Articles
One piece, one question, taken from the beginning. Free to read, with every factual claim linked to the authority that published it.
How a strait you will never see reaches your fuel bill
Oil falls twenty per cent and petrol barely moves. The reason is arithmetic, not conspiracy — and the same arithmetic says a higher fixed tax makes the pump less sensitive to oil, not more.
FreeFinance ·
India has an official inflation number. It is 4%
The RBI does not aim at whatever inflation happens to be. A statutory target of 4% CPI, with a band of 2% to 6%, is notified every five years — and the band matters more to your planning than the target does.
FreeFinance ·
How RD interest is calculated, and why it looks too small
A recurring deposit at 7% for five years pays about 19.9% on what you put in, not 35%. The rate is not the problem — most of the money has not been in the account for long.
FreeFinance ·
Real returns — why you divide, not subtract
A 12% return against 6% inflation is not a 6% real return. It is 5.66%, and over twenty years that small gap compounds into a figure 6.6% too optimistic.
FreeFinance ·
CAGR, XIRR, and which one your returns actually need
Two different questions about return. Using the wrong one is how people end up comparing numbers that were never comparable.
FreeFinance ·
How compounding actually works
Why the last few years of a long investment contribute more than the first ten combined, and what that means for when you start.
FreeFinance ·
Why your EMI is mostly interest at the start
On a twenty-year home loan, about four-fifths of the first instalment is interest. Here is why, and what it means for prepayment.
FreeFinance ·
Reading a set of financial statements
What the three statements tell you, how they connect, and the handful of lines worth checking before anything else.
FreeFinance ·
A practical guide to SIP investing
What a systematic investment plan is, how the arithmetic works, what it does and does not protect you from, and how to set one up sensibly.
FreeFinance ·