category.

The best part is since these mutual funds invest only in Government bonds so credit risk is nil but interest rate risk is there.

For a horizon of 3 to 5 years this is a good risk free investment option.

There is no lock-in. Also no exit load if the investment is redeemed after 15 days.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: You can do lumpsum investment for 4 Lacs in the mutual fund schemes where you are already invested.

You can do a FD with a reputed bank/NBFC for the tenure and interest payment option as desired by you.

You can buy RBI floating rate saving bonds.

Ans: In new tax regime no deductions are applicable, except 25 K extra standard deduction as opposed to 50K allowed in the old regime.

In case you happen to be in the 30% bracket, thumb rule is if your deductions are more then 3.75 Lacs then Old Regime is suitable else new regime is more optimal.

Ans: Considering that you are already employee of a bank and can get better interest rates I recommend you go ahead and invest in the property.

Both of you are earning which is positive because even if major part of your income goes towards loan repayment you have back up for regular expenses and PPF/NPS/SSY investments.

Retain that 7 Lac as your emergency fund. Add to it so as to cover 8-10 months of expense coverage.

Surely you have group health cover but consider having a separate personal family floater cover which comes in handy during job switch and any unexpected medical need arises.

I am sure you both have adequate term life cover.

All the best!!

Ans: Depends on your age, risk appetite, time horizon.

If your investment horizon is 1-3 years you may invest Balanced advantage fund

If your investment horizon is 3-5 years you may invest in equity savings fund

If your investment horizon is above 5 years then you may invest in flexicap fund.

You may do single lumpsum or spread your investments over 10 months(10Lac per month) to get some benefit of cost averaging.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Happy Investing

Ans: Hello;

It is recommended that you start a SIP of 60K in HDFC Retirement Savings fund equity plan.

After 10 years you can expect a corpus of around 1.48 Cr assuming conservative return of 13%.

Keep contributing to PPF and extend the term closer to your retirement age.

Regarding stocks I suggest you exit it and invest lumpsum in a equity savings fund as lumpsum.

Volatility in markets towards retirement might erode your gains and hit your total corpus requirement so need to be cautious and seek advice from investment advisor on the same.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing

Ans: I advise the following combination:
UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund
ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund
Nippon India Multicap Fund
Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund

All growth plans. She needs to do assessment of her risk appetite and change the combination if her risk appetite is moderate since all these are equity funds with high risk ratings.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing

Ans: Please check with your assigned EPF office. It could be an error else lodge a grievance online with EPFO. But after retirement it is better to withdraw the EPF corpus and deploy into other avenues of investments.

Ans: (12-3.14)+(5.70-2.49)
8.86+3.21
=12.07 Lacs is your LTCG

Section 54 F of Income tax act allows you to invest LTCG from other then property assets to buy real estate but there are some conditions regarding timeframe and ownership of number of houses.

For detailed clarity from legal point of view it is advisable to seek support from a tax advisor/CA.

Ans: It would be better to invest this corpus in a retirement mutual fund as lumpsum.

It may grow into a corpus of 25 Lacs by the time you will be 60.(13% return assumed)

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: Invest in NPS, PPF.

Increase mutual fund investments.

If the gold schemes are from jewellers. Be cautious and careful because lot of frauds and cheating cases have been reported.

If you want to invest in gold then best options in the order of their merit are SGBs, Gold ETFs & mutual funds, digital gold.

Best would to make investments keeping financial goals as target and planning to fulfill them.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: First and foremost stop options trading because you make few gains here and there but one big loss can wipe out all your gains and you will find yourself into more difficult situation.

Second take your family into confidence and admit your mistakes. They will scold you but also care for you

Borrow from near & dear ones and clear the personal loan.

You can keep repaying your home loan, borrowing from realatives after this.

Open an NPS account for retirement planning and contribute monthly with yearly top-up.

Invest in children fund to plan for your child's education.

Invest in PPF regularly.

Take a good health cover for yourself and family.

I am sure you might be a having a good term life plan, top it up.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing.

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: Your understanding is correct(EPS account becomes inactive after 36 consecutive months of no contribution and also stops getting interest) therefore it is better that you withdraw the EPF corpus.

Ans: First and foremost enhance your healthcare cover upto 50 L - 1 Cr since healthcare costs are rising rapidly and as you grow older you may have more risks on the health front.

You have 32K SIP spread across 9 schemes which I would recommend to rationalise as follows:
HDFC BAF: 5K
MOSL Mid Cap:6K
Nippon S Cap: 6K
HDFC Top 100:7.5K
PPFAS F Cap: 7.5K

I recommend you to triple your SIP by multiplying above break-up by 3 so your monthly SIP will be 96 K. The 3 yr 32 K sip(previous @10%)+ 10 yr 96 K sip(13%considered) will yield a corpus of 2.5 Cr+ at the end of 10 years from now

Also if you invest 60 L in a conservative hybrid debt fund or a value based BAF for 10 years it will grow into 1.56 Cr (10% return considered)

So your Total corpus after 10 years will be 2.5+1.56= 4.06 Cr

An SWP of 6% will lead to monthly payout of 2L per month(pre-tax)

Make sure to transfer your gains from equity funds to debt fund as you reach closer to your target timeframe to safeguard your gains against volatility.

