List of all RGESS Mutual Funds

In the last month or so several fund houses have launched their RGESS mutual funds, and while existing funds are also eligible for this rebate, that hasn’t stopped funds from launching schemes specifically for this purpose.

I think that’s mainly because it helps for marketing purposes, and a secondary reason could be that you didn’t have funds that were actively managed and were eligible under RGESS, but now funds have launched such schemes as well.

The table below lists every fund that I know of which has been launched specifically to take advantage of the RGESS scheme, and it has a few words describing what the fund is all about as well.

 

S.No. Fund Name Investment Objective NFO Date
1 SBI RGESS Fund Actively managed fund that only invests in shares of CNX 100 09 Feb 2013 – 09 Mar 2013
2 IDBI RGESS Fund Actively managed fund that invests in shares of CNX 100 and shares of public sector enterprises which are categorized as Maharatna, Navratna or Miniratna. 09 Feb 2013 – 09 Mar 2013
3 UTI RGESS Fund The principal investment objective of the scheme is to invest in stocks of
companies comprising S&P CNX Nifty and endeavor to achieve return
equivalent to Nifty by “passive” investment. The scheme will be managed
by replicating the index in the same weightage as in S&P CNX Nifty – Index
with the intention of minimising the performance difference between the
scheme and the S&P CNX Nifty – Index in capital terms
09 Feb 2013 – 08 Mar 2013
4 HDFC RGESS Fund A Close-ended Equity Scheme investing in Eligible Securities as per Rajiv
Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2012 as amended from time to time.
18 Feb 2013 – 15 Mar 2013
5 Birla Sun Life RGESS Fund The investment objective of the Scheme(s) is to generate capital appreciation,
from a portfolio that is substantially constituted of equity securities specified
as eligible securities for Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2012
(RGESS).
25 Feb 2013 – 20 Mar 2013
6 DSP BR RGESS Fund The primary investment objective of the Scheme is to seek to generate capital appreciation, from a portfolio that is substantially constituted of equity securities which are specified as eligible securitiesfor Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS). The Scheme may also invest a certain portion of its corpus in cash & cash equivalent and money market instruments from time to time. 14 Feb 2013 – 28 Feb 2013
7 LIC Nomura RGESS Fund The primary investment objective of the Schemes is to seek to generate capital appreciation, from a portfolio that is substantially constituted of equity securities which are specified as eligible securities for Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS). 09 Feb 2013 – 25 Feb 2013

Tax Planning for the next year for salaried people

This article is written by Aashish Ramchand, a Chartered Accountant by profession. Aashish is the co-founder of makemyreturns.com. He also has completed his CFA Level I (American) and is very passionate about writing articles on taxes and tax advisory. He can be reached at connect@makemyreturns.com

People generally believe that when it comes to the Salaried class, there is hardly any hope for tax savings. This observation however, is not entirely true.

The salary that an employee receives is in reality a combination of many types of income that are actually categorized differently according to the Income Tax Act, and your salary constitutes the following things:

  • Basic Salary
  • Different Allowances
  • Different Perquisites (Perks)
  • Other incomes not included in this list such as Commission, incentives, etc.

Most people do not have the knowledge that leaving aside the component of Basic salary, other components in the salary slip such as allowances and perks can enjoy tax exemption, though of course up to a certain limit. In fact, every employee, in consultation with his employer, can make alterations to his pay package so that the benefits from tax gain may be maximized.

Employees should therefore gain some knowledge regarding these simple tax gains and learn how to make use of tax exemption policies related to perks and allowances to gain as much they can instead of unnecessarily paying a high amount of taxes.

Employer’s Contribution to NPS eligible for deduction under 80CCD(2)

Section 80CCD(2) is a new section that not many people know about, and states that any contribution made by the employer towards NPS can be claimed for deduction by the employee. The two key restrictions are that the contribution must be made by the employer, and it can’t exceed 10% of your salary. Some employers like Wipro have already included 80CCD(2) them in their salary structure, so if your employer contributes to NPS then you should take advantage of 80CCD(2) as well.

The good thing about this is that the NPS contribution amount is counted in excess of the amount of INR 1,00,000 as mentioned under Section 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD.

Let’s now discuss the exemptions available with respect to common day to day allowances and perquisites.

