gold

Gold Exchange Traded Funds (Gold ETFs)

In turbulent times, gold has shown up as an effective hedge against equities in a portfolio. Though there are many ways in which one can exposure to gold, investing in Gold ETFs stand out because of its many advantages and convenience.

Gold ETF is an Exchange Traded Fund that aims to track the price of gold. Just like how equity shares of a company are bought and sold on the Stock Exchange, Gold ETFs can be bought and sold on the Stock Exchange at the prevailing market price of gold.

How to Purchase: To be able to purchase a Gold ETF, one needs to have a Demat account and a trading account with any broker. Gold ETF's are traded in units wherein one unit represents one gram of gold.

This means when you buy one unit of a Gold ETF, you are buying one gram of gold and that one unit(gram) of gold will be credited to your Demat account. In case of some Gold ETFs, one unit can represent half a gram of gold. Just like equity shares, you will have to incur brokerage costs when you buy or sell Gold ETF units.

Taxation: If the units of Gold ETF are held for less than one year, then you will have to pay short-term capital gains on such sale. If the Gold ETFs are held for more than one year you can pay either at a 10% tax rate on the gains without indexation or a tax rate of 20% with indexation, whichever is lower.

GOLD ETFs in India: India has the following Gold ETFs as on date:

  1. Birla Sun Life Gold ETF
  2. Goldman Sachs Gold ETF
  3. Religare Invesco Gold ETF
  4. Quantum Gold Fund
  5. SBI Gold ETF
  6. IDBI Gold ETF
  7. R*Shares Gold ETF
  8. Axis Gold ETF
  9. Kotak Gold ETF
  10. ICICI Prudential Gold ETF
  11. UTI Gold ETF
  12. HDFC Gold ETF
  13. Can Gold ETF

 

Gold ETFs are being traded in India since March 2007. Benchmark Asset Management Company Private Ltd. was the first to put in the proposal for gold ETF with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). However, that is no longer offered on the exchange.

 

Advantages of Gold ETFs:

(a) An investor can purchase gold in small amounts as one unit of the ETF represents one gram. These small amounts can be accumulated over a period of time.

(b) As the gold purchased is credited to your the account, there are no hassles with respect to storage of gold purchased.

(c) Compared to the purchase of physical gold, there are no worries with respect to the quality of gold purchased.

(d) Gold can be bought and sold at the prevailing market prices with no deductions with respect to making or handling charges.

(e) Compared to physical gold which has to be held for more than three years, Gold ETFs qualify for Long Term Capital gains if held for more than one year.

 

Gold ETFs have become the mode of investment in recent times and have been growing at a rate of over 50%.

 

Alternative Assets / Mutual Funds - 09/08/2018
ETF-tracking-the-MF

Exchange traded funds

 

Exchange traded funds or ETFs (as commonly known), are the mutual funds that can be bought and sold on the exchange. They are both passive and active. However, in India, they are generally, passive mutual funds.

 

 

However, unlike Index Funds, an ETF is listed on the stock exchange and can be bought and sold through a broker. You will need to have a trading account and a demat account. Index Funds can be bought/sold only from/to the Mutual Fund.

 

 

ETFs, come with several advantages over the index funds.

 

 

  • Because of their structure, they have lower fees (typically around 0.5%) as compared to index funds.
  • They allow you the facility of buying and selling the ETF at real-time prices during trading hours. Conversely, Index funds declare their price only once in a day at which they can be bought and sold.
  • ETFs also have a lower Tracking Error. They track the returns of the underlying index better than Index Funds.

 

 

Though ETFs have a lower cost, they involve additional costs in the form of opening a demat account and the brokerage costs that need to be paid when you buy and sell an ETF. Index Funds are a choice for investors who do not have a demat account.

 

 

Why Invest in ETFs
ETFs allow long-term passive investors to diversify their portfolio instantly as they invest in the basket of securities. For shorter-term investors, they provide liquidity as investors can trade intra-day at prices near to the net asset value.

 

 

Investors also resort to exploiting arbitrage opportunities between spot prices, futures and ETFs. It gives investors better control and flexibility to manage their investments. ETFs have found favour with Institutional Investors also as a substitute for investing in Futures.

India joined the ETF club in December 2001 with the launch of India's first ETF 'Nifty BeES' (Nifty Benchmark Exchange-traded scheme) by Benchmark Mutual Fund, based on S&P CNX Nifty Index. Since then a number of ETFs have been launched tracking different indices. Of late, Gold ETFs have become very popular in India because of its obvious advantages.