Enhance NPS contributions also to 1.5 L per year, if possible.

NPS & PPF corpus will yield you the delta to beat inflation.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: If you invest your corpus of 1.07 Cr(equity MF+PF) in conservative hybrid debt fund, then your corpus may grow to around~1.3 Cr in 2 years(by the time you are 46 and want to retire).

Then you can start an SWP @ say 5% per year which will translate into monthly payout of around 55K.

The aspect of inflation is not factored into this working since their is no scope with the current situation. Ofcourse you can increase the SWP rate but in case of adverse market situations you may eat into(deplete) your corpus.

However if you plan to work for 5-7 years more and build a corpus 2.6 Cr+ then the SWP payout at 5% will be able meet your inflation indexed expenses.

Also factor in need for adequate healthcare cover for you and your family as you grow older.

Inflation considered at 6%, return from conservative debt hybrid funds assumed at 10%.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: You can invest 30 Lac as lumpsum in conservative hybrid(debt oriented) fund. Based on 5 year return yardstick Kotak hybrid debt fund and SBI Conservative hybrid fund are the 2 recommendations.

It will be better if you stay invested in this fund for 5 year and let the corpus grow. After 5 years you can expect a corpus of around 50 Lacs(10%+ return assumed)

Then you can start your SWP at the rate of say 5% per year which will translate into monthly payout of around 21K.

However if you need immediate pension then you can invest in PO monthly income scheme(7.4% rate;5yr tenure) upto 9 L in your name and another 9 L in the name of your spouse or other family member. It is a safe scheme since backed by GOI. For the balance 12 L you can do 3 FDs of 4 L each in reputed banks.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

Ans: If your employer has not made the statutory EPF contributions then you can file a legal case.

For wrong DOE, joint declaration form is the right way, if the employer is not co-operating then you can talk to EPF officials about the same with documentary evidence. They may consider it, else you can file online grievance through EPFO grievance management system.

Ans: You may invest in Post Office monthly income scheme. 5 year tenure. Monthly interest payment. Current rate is 7.4%. If singly held maximum investment limit is 9 Lac and for joint holding it is 15 Lac. It is GOI scheme offered through Posts hence comes with sovereign guarantee.

Ans: EPS = Average Salary x Pensionable Service/70

(15000X35)÷70=7500
The average salary is the basic salary+DA(Max 15K) of the employee over a period of 60 months prior to retirement. Pensionable service is the total number of years worked(Max 35 years).

Thie minimum and maximum pension that you can receive through EPS is subject to limit of 1K to 7.5K per month

Ans: You can consider investing in Equity Savings funds.

You can do lumpsum investment.

They are taxed like an equity fund (more optimal way) although they invest almost equal amount in equity bonds and arbitrage.

They are relatively less riskier then pure equity funds.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: If you surrender the policy now then assuming that by now your corpus might have grown to around 14 Lacs(approx) then you have two options:
1. Take monthly pension of around 6K per month for the tenure of your policy annuity period
2. Take 60% of your net fund value i.e. 60% of 14 Lac, so a sum of 8.4 Lac as lumpsum payout. And on the balance 5.6 Lacs you may receive pension of around 2.4K per month for the tenure of your policy annuity period.

Ans: If you surrender the policy now then assuming that by now your corpus might have grown to around 14 Lacs(approx) then you have two options:
1. Take monthly pension of around 6K per month for the tenure of your policy annuity period
2. Take 60% of your net fund value i.e. 60% of 14 Lac, so a sum of 8.4 Lac as lumpsum payout. And on the balance 5.6 Lacs you may receive pension of around 2.4K per month for the tenure of your policy annuity period.

If you keep the policy then your Fund Value will keep on growing till the vesting period(Not known)

After the vesting period is over you can buy annuity/pension for the entire fund value or 40% of Fund Value and withdraw 60% of Fund Value.

The annuity plan will be as subscribed by you during purchase of the policy.

Ans: For all those retiring after 1st September 2014, it is better to continue with existing scheme.

Ans: Since you have eligible deductions of over Rs. 3.70 Lacs it is better to go with the old tax regime.

Plz. seek help from a tax advisor/CA for further clarity.

Ans: Based on claim settlement ratio for FY 23, following is the list of top 2 health insurance providers:
1. Niva Bupa
2. Care Health

Do your due diligence and seek help of an insurance advisor, if needed.

For retirement planning you can consider investing in Retirement mutual funds(equity oriented)via SIP for 10 years. ICICI Pru Retirement fund(equity plan) and HDFC Retirement Savings fund (equity plan) are top two based on 5 yr return yardstick.

For funding child's higher education you can consider Children mutual funds via regular SIP. Top in this category are Tata Young Citizens Fund and UTI Children's equity fund based on 5 yr return yardstick.

