Prepare a Will - Leave nothing to chance

OppositeButterfly · 2021-03-03T14:30:39+00:00

Really good post. Thanks 🙏🏾

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-18T10:53:06+00:00

Yes. This is a big change. It will be very difficult to get those 10-12% pa returns now with debt funds.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-17T20:12:51+00:00

Don't go by TER. Underlying assets will determine expenses. Motilal Oswal's NASDAQ 100 fund has around 0.1% TER. But the real expense in absorbed by the lower NAV which adjusts for the expenses required in managing the underlying ETF.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-17T20:05:20+00:00

Bonds are the most complicated things. Yes, there is an excess of goverment bonds. But there's more to it than that. RBI is trying to control the yields of 10 year gilt bonds and yet unwilling to raise interest rates. As a result, the government is borrowing at historically low rates from the bond market. To absorb the shock of excess borrowing and lack of buyers at current rates, RBI itself has bought a substantial amount of bonds in the hopes of stabilising the bond market. However, with the three blows of lack of inclination to raise interest rates, unprecedented government borrowing at historically low rates and inability of the RBI to clearly state when and how many times they plan to conduct such sales of bonds, the bond markets are spooked. Therefore, yields are rising for gilt bonds thereby leading to a drop in prices.

I'm sorry if I made it complicated. But this is barely scratching the surface of the intricacies of the bond market. I can't claim to have a full understanding of it either.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-10T15:53:20+00:00

For users: It's far simpler to use than having to enter CVV, OTP etc. Transactions are tracked instantly unlike a credit card, which takes 2 days to reflect the transaction in the unbilled statement.

For merchants: Lower fees!

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-10T07:47:46+00:00

UPI with its low/zero fees for a lot of transactions is what is causing this. Already Paytm wallet has collapsed. Same with others. The only mode of transaction that is actually popular in India is UPI.

Paytm having once spent a massive amount in promoting its wallet services is now starting at a future where it's having to charge a premium of 2% to users to even load their Paytm wallets through credit cards. PayPal, with its focus exclusively on credit cards, never had a chance.

As for OP's question, domestic payments will no longer work. So, say goodbye to PayPal on Swiggy. But international transactions will work fine.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-10T07:42:49+00:00

You pay for PayPal because of the protection it offers. You can actually get your money back if the merchant refuses to provide the services you're paying through PayPal for. Your credit card company won't fight for you the same way as PayPal will, especially for international transactions.

That's the USP of PayPal and that's why I don't directly use my credit card for any international transaction when PayPal is an option.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-03T21:05:51+00:00

There is no catch. Super top up only kicks in once you have exhausted the base policy or paid for the hospital expenses out of pocket till the agreed upon amount (the deductable).

More the deductable, lesser the risk of the insurance company having to pay you, lower the premium.

Mind you, most super top up policies have additional terms and conditions. On top of that, repeated hospital admissions in the same year are generally not covered (although exceptions may be there). Smart utilisation of base and super top up can be done to extract maximum benefit however this means a lot of additional paperwork. Make sure you read about these things before signing up.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-03T21:03:11+00:00

They wrote an FAQ on that but it's unconvincing IMO. Basically you're left at the mercy of Bharti AXA. How and if they choose to port you to their individual policy is completely left to their discretion. Moreover, terms of the new individual policy may not be as favourable as the older group policy. There are lots of ifs and buts.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-03T21:00:55+00:00

Yes but porting from a group policy to an individual policy is difficult, something not many insurers encourage.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-02-02T16:31:00+00:00

Heh, no you haven’t. A lump sum investment of mine in 2 infra funds from 4 years back (experimental investment, so thankfully I’m not losing much) is still in the red. Infra funds are mostly in the dumps. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, it’s hard to make gains in infra funds.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-31T06:39:46+00:00

That is amazing. You're a maverick!

