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Mutual funds may not only bring in better risk-adjusted returns but may also cut costs.

Why bring in someone to do something for you when you can do it yourself – asks common sense. If you can buy and sell shares, bonds and gold, then why invest in mutual funds? Are there any benefits of investing in mutual funds? Do they pose a good investment strategy? Let’s look at the advantages of investing in mutual funds:

As we enter the month of December we become just that bit more aware of ticking of time. The change of year beckons. It is customary to reminisce over the events of the year gone by. But remember that while value compounds over time; the actual passing of a year or a quarter matters very little if at all in the markets. This has been a good year for equity investors around the globe. The MSCI* All Country World Index is at a lifetime high.

Discussions in the investor fraternity tend to usually focus on markets, politics and money flow, with a few perfunctory hats doffed to topical issues such as the pollution in Delhi weather or the holiday season. This would, of course, be typical of the community, as a largely self-obsessed fraternity, focussed on the here and now and hence predominantly biased by an urban-centric view of the world.

Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors

General highlights

Senior citizens have plenty of reasons to cheer post the Union Budget. One of the biggest is the increase in deduction limit under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

Section 80D limit hike

The Union Budget 2018 has given emphasis on strengthening the rural economy and boosting consumption. It ticks all the right boxes with its slew of benefits including higher minimum support prices (MSPs) for kharif crops, upgradation of rural haats to give farmers better access to formal mandis, enhancing the agricultural marketing infrastructure, and promoting organic farming.

Here are 14 ways in which Budget 2018 has come to the rescue of the rural economy:

Question: You have a preference for companies that generate healthy operating cashflow and free cash flow. Why do you emphasize this factor?

Question: How do you define value? Which are your preferred metrics of value?

I was told I could address any of the following four questions in my article. But why stop at one if you can go for all four?  Especially if all four are linked inexorably in some form.

The questions and the corresponding answers are below -