Avinash Luthria

Business Standard — MFCentral makes direct plan MF transactions more robust by eliminating the middleman and also significantly reduces the risk of mis-selling

Business Standard — Persistent high inflation in developing countries, including India, confuses people and makes them spend much more than they should during retirement

Business Standard — One reason why the fee can't be lower than 3 per cent is that it is difficult for an RIA to do a good job and remain viable even at this level

Business Standard — Your financial plan should not be based on slogans or catchphrases. Instead, keep asking why till you agree with the rationale behind your plan

Business Standard — A good financial plan must identify the reasons why a person could run out of money in his lifetime and find a workable solution to them

Business Standard — Active mutual funds on an average (and net of fees) underperform the index because they have less inside information than promoters of companies

Business Standard — Longevity risk, taxes, financial repression, unexpected high inflation, career risk, and psychological factors make it very difficult to save enough for retirement

Business Standard — It is tempting to use zero-fee services paid for by other, financially less literate, clients. But none of us are completely immune to being conned

Business Standard — It is a myth that those who are knowledgeable about personal finance should not engage with an RIA

Business Standard — ...and how to select an Index Fund

Business Standard — Keeping your head when others are losing theirs

Mint — Longevity, post-tax real-returns, insurance and the trade-offs between goals are all difficult to predict Note: Lakh is an ancient Indian term for a hundred-thousand

youtube.com — Clients unknowingly gift two apartments to a 1% of AUM Financial Planner over 30 years. So, if you choose to engage with an RIA, then engage with one of the 25 Hourly-Fee / Fixed-Fee RIAs in India

Mint — Ask Fixed-Fee RIAs to disclose the number of hours of effort

Mint — There is no predictable way to become rich but there is a predictable way to avoid becoming poor; Excerpt: Diversify; Minimize investment costs; Minimize reckless mistakes; Do not chase the mirage of alpha; Do not use complex products; Do not retire too early; Save half of your post-tax salary; Do not completely outsource personal finance to anyone; Learn about personal finance; Teach your family about personal finance.

Mint — Fee-Only (Advice-Only) i.e. Hourly-Fee Financial Planners themselves differ significantly in three important ways [in India]. First, a few RIAs [SEBI registered Investment Advisers] focus on high net-worth individuals who are willing to pay a higher fee to go into more details and to learn the nuances of personal investing. While other RIAs focus on relatively lower net-worth clients who want a low total-fee and hence the number of hours of effort by the RIA have to be minimized. Second, a few RIAs spend more time on research allowing them to focus on clients that are knowledgeable about personal investing. While other RIAs have the patience to guide clients that are less knowledgeable about personal investing. Third, a few RIAs are open to additionally engaging with clients in the US etc where taxation limits the set of suitable Indian investment products. Read the RIA’s website and articles to shortlist three that you will speak to. (Note: This is the correct version of the last sentence. An editing error happened in the version that was published.) Then go with your gut-feeling about the one RIA that you will formally engage with.

Mint — Rationality dictates that we use index funds instead of active MFs in India. There are no robust rational arguments in favour of active MFs. Hence, beneficiaries of active MFs are forced to either use statistically incorrect arguments or emotional arguments such as: Using your ego against you; The social proof argument; and the lottery ticket argument

Mint — Fees of 1% p.a. means losing 26% over 30 years Note: Common / ancient Indian terms used in this article are: Crore which is Ten-Million and Lakh which is a Hundred-Thousand

BloombergQuint — It is a myth that 'Smart beta or factor investing (example, investing in small-cap index funds) allows you to beat the index on a risk-adjusted basis'. Nobel prize winner Eugene Fama, who is the brain behind the smart-beta strategy, has himself said that any additional expected return from a smart-beta strategy comes from higher expected risk.

Mint — Retirement calculators are complex, and their complexity is causing problems. These black-box retirement calculators are too complex for most people to understand. More importantly, the complexity in these calculators hides their inbuilt optimistic and wrong assumptions. As a result, people are saving too little for retirement; retiring earlier than their finances allow them to; and overspending during the early years of their retirement. Those looking for a clearer picture should instead, use this one simple formula. Note: Common / ancient Indian terms used in this article are: Crore which is Ten-Million and Lakh which is a Hundred-Thousand

Paisa Vaisa Podcast — Almost everything you have heard about financial planning and investing is wrong

Business Standard — Don’t fall for these false claims • Claiming that back-testing proves that an investment strategy will work • Claiming that smart-beta strategies allow you to beat the index • Claiming that long-duration bonds are not risky if you hold them till maturity • Claiming that rebalancing reduces risk • Claiming that equity is safe in the long-term

Business Standard — Ignore false arguments against index funds: * Focusing on the best performing survivor funds to claim that active MFs beat the index * Using the most ambiguous data to claim that active mid-small cap MFs beat the index * Claiming that past data tells you which schemes that will beat the index * Claiming that distributors can select schemes that will beat the index

Mint — You should invest in a PE / VC / Hedge Fund only if you can manage such a fund