Investing abroad with MF's

Investing abroad without restrictions, its been a long time coming for Indians. And now its possible not just to invest abroad, but actually do it with the convenience of a mutual fund !

To provide some history, Principal Global Opportunities fund was launched in 2004 with the objective of investing abroad. But till last year, the government permitted funds to invest only in those foreign companies which had a 10 per cent stake in an Indian company. So the whole diversification factor was restricted to less than 50 companies. Which in turn made the fund a complete dud.

But such a restriction no longer exists and mutual funds are allowed to freely invest abroad. Because of this, the fund has now repositioned itself and instead of investing directly into stocks abroad, the fund invests most of its corpus in PGIF Emerging Markets Equity Fund. Rather than tracking equities in so many markets, the fund house has decided to invest through this fund as it already possesses the expertise to invest in these markets. This means that the fund's portfolio has dominant exposure to countries like South Korea, Brazil, Russia, China and Taiwan.

Do note that these emerging markets generally offer great return potential, but also happen to be very volatile. So if you have already invested in India and want to spread your risks, this is a great way to do it. And on top of the convenience, the charges for the fund are less as their overheads are less. All in all, a great way to diversify your portfolio.

Gold EFT's arrive in India...

Investing in Gold is finally easy in India. I have never been a fan of buying gold biscuits just to invest in gold as there are too many overheads with the storage and protection. Now with the Gold ETF's coming into India, you can just buy the mutual funds on the market and rest assured that part of your portfolio is invested in Gold. Gold is a lucrative investment class and it returned a whopping 16 per cent last year (Do not compare to the stock market returns as the asset class is different with less inherent risks).

The UTI Gold Exchange Traded Fund (NFO in March first week) is a passively managed, open-ended Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). The scheme will be invested in gold bullion and will reflect the international price of gold in the market. And if you like Variety, Benchmark AMC introduced a similar fund in Feb.

Every unit of the Gold ETF's will approximately represent one gram of pure gold. Units can be bought or sold on the NSE once the scheme is listed and the fund will be credited to the investors' demat accounts.

Makes life Easy and our portfolio more resilient to the market swings !!!

Induction cooking !!!

Cooking food at home has just gotten safer and easier, thanks to the help of an induction cooktop that controls and intensifies heat using electromagnetism.

Traditional electric cooktops use some form of electric resistance to create heat, which is transferred to the saucepan and its contents. Induction cooking is based on magnetic fields: each ‘element’ generates a magnetic field that induces heat in steel cookware placed on top of it. In essence, the pot becomes the element that cooks the food, so the cooktop surface doesn’t get as hot as other cooktops. Induction cooktops have the same instant control as gas and are the fastest of all cooktop types to heat and cook food.

Look at this half made egg to realize the power of this technology:



Even better is this photo of the ice cubes outside the pan remaining unchanged as the water in the pan boils.

Amazing, right ?

This technology is virtually idiot proof. There is no risk of fire if food or grease overflows from the pan, no risk of burns from touching the cooktop surface, and no worry about dangerous fumes from gas or other cooking fuels. The ceramic glass surface can be cleaned by simply wiping off the surface with a damp towel.

Im so exited that I want to go out now and buy it. Where it is available in Bangalore, I have no idea !!!

Update : I have since figured out that you can either buy it in many major shops for Rs 2700 onwards or you could go to the grey markey in Majestic and get the same for Rs 1700 or less.

Recharge AA battery on USB !

I just love this technology. Combine the biggest headache in power, ie running out of batteries and combine it with the simplest form of charging and bingo, you have a USBCell !!!

Released as a teaser to the IT press over a week ago with the tagline ‘Time to recharge the battery market’, the details are finally out and they are oh so logical yet very cool.

Produced by Moixa Energy, USBCELL batteries are simply batteries that recharge from any USB port. They require no separate recharging devices, cradles or cables and can be used exactly like a normal battery. The design itself is rather like a typical memory stick with its flip top lid and they could be set to deliver the same killer blow to the battery market that memory sticks did to floppy discs.

• Battery Chemistry
• NiMH - Nickel Metal Hyrdride
• Technical Specifications
• 90%+ Charged after 5 Hours by powered USB
• Also rechargeable by approved NiMH charger at 250ma for 7 Hours

Amazing use of the mind, is it not ?

Buying a Digital Camera...

I have been asked many times as to what is a good digital camera to buy. Here is my 2c's.

Digital camera's have come a long long way in the last few years. So you really cannot go too wrong with any of the Canon's, Sony, Kodak, Fuji or Olympus. The newer ones with over 5MP offer decent quality both in terms of picture and printing. More megapixels does not mean better quality. I have seen pictures from the Canon 5 MP A5xx series and they are as good as you can get. Sure, you can pay a lot more and get tons more megapixels, but what use are they going to be ? Are you ever going to blow up your pictures to more than 8x11 ? Probably not, and if you need to, then you better get a professional to take the picture.

My advise, do not blow up money on the advanced features you will never understand nor on Megapixels that you will never have use for. Go for a simple camera that works great in automatic mode.

Having said that, here are a few basic things to look out for:

1. 5MP / 6MP is the value for money as of today in terms of money paid per MP. 6MP should suffice almost everybody, but the most demanding users.

2. Never go for a digital camera that uses proprietary batteries unless it is too good. Look out for camera's which use AA, so that you can use NI-MH rechargeables all the time and if you are ever in a corner and need immediate power, you can buy a few AA's from any grocery shop to keep you going.

3. If possible, go for camera's that use a standard USB port. These non-standard cables are always a pain and if they go bad, you have to get it from the company for a high cost.

4. Given a choice, go for a camera that performs better in auto mode in low light conditions. You will find it very useful.

5. Never give a damn to the digital zoom numbers. Anything in the 4x optical zoom is okay for most people. If you move into the 10x optical zoom and more, the camera tends to get bulkier. Its a toss up between size (which will hit you every time) and zoom over 4x (which you will use rarely).

6. If the camera has video recording, make sure it can record sound too. Not that the video recording is anything useful at 640x480, but just make sure in case you need it.

7. This is the most silliest suggestion I will give. Never ever buy a camera where the lens cap is separate and cannot be attached to the body via a cable. Best if to go for camera's with in-built lens cap. You will lose it soon enough !!!

I have a Fuji 5MP camera that I got a few years back and never have had any complaints. But I personally think that the Canon A540 is a great camera. If you want to step up, the Canon A630 is amazing too. I have seen snaps from both of them and they rock.

Had to start somewhere...

I have been thinking of sharing my thoughts on two of the things that continue to fascinate me.

One is Indian mutual funds. I have been dealing with mutual funds in India for many years now. This hardly makes me a expert, but then they say that experience is the best teacher. I have learnt finance the hard way, falling on my face many many times before I learnt to walk. I would share my thoughts on the ongoing happenings in the mutual fund industry in India.

Two is technology. The more I get a hold on it, the more I see it slipping away !!! But it never ceases to amaze me. I would also like to talk about my thoughts on some of the questions I come across regularly among the people I work with.

So here is a start, with the hope that it continues into something meaningful and useful...