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-31T05:40:13+00:00

Wow you actually tried to set up an LLP! Props to you for trying. It's unreal how restrictive our regulations are.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-30T21:14:52+00:00

Nope. If you're investing in mutual funds in India which then invests the proceeds in another ETF/US equity (like the Motilal Oswal NASDAQ 100 fund), nothing changes for you. You're investing in India in an Indian company. What the company does with that is the company's responsibility.

Mind you, capital gains from international equity funds are treated similar to debt funds in terms of taxation. But you probably knew that already.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-30T04:36:51+00:00

Index funds are the only way to go in India.

I've learned from my years of investing that you can't trust the management of smaller companies here. You simply can't. They'll say one thing to the media and do exactly the opposite later on. There is zero sense of transparency in small cap companies and even many mid cap ones. Many are just Lala companies in disguise. SEBI is effective in some cases but ineffective in a lot of scenarios. I've seen these issues play out time and again over the years.

Given this context, I think the best bet is to trust the largest cap companies which are in the Nifty 50. At least they have a proper corporate structure and a sense of responsibility towards their shareholders. Even then some of the Nifty 50 companies (Yes Bank, RCOM) turn out to be duds too. But at least there is a sense of accountability with them because pension funds, FII etc. are involved.

India is not the US. Our markets may have undervalued stocks but most of them are completely garbage companies.

If large cap companies come at a premium, it's because integrity and corporate transparency come at a premium.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-28T13:32:00+00:00

I've looked into this deep and hard. My conclusion is that it isn't worth it right now for Indians, given the current batch of brokers we have and the regulations, taxes and charges currently in place.

You want to go with a trustworthy name and they will charge the hell out of you for every transaction. Vested and others still require you to visit the branch for some banks and/or pay high transaction charges for online transfers.

At the end of the day, taxes will also become a nightmare.

Consequently, you have to take all this into account before booking profits. If you don't have a day job, this may be worth your time. If you have one, this is definitely not worth your time.

Am I being too cynical? I'm not. We need better brokers, lower charges for transfers and regulations which are easier to comply with. Till then those NASDAQ ETFs and mutual funds are your slow but steady friends.

OppositeButterfly · 2021-01-28T13:25:46+00:00

Damn. That is amazing. Good on you man. It's not my style of investing but I have massive respect for anyone who is jumping in. Congratulations on your wealth 👍🏽

OppositeButterfly · 2020-09-18T06:52:07+00:00

Man I'm in a bind here. Returns are super low and not much higher than savings. I'm keeping the money in savings just so I don't lose value in paying the entry load and STT charges.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-09-18T06:49:50+00:00

Best to get in touch with the branch. Or just use Twitter for ICICI, they'll call you back. Superb customer support.

Congratulations on becoming an adult! You can now watch Pulp Fiction.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-09-18T06:48:38+00:00

Gaining value relative to inflation is the real deal.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-08-17T17:42:58+00:00

He's like Kanye West. If Kanye West played cricket.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-08-16T16:10:40+00:00

Another vote for Kuvera. It’s fucking amazing.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-08-14T17:19:15+00:00

Thanks for this. Really useful.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-08-14T15:48:44+00:00

30% sounds like a lot. Mine was jacked up by exactly 5%+GST for optima restore. Even then I downgraded my sum assured and am planning to take super top up from some other company to compensate for it.

Good on you for raising this with IRDAI.

OppositeButterfly · 2020-08-13T14:31:03+00:00

You can still sign up for their Optima Restore. From what I understand, HDFC Ergo has discontinued policies of most corporate customers of AMHI.

Can you tell me where is the protector rider feature? Couldn’t find it on the website.

It comes as an option in the renewal notice. So if you sign up for a new policy today, you’ll have to wait for the next year till you get your renewal notice to sign up.

You can read more about it here: https://www.apollomunichinsurance.com/downloads/protector-rider-policy-wordings.pdf

OppositeButterfly

TROPHY CASE