Finding short term debt funds

Nice article in capital mind.
Link is here
It goes like this -

So a lot of questions have come in after my Yahoo post on short term debt funds ("Reconsider that Fixed Deposit"), about which funds to choose. Here are the three that I have invested in:

Yes, HDFC's fund hasn't done quite as well, but that'll jump around between the three.

How to find Good Short Term Debt Funds

1) Go to Value Research Online's "Funds" Comparison section (I have pre-filled the objectives, but it's the "Category Compare" for "Debt: Ultra Short Term"

2) Click the 1-M Return and 3-M return headers, to rank the funds in ascending order.

3) Choose a fund that figures among the top and click on it. Example: JM Money Manager Super.

The important areas are:

• The chart - is this fund doing better than average?
• Trailing returns - how has the fund done recently?
• Are the net assets enough? Something at the 30-40cr. levels may not do too well.

4) Click the Portfolio Tab, and check the securities the fund has invested in:

• You have to make sure credit quality is decent; it needs to be high.
• The average maturity - ensure it's less than 3 months (0.25 years). That way you can exit without a loss within 3 months if the fund doesn't perform.

5) Lastly, check the "Fund Details" page. You need to ensure there are no weird exit loads. Don't bother with funds that have an exit load greater than a month.

Note: there is a lot more to explore in there, and VRO has a PDF for each fund that you can check too. The important point is to ensure they are keeping the credit quality and tenures good enough; and when funds stop showing this kind of return, it's time to exit. You need to expect about 8% to 9% per year on the ultra-short terms.

Financial statements one should have

Nice on from subramoney - below is copy and paste from his blog. Click here for his original post

Goals statement: tells you your written financial goals, the path, and the time that it will take to achieve the end result.

-Income statement: Tells you what you earn – and from where- your business income, dividend income, interest income….etc. Looks easy on paper especially for a person with a salary income, it can be complicated for a business man!

Balance sheet: shows the asset and liabilities of a person as on a particular day.

Expenses Budget statement: This tells you what expenses you are likely to incur in the next period – say a month, a quarter or a year. It is the estimate that you will incur – the more detailed it is, it is difficult to make. However when you compare it with the actual expenditure, you will know what you had estimated and what is actually being incurred.

Assets statement: A statement of your assets – could be all your mutual funds, shares, life insurance policies….etc.

Liabilities statement: a statement of all your loans – auto, home, …and what have you!

can really go on and on…all the abovementioned statements are very useful..albeit a little painful to create..

Best books to read by Subramoney

Best books to read by Subramoney

Nice article read it and follow it

click here

Hidden gems Nov20,07

Hidden gems by moneycontrol

Alps industries and KRBL.
Think about them

Business standard reco date Mar2707

Finance - icici and sbi

Telecom - Bharati

Power - Bharat Bijlee, Emco, BHEL, KEC International and Jyoti Structures

Infrastructure - L and T, IVRCL, Simplex Infrastructure, Gammon India and Punj Lloyd

Shipping - ABG shipyard

Misc - Everest Kanto

Biggies - RIL, ITC, Infosys, TCS, Marico, L&T and Mahindra & Mahindra

Mutual fund that I dont want

1. HDFC capital builder
2. Reliance equity fund
3.Birla Equity fund if its possible
4. Tata equity oppurtunity
5. HDFC long term equity advantage
6. UTI leadership equity fund
7. SBI blue chip