Investment Advice for Defence Personnel

Should You Exit Equity Now? Or Stay Invested? Over the last few months, many investors have started feeling uncomfortable. Portfolios which were earlier showing very healthy gains now appear dull. Returns have slowed. Some portfolios may even be fairly down from 2024 highs. The natural question is: “Should we get out of equity now?” This is not the time to panic. This is the time to stay disciplined. The discomfort is understandable. After the COVID fall in 2020, Indian equity markets saw a very strong rally. The Nifty moved from around 8,000 during the panic to above 26,000 at its peak. Such a sharp rise created strong wealth, but it also created an expectation that equity markets will keep delivering high returns every year. That is not how equity works. Equity returns do not come in a straight line. They come in phases. A few years create a large part ...

"The purpose of debt investments is not to win when interest rates move in one direction. It is to ensure that your financial plan does not lose balance when markets move in the other." Every week, the Hum Fauji Initiatives team gathers a simple but valuable piece of intelligence from client conversations they have with their financial planners in our company: "What are the investors talking about right now?" The reason is straightforward. Markets change, headlines change, and investor concerns change. Rather than guessing what may be on people's minds, we prefer listening first. Over the past few weeks, one question has surfaced repeatedly: "With the RBI indicating that the interest rate cut cycle may be nearing its end and experts talking about possible interest rate increases ahead, should I continue holding my debt funds and Fixed Deposits, or is it time to move to shorter-duration investments?" If this question ...

Dear Investors, Jai Hind Over the last few months, one question has landed in our inbox with increasing frequency. "Why aren't we investing in US markets?" "Why are we not buying into the AI boom?" "Why is Hum Fauji not recommending international funds when everyone seems to be talking about them?" These are perfectly valid questions. After all, the United States is home to some of the world's most innovative companies. Artificial Intelligence is changing the way businesses operate; the US markets have generated enviable returns over the past decade; The newspapers are writing about it, influencers are discussing it, and mutual fund companies are launching or promoting products around it. Naturally, investors do not want to be left behind. Yet, whenever an investment idea suddenly becomes popular, I have learnt to become a little more curious and a little less excited. And hence I thought to address these concerns ...

2025 has been a year that has tested every investor’s patience. A part of what markets are  doing now was always on the cards, and a part has genuinely surprised even seasoned  experts. Yet beneath the current volatility, the bigger story is intact: India’s economy is  strong, earnings are expected to improve, and 2026 is shaping up to be a much better year  for equity investors than 2025.  What really happened in 2025  Headline indices like the Nifty and Sensex have held up reasonably well, but that headline  strength hides deep pain in the broader markets, especially small and midcaps.  Overvaluation in select pockets, frothy IPOs at high valuations and the unwinding of  leveraged positions have triggered sharp corrections, even in otherwise sound  businesses. Add to this delayed growth in some sectors due to weather disruptions,  policy timing, and global trade frictions, and you get the kind of choppy, confusing ...

Whether you are an NRI by choice, an OCI in the UK, or an Indian Defence Forces child working across the globe, investing in India is a wise decision and always a preferred wealth management choice for good reason. For many NRIs, especially those who belong to India’s Defence Forces community, maintaining a financial footprint in India is not just a strategy; it’s a sentiment.  Among the top investment plans for NRIs, one underrated yet powerful option is the Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). It offers the perfect blend of cost-efficiency, diversification, and flexibility, especially for those who want to avoid the stress of tracking individual stocks or timing the market. Why are ETFs a game-changer for NRI investments in India?  Gone are the days when NRIs had to choose between investing in India or abroad. Today, with the right blend of Indian and global ETFs, you can truly have the best ...

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is aggressively marketing its insurance policy, LIC Bima Diamond Plan, as a ‘Diamond for Life’. Let’s see if this ‘Diamond’ is worth your money? LIC Bima Diamond Plan is a typical non-linked, with-profit, limited premium payment money-back life insurance plan. Non-linked means it is not ULIP or your money will not be linked to equity market movements. With-profit means, it is like investment product where you get returns on your investment based on the product feature. Money back means at a different interval of the policy term, you will receive some money from this policy. Highlights of the policy It is a fixed tenure insurance policy. There are three tenure options - 16 years, 20 years and 24 years. The premium paying term is less than the tenure of the policy e. g. for a 16-year policy you have to pay only for 12 years.Money-Back (Survival Benefits)every 4th year. The premium rate ...

Col Sher Khan is a go-getter infantry officer, known for his professional acumen and is a sought-after party animal. He and his family live life to the full. His only Achilles Heel is finance. He routinely has a large amount – anything from Rs 75,000 to even 2-3 Lakhs lying in his savings bank account at any given time, earning 4% savings bank interest. And just because it was lying there, unimportant expenditures would come up and suddenly become urgent and the most important ones to be done then and there. He was fully aware that bank interest is fully taxable and he being in 30% bracket, it practically earned him a mere 4% - (30% of 4%) = 4% - 1.2% = 2.8% interest. He wanted to do something about it but didn’t know what and how. That’s the time he got introduced to Liquid Funds by a friend ...

Stock Markets have been unrelenting for the past one year and, it has only intensified in Jan 2016. Most of the retail investors have not understood the reason why it is so – Acche Din to Aane Wale The! They’re told that China is slowing down, so the world is slowing down. But the US of A, the world’s largest economy, is on an acknowledged growth path now. They’re told that Oil prices drop is affecting the world growth. But cheap oil results in India saving about 60-70 Billion USD a year – how can that be bad for us? Same is the case with other commodity price drops the world over. They’re told that Govt’s policies have not delivered and the economy is not doing well. But everybody can see that the structural reforms being undertaken will cure the ills of past so many decades. It all becomes very ...

Divesh Kumar has recently retired as a contended man. He hasfulfilled his duties as a devoted father, caring son and loving husband all his life. He now wants to gift something long lasting for his two lovely grandchildren which he and his wife fondly dote on. They both decided to contribute for higher studies for them by contributing some money every month. Their first impulse was to save in a bank Recurring Deposit (RD) but wanted their decision to be validated by us. We heard them out and asked them, “Have you thought of mutual funds for this purpose?” They never had thought so. We explained to them that they had a long time frame for their gift. The gift should actually work for the recipients to create value as they have planned and not be lost to inflation and taxes. In case of any emergent requirement some time later, ...

In a country where event managers are paid for organising weddings and nutritionists are paid for making diet plans, financial advisors struggle to make a case for earning a fee. Only a small segment has managed to break through the resistance. Investors continue to save, invest, and borrow without any framework or process in place and assume they can manage their money. Why does one need a financial advisor at all? There was a time when getting a job meant meeting "commitments." There were siblings who needed college education; there were marriage expenses; and, there were elderly parents to take care of. Today, a young earner begins financial life on a firm footing - a regular surplus income. He acquires a bank account and a debit card with the job. By the end of his first year of earning, he has bought some tax saving products and applied for loans ...