In the rat race to garner size, mutual funds pamper distributors at the expense of investors. Here is how to beat them at their game

Recently, a mutual fund distributor approached me with a pitch to subscribe for a New Fund Offering. It was vaguely labelled and no different from any open-ended growth fund. The distributor did not know much about me, so I decided to play along. I asked him...

Here is a simple strategy to retire wealthy. The hard part is following it

Today, with starting incomes being fairly handsome, it is possible to have a nice nest egg when you are 50. You can retire early if you choose to, do something on your own or chase your dreams, provided you plan early. All you have to do is to take a fixed amount every month and put it away for a definite time horizon....

Why the stocks of public-sector banks are bad investments

The finance ministry, the de-facto owner of state-controlled banks, has just given me one more reason for not investing my money in the shares of these banks. The ministry has indirectly tried to arm-twist these banks not to raise interest rates, even though their cost of borrowing is going up. The owner has sent a message that these...