A helping hand from numbers leads to objective opinions and confident decisions!!!

It can’t be right. I am definitely missing something. I get it market - does misprice traded securities sometimes but it is rare such mispricing continues for extended period, especially for securities where one is bound to get assured price (not returns) with a publicly available agreed benchmark. I am talking about SGB’s  – the Indian government gold price denominated security which is benchmarked to 999 purity gold price. How does RBI, the Indian central bank price these bonds? Fact is, it doesn’t. It lets the market (aka IBJA Rates – IBJARATES.COM) determine the price – at which it issues and also the price at which it redeems these gold denominated bonds – during final maturity after 8 years of issuance or even during premature redemption option after 5 years. Meanwhile, from issuance period till final redemption, these bonds trade in stock exchanges – like other securities, mostly at discount to spot rates. Let me go with an example: – I own Aug 2028 Series V SGB. Let’ se...

Before I begin this post, let me say it loud and clear - I have a conflict of interest in this topic as I am professionally engaged as a a mutual fund distributor. That part out, let's begin.  Can you roll on your own? Let me rephrase the question – should you roll on your own? Simple answer – yes, one “should” always try to be a DIY investor. Because if one is able to do it appropriately, and for a real long time, the end results may be  much better than if you get professional help, either by way of a fee charging advisor or an agent who gets compensated by way of commissions. A part of this “better” portfolio performance will come from savings on fee or commission being paid to the “helper”, and compounding of savings invested will add to it significantly. And with the help of google and host of free apps available, being a DIYer, at least in theroy is not that tough. But there is world of difference between “SHOULD” and “CAN”. Here what the dictionary says about thes...