 

Mutual Funds - 09/06/2018

Financial Discipline

The problem in today’s world is that everyone puts their entire efforts in earning money. Both the partners work hard to satisfy family needs from the financial perspective. In doing so we are compromising on various aspects like health, parenting, reading books, spend time on self etc. We are so stressed out that we do not think of anything else. We have huge monthly saving to invest but we don’t plan and we are not sure where to invest. Most of the time the money lies ideal in saving accounts or they are made to invest in real estate by by non professionals. Or some bank agent sees their bank balance and manages to sell them a ULIP or some other high commission product in the name of their child's future. By the time we realise that we made a bad investment, we would have already lost a lot of money in these products.
                                                                      To be a winner, you have to put efforts into something!!
We all are so busy doing so many things that regular financial planning takes a back seat. Further, lack of knowledge and enough information delays it even more. People don’t realise the importance of financial discipline. You make money, but do not put efforts to make the money you have made to make more money for you. If you channelize your savings properly you can easily achieve your dreams. With financial planning, you can do goal-based planning and ensure that you live the quality of life you always desired, ensure your children's future, plan and retire early comfortably, spend time with your kids etc. Financial discipline also includes proper tax planning and timely tax filling. There are various benefits available for an individual under the income tax Act which are considered while preparing a financial plan. However, many people just invest for the purpose of tax savings and nothing more or less than that. This is not enough, you must get more discplined, define your goals, understand your savings, reduce your expenses and invest accordingly. The main purpose of this article is to encourage individuals to inculcate financial discipline. In our other articles, we have discussed about how to convert a financial discipline into gains by investing properly.
Investments - 09/04/2018
12

Types of Mutual Funds

In the last few years, mutual fund companies were releasing various mutual fund scheme and there was a lot of confusion amongst retailers on the definition of the same and how are the classified. To avoid this, SEBI released a notification to classify mutual fund schemes into 5 broad categories:
  1. Equity Schemes
  2. Debt Schemes
  3. Hybrid Schemes
  4. Solution Oriented Schemes
  5. Other Schemes
An understanding of the classifications of the various categories of schemes will help sort clear the confusion to a certain extent.
All the listed Equity Stocks are divided into large cap, mid cap, and small cap equity stocks based on the ranking on the stock exchange as per their market capitalization. Accordingly, AMFI, in consultation with SEBI and Stock Exchanges, has prepared the list of stocks, based on the data provided by Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI).
  • Large Cap Equity Stocks - 1st - the 100th company in terms of full market capitalization.
  • Mid Cap Equity Stocks are - 101st - the 250th company in terms of full market capitalization.
  • Small Cap Equity Stocks are - 251st company onwards in terms of full market capitalization

EQUITY MUTUAL FUNDS

Any fund which invests not less than 65% of its corpus in equities is known as an equity fund. 
  1. Multi-Cap Funds: An Open-ended equity scheme which invests a minimum of 65% of its total assets in equity related instruments. These funds invest across large-cap, small-cap and mid-cap stocks.  
  2. Large Cap Funds: An open-ended equity scheme which invests a minimum of 80% of its total assets in large-cap equity stocks.
  3. Large & Mid Cap Funds: An open-ended equity scheme which invests in both large-cap and mid-cap stocks with a minimum of 35 % of its total assets in large-cap equity stocks and a minimum of 35% of. its total assets in mid-cap stocks.
  4. Mid Cap Funds - An Open-ended equity scheme which invests a minimum of 65% of its total assets in mid-cap equity stocks.
  5. Small Cap Funds - An Open-ended equity scheme which invests a minimum of 65% of its total assets in small-cap equity stocks. 
  6. Dividend Yield Funds - An open-ended scheme which predominately invests in dividend yielding stocks and has a minimum of 65% of its total assets invested in Equity.
  7. Value Funds - An open-ended scheme following a value investment strategy and invests a minimum of 65% in equity and equity related instruments.
  8. Contra Funds - An open-ended scheme should follow a contrarian investment strategy with a minimum of 65% in equity and equity related instruments.
  9. Focussed Fund - An open-ended scheme focussed on the number of stocks (maximum 30) and has a minimum investment of 65% of its total assets in Equity and equity related instruments.
  10. Thematic Funds: These funds are also known as Sectoral Funds. An open-ended scheme which invests a minimum of 80% of its assets in equity stocks of a particular sector/theme. Such funds can be focused on Infrastructure, Power, Banking sector, Pharma companies, only Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs), etc. 
  11. ELSS - Equity linked savings scheme - An open-ended scheme with a statutory lock-in of 3 years for the purpose of tax deduction. It has a minimum investment in equity and equity related instruments of a minimum of 80%.