HRA (House Rent Allowance):

The amount of HRA that an employee receives enjoys tax exemption up to the following limits

  1. 50 per cent of the employee’s salary when the employee resides in either of the four metropolitan cities, in other cases 40 per cent
  2. Any rent that is more than 10 per cent of the total salary of the employee
  3. Actual amount of HRA received

Transport Allowance:

The amount of transport allowance that an employee spends to get to his workplace from his place of residence enjoys a tax exemption of up to a limit of Rs. 800 per month.

Rent free furnished or unfurnished accommodation:

When an employer provides his employee with rent free furnishes or unfurnished accommodation it is considered a perk and employees can enjoy exemption from taxes up to the following limits

  1. If the said accommodation is in a city, the population of which exceeds 25 lakh, the tax exemption can be 15 per cent of the salary
  2. If the said accommodation is provided in a city, the population of which is less than 25 lakh but more than 10 lakh, it is 10 per cent of the salary amount
  3. If the said accommodation is provided in any other place with a population that is less than 10 lakh it is 7.5 per cent f the total salary

In the event of the furniture too being made available by the employer, 10 per cent of the employee’s salary is assumed to be the value of the furniture when the furniture is owned, and in the case of hire, the actual hire charges that the employer pays is considered.

The amount contributed by an employer as premium paid towards the group insurance schemes of the staff members or towards recreational amenities, including services provided by clubs etc. for the benefit employees is always considered to be under the Tax Exempt category.

Conclusion

The above information has been relayed so that employees understand the various ways through which they can save on the taxes they pay. With the help of these different exemptions, employees can alter their existing salary structure in such a way that the optimum tax benefits can be availed by employees. Employees can try to confine the allowances within the limits set for exemption while the individual’s tax plans can also be prepared in relation to the valuation of the perks or perquisites.

Employees should always ensure that the exemption limits set under 80C and 80D are always used to their maximum potential too.

Warren Buffett on EMH

I recently came across Warren Buffett’s 1988 letter to shareholders and came across an excellent excerpt on the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which I think everyone who invests in stocks or mutual funds should read and understand.

The EMH says that the markets are efficient as they price in all available information about a stock, and as a result it is not possible to consistently beat the market. I’ve never believed in this theory  and have suffered low grades in finance papers (among other things) as a result of that belief. But the way I’ve always looked at this is the volatility in the price of stocks, and the great difference between the prices that stocks exhibit in any 52 week period.

I’ve excerpted this from The Intelligent Investor before, and I think it explains my point well here as well.

A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business, with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price. The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stocks too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.

The swings are not signs of a rational market.

Now, on to the excerpt from the letter itself. (Emphasis mine)

Efficient Market Theory

The preceding discussion about arbitrage makes a small 
discussion of “efficient market theory” (EMT) also seem relevant.  
This doctrine became highly fashionable - indeed, almost holy 
scripture in academic circles during the 1970s.  Essentially, it 
said that analyzing stocks was useless because all public 
information about them was appropriately reflected in their 
prices.  In other words, the market always knew everything.  As a 
corollary, the professors who taught EMT said that someone 
throwing darts at the stock tables could select a stock portfolio 
having prospects just as good as one selected by the brightest, 
most hard-working security analyst.  Amazingly, EMT was embraced 
not only by academics, but by many investment professionals and 
corporate managers as well.  Observing correctly that the market 
was frequently efficient, they went on to conclude incorrectly 
that it was always efficient.  The difference between these 
propositions is night and day.

     In my opinion, the continuous 63-year arbitrage experience 
of Graham-Newman Corp. Buffett Partnership, and Berkshire 
illustrates just how foolish EMT is. (There’s plenty of other 
evidence, also.) While at Graham-Newman, I made a study of its 
earnings from arbitrage during the entire 1926-1956 lifespan of 
the company.  Unleveraged returns averaged 20% per year.  
Starting in 1956, I applied Ben Graham’s arbitrage principles, 
first at Buffett Partnership and then Berkshire.  Though I’ve not 
made an exact calculation, I have done enough work to know that 
the 1956-1988 returns averaged well over 20%. (Of course, I 
operated in an environment far more favorable than Ben’s; he had 
1929-1932 to contend with.)

     All of the conditions are present that are required for a 
fair test of portfolio performance: (1) the three organizations 
traded hundreds of different securities while building this 63-
year record; (2) the results are not skewed by a few fortunate 
experiences; (3) we did not have to dig for obscure facts or 
develop keen insights about products or managements - we simply 
acted on highly-publicized events; and (4) our arbitrage 
positions were a clearly identified universe - they have not been 
selected by hindsight.