Both these funds come with a lock-in of 5 years

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: You may consider investing in Equity Savings mutual fund to match your expectations

You can do lumpsum for the idle money and SIP for the monthly saving

They are tax efficient because taxation is like an equity fund although they invest almost equal amount in equity, bonds and arbitrage

Relatively less riskier then the equity funds

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: I presume you have endowment type life insurance policy from LIC, the returns from which are not up to the mark. If you can surrender it and take a term insurance plan then you can still save around 50K annually after factoring Term Plan premium of 20K pa, considering your current annual payment to LIC of ~70K. That translates to investible surplus of 4K + current monthly disposal income after expenses: 7K, So 11K SIP can be initiated. 4K SIP for 15 years will led to corpus of 22L+(13%return assumed) for daughter's education

If surrendering the LIC policy is not an option then you can still deploy the current balance of 7K + incremental disposable part of salary each year into a SIP for 22 years considering conservative return of 13% it can still build a retirement corpus of 1Cr+ as desired.

You can fund son's higher education through PPF but for daughter's education you need to hike investments in SSY also to 1.5L pa and for house you will need to find home loan(Use EPF partial withdrawal towards down payment)

Here it pertinent to note that you may need to increase your income in some way maybe either job change or spouse working so to have additional funds to invest for your goal fulfillment. Happy to help if you have any further queries.

Ans: I am glad to note that you have worked on your financial goals and also sought advice to fulfill them.

The current SIP investments(funds are good) of 32K per month will yield you a corpus of 27+Lacs in 5 years(13% conservative return considered) which would help you part fund payment for house/car alongwith existing corpus(40L). Surely you may look at some home loan too.

For retirement I recommend you start investing in NPS systematically every month.

It is the most tax efficient(E-E-E) way of retirement planning and can provide market linked returns, based on your risk appetite and age.

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Happy Investing

Ans: Form 13 is the formal request for the transfer of PF from your previous trust-managed account to EPFO.

Download and submit it to your current employer. Your current employer will verify and forward the form to the trust managing your previous PF account. The trust will then process the request and transfer the accumulated PF amount to your EPFO account.
You may check the status of your transfer request on the UAN member portal.

Ans: Date of possession will be considered as date of acquisition (May 24) so this will be short term capital gain taxable as per your slab rate.

Improvement & transfer expenses may be deducted from your capital gain(8L) but do consult a CA to ascertain exactly what is allowed as deductible as per IT laws.

Ans: I do not recommend dividend (IDCW) funds to fulfill need of regular payouts because their is no assurance about it.

If you invest this amount lumpsum in an equity fund with growth plan then your corpus after 30 years could grow to ~1 Cr. (~13% return considered).

Therefore I recommend you go with the growth fund.

Ans: Current monthly expenses of 2 Lac will become 4.8 Lac after 15 years considering inflation(6% considered)

You would need corpus of 15 Cr at 70 years which can provide you post tax(30% bracket) income of 4.8L.(Annuity rate of 5.5% considered).

Ans: I would recommend you to go for term life cover with accident benefit, waiver of premium, critical illness and return of premium(if you want) riders.

For investments for specific financial goals you can use PPF, NPS, ELSS and other MF schemes to suit you time horizon and corpus target.

Also the maturity proceeds from ULIPs are now taxable, beyond a threshold.

Do not mix insurance with investment is my humble submission to you.

Ultimately it is your choice. Go for the Platinum variant of SBI smart elite as compared to gold.

Ans: You can always do lumpsum investments periodically as and when you receive the bonus.

For accumulating 5 Crore corpus in 10 years you will need to do lumpsum investment of 220000 or more per month in equity MF.

Else if you extend your time horizon to 20 years then with monthly lumpsum of 50K or more(In equity MF)should help you to accumulate targeted sum of 5 Cr.
( Conservative return of 12% assumed)

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: Yes your first priority should be to prepay the home loan as fast as possible.

I would recommend you to invest systematically and in a disciplined way in PPF, NPS, mutual funds for your long term goals. (Child education, retirement)

Investments in stocks will always be fraught with fear and greed aspect, apart from other biases so keep it within certain tolerable limits.

Ensure a good life and a personal healthcare cover for protection.

As a caveat seek advice from a registered research analyst on stocks.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: If you opt to extend your PPF account for another 5 year term after end of first 15-year term, you can only withdraw 60% of the balance accumulated at the time of extension over the new 5 year period.

Ans: You may consider investing in ICICI Value Discovery Fund for 10 year horizon.

As you get closer to your target, shift the gains from sectoral/thematic/equity funds into liquid or ultra short duration funds to protect it from volatility.

*Investments in mutual funds are subject to market risks. Please read all scheme related documents carefully before investing

You may follow us on X at @mars_invest for updates

Ans: If you buy an annuity(from Insurance company)from this EPF corpus you may get pension of 15K to 20K per month (Depends on the company and the plan which you select)

Ans: You are supposed to inform change of residential status as NRI to the bank/PO where you hold PPF account. You can continue PPF account contribution till maturity, after which extension is not allowed. The maturity proceeds may be transferred to your NRO account. Since you turned NRI in 2017 but extended PPF account in 2021 so in this case the concerned bank/PO will decide on applicability of extension and interest payment beyond 2021.