DEBT FUNDS

Debt Funds are funds that invest in debt securities like debentures, commercial paper(CP), certificate of deposit(CD), government securities, etc.
  1. Overnight Funds - Investment in overnight securities having a maturity of 1 day.
  2. Liquid Funds - Investment in debt and money market securities with a maturity of up to 91 days only.
  3. Ultrashort Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 3 months - 6 months.
  4. Low Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 6 months- 12 months.
  5. Money Market Funds -Investment in Money Market instruments having maturity up to 1 year
  6.  Short Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 1 year – 3 years
  7. Medium Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 3 years – 4 years
  8. Medium to Long-Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is between 4 – 7 years
  9. Long Duration Funds - Investment in Debt & Money Market Instruments such that the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is greater than 7 years
  10. Dynamic bond - An open-ended dynamic debt scheme investing across the duration
  11. Corporate bond Funds - An open-ended debt scheme  with a minimum investment of 80% in the highest rated corporate bonds
  12. Credit Risk Funds - An open-ended debt scheme with a minimum investment of 65% in the highest rated corporate bonds.
  13. Banking and PSU Fund - An open-ended debt scheme with a minimum investment of 80% of total assets in Debt instruments of banks, Public Sector Undertakings, Public Financial Institutions
  14. Gilt Fund - An open-ended debt scheme with a minimum investment of 80% of its total assets in government securities across the maturity
  15. Gild Fund with a 10-year constant period - An open-ended debt scheme with a minimum investment of 80% of its total assets in government securities having a constant maturity of 10 years
  16. Floater Fund - An open-ended debt scheme with a minimum investment of 65% of its total assets in floating rate instruments.

HYBRID FUNDS

Hybrid funds are funds that invest in a mix of debt and equity based on their investment mandate.

  1. Conservative Hybrid Funds - An open-ended scheme investing 10%-25% of its total assets in Equity and 75% -90% in debt instruments.
  2. Balanced Hybrid Funds - An open-ended balanced scheme investing up to 40%-60% of its total assets in both debt and equity. No arbitrage is permitted in this scheme.
  3. Aggressive Hybrid Funds - An open-ended hybrid scheme investing 65%-80% of total assets in Equity and Equity related instruments and 20%-35% in debt and debt related instruments.
  4. Dynamic Asset allocation or balanced advantage - Investment in equity/debt that is managed dynamically.  (0% to 100% in equity & equity related instruments; and 0% to 100% in Debt instruments)
  5. Multi-Asset Allocation - An open-ended scheme which invests in at least three asset classes with a minimum of 10% in each of the three asset classes.
  6. Arbitrage Funds - An open-ended Scheme following arbitrage strategy. Minimum investment in equity and equity related instruments of 65 of total assets.
  7. Equity Savings - An open-ended scheme investing in equity, arbitrage and debt with a minimum investment of 65% of its total assets in equity or equity-related instruments and a minimum of 10% in debt instruments.

SOLUTION ORIENTED FUNDS

  1. Retirement Fund - An open-ended retirement solution oriented scheme having a lock-in of 5 years or till retirement age (whichever is earlier)
  2. Children's Fund - An open-ended fund for investment for children having a lock-in for at least 5 years or till the child attains the age of majority (whichever is earlier)
  3. Index Funds/ETFs -An index fund is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund(ETF) that aims to replicate the returns of a specific index. The fund manager does not have a major role as he has to only replicate the composition of the index.
  4. FOFs (Overseas Funds) - An open-ended fund of fund scheme investing 95% of its total assets in the underlying funds.
Investments / Mutual Funds - 04/12/2018
SIP

Why a Systematic Investment Plan(SIP)?

SIPs have become the most favoured route of investments for not only the investors but also Financial Advisors in India. That is not surprising since they come with considerable benefits.

Become a Disciplined Investor

A SIP helps you discipline yourself. You can commit a fixed amount each month to investments, and the amount gets invested at the predetermined date. This ensures that money does not lie in your savings account @ a meagre 3.5% and there is no temptation to spend that amount as it is not there to spend.

Rupee Cost Averaging

Enormous sums of money have been lost by investors in a bid to time the market. But no one has been able to do it consistently. When experts have failed, what about a rookie investor. It is useless, even attempting to time the increasingly volatile markets. SIPs ensure that a fixed amount is invested irrespective of the ups and downs in the market and hence the cost of acquisition of investments is averaged out.

The timeless principle is "Buy Low Sell High". However, investors tend to sell out when there is a fall in the markets due to panic. A rising market tempts them to enter the markets at high levels. SIPs help to overcome this problem. 

Achieve your Financial Goals

Your future financial goals like buying a car, buying a house, child's education can be converted into the required monthly SIPs. For example, if you need INR 6 lakhs after 4 years to purchase a car. Assuming that your investments earn 15% per annum, you will need to save INR 9,198 per month to achieve a corpus of INR 6 lakhs. By converting your goals into monthly investments, you can view the achievability of your goals clearly and this also motivates you to stay on track with your investments.

Compounding Benefits

The biggest advantage of regular long term investments, Compounding Benefit. The investments made continue to grow year on year and the invested profits participate in growth in future years.

Effortless Investments

Once initiated an SIP can go on for as long as you want it to run with no further intervention required from your side. With a simple instruction, the SIP can be stopped at anytime.

Investments / Mutual Funds - 01/02/2018

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