M. Pattabiraman's Blog, page 11

Six milestones to measure wealth creation

The road to wealth creation is long and winding. As much as it requires patience, it also needs focus and reference points. Here are a few personal finance milestones that can help you gauge “where you stand today” on the road to wealth. Today, these milestones would appear huge and daunting. With disciplined effort, you...

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How to plan for retirement if I am single?

A reader says, “For your Let’s Get Rich With Pattu Podcast, can you make an episode on ‘Things that Single and Childfree People’ should take care of for their retirement? Additionally, given that many things are not to be taken care of for these people (Like children’s education, Marriage, etc.), how much is it that...

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I am approaching retirement with minimal savings – what steps should I take now?

A reader says, ” First of all, I would like to thank you for your insightful videos, posts & articles. It gives us a different vision to look at various things like continuity of investment, retirement planning, etc. & that too in a “to the point”, transparent, honest manner”. “You have made several videos for...

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What will be maximum loss in a mutual fund investment?

A reader says, “I was very happy with my mutual fund returns over the last few years until I started reading your articles. They made me realise it is just luck or one fortunate sequence of returns. I now recognise that the going will not always be good. This makes me wonder what the maximum...

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How should I include tax while planning for retirement?

A reader wants to know how to account for taxes while planning for retirement — a discussion. Tax is always tricky to guess. Many individuals assume their tax liability will reduce after retirement, and this need not be the case. If we want to achieve comfortable financial independence after retirement, we should probably hope to...

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Can I become financially independent by 40?

A reader says, “I am 30 and plan to remain single. My current expenses are about Rs. 50K, I have a corpus of Rs. 75 Lakhs but only 40% equity. Can I become financially independent by 40? I can invest a little more than two lakhs a month.” You can invest about four times your...

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The rupee is stronger than most people think!

Over the years, especially in the last two decades, the INR has been relatively resilient against the USD compared to its past performance. As our economy grows, we should have more faith in our currency. Before we look at the data, let us understand why the Rupee fluctuates in value against the US Dollar. Note: I...

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My Stock Portfolio Analysis: May 2025

Last Updated on May 27, 2025 at 9:01 am This article compares my stock portfolio with an equivalent investment in a Nifty index fund and the Nifty 100 Low Volatility 30 TR index. We post this comparison each month. Before we begin, new readers need to appreciate the context of these investments. Update: We recently...

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What you need to know about gold before investing in it

Every time gold prices spike, everyone becomes an expert on the commodity. There is a lot of “I told you so,” “why gold is always the safest asset,” and “why its value never comes down.” If you are interested in investing in gold for its “return, ” there is a lot to consider before diving...

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Why should I diversify my investment portfolio?

Sometimes, an idea, phrase, or action becomes so commonly used that we take them for granted and don’t stop to think about why they are used. So, can we pause momentarily and ask, “Why should I diversify my investment portfolio?” When we push ourselves into a corner and force ourselves to answer, we will probably...

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