     Over the 63 years, the general market delivered just under a 
10% annual return, including dividends.  That means $1,000 would 
have grown to $405,000 if all income had been reinvested.  A 20% 
rate of return, however, would have produced $97 million.  That 
strikes us as a statistically-significant differential that 
might, conceivably, arouse one’s curiosity.

     Yet proponents of the theory have never seemed interested in 
discordant evidence of this type.  True, they don’t talk quite as 
much about their theory today as they used to.  But no one, to my 
knowledge, has ever said he was wrong, no matter how many 
thousands of students he has sent forth misinstructed.  EMT, 
moreover, continues to be an integral part of the investment 
curriculum at major business schools.  Apparently, a reluctance 
to recant, and thereby to demystify the priesthood, is not 
limited to theologians.

     Naturally the disservice done students and gullible 
investment professionals who have swallowed EMT has been an 
extraordinary service to us and other followers of Graham.  In 
any sort of a contest - financial, mental, or physical - it’s an 
enormous advantage to have opponents who have been taught that 
it’s useless to even try.  From a selfish point of view, 
Grahamites should probably endow chairs to ensure the perpetual 
teaching of EMT.

     All this said, a warning is appropriate.  Arbitrage has 
looked easy recently.  But this is not a form of investing that 
guarantees profits of 20% a year or, for that matter, profits of 
any kind.  As noted, the market is reasonably efficient much of 
the time: For every arbitrage opportunity we seized in that 63-
year period, many more were foregone because they seemed 
properly-priced.

     An investor cannot obtain superior profits from stocks by 
simply committing to a specific investment category or style.  He 
can earn them only by carefully evaluating facts and continuously 
exercising discipline.  Investing in arbitrage situations, per 
se, is no better a strategy than selecting a portfolio by 
throwing darts.

What is India’s CPI?

CPI is Consumer Price Index, and is a globally used measure for inflation. India also uses CPI to measure inflation, but the WPI or the Wholesale Price Index is more widely watched.

India launched a new Consumer Price Index in February 2011, and Dr. Ajay Shah lists down 4 ways in which this is meaningfully different from the old CPI. 

  1. It is disaggregated at the rural and urban levels. The new overall all India CPI is a weighted average of the two. This is in contrast with the earlier CPIs which represented subsets of the population (industrial workers, agricultural labourers, rural labourers, etc.).
  2. The new series has better geographical as well as commodity coverage. The basket of consumer goods has risen from 25 to 250.
  3. The weights have been derived from the 61st round of the NSS consumer expenditure survey (2004-05).
  4. Data for the urban CPI will be collected from 310 towns (compared to 78 in the current CPI-IW, for all India). The rural CPI will use data from 1181 villages. Field officers of the NSSO and the Department of Post will be the price collection agents for urban and rural centers respectively.

The new index reported its highest ever inflation number for January 2013 when the provisional all India CPI came to 10.79%. This was higher than the 10.56% number for December 2012, and also higher than the WPI number that was reported earlier.

Let’s look at three things that help get a deeper understanding of CPI. The first one is CPI components, and the second one is how this measure is calculated, and finally how is this different from WPI.

Components of India’s CPI

The CPI is calculated for rural areas, and urban areas, and then a combined weight is used to determine the national average. Here are the constituents of CPI.

Sub group/group Rural Urban Combined
Cereals and products 19.08 8.73 14.59
Pulses and products 3.25 1.87 2.65
Milk and milk products 8.59 6.61 7.73
Oils and fats 4.67 2.89 3.9
Egg, fish and meat 3.38 2.26 2.89
Vegetables 6.57 3.96 5.44
Fruits 1.9 1.88 1.89
Sugar etc 2.41 1.26 1.91
Condiments and spices 2.13 1.16 1.71
Non- alcoholic beverages 2.04 2.02 2.03
Prepared meals etc 2.57 3.17 2.83
Pan, tobacco  and Intoxicants 2.73 1.35 2.13
Food, beverages and tobacco 59.31 37.15 49.71
Fuel and light 10.42 8.4 9.49
Clothing and bedding 4.6 3.34 4.05
Footwear 0.77 0.57 0.68
Clothing, bedding and footwear 5.36 3.91 4.73
Housing   22.53 9.77
Education 2.71 4.18 3.35
Medical care 6.72 4.34 5.69
Recreation and amusement 1 1.99 1.43
Transport and communication 5.83 9.84 7.57
Personal care and  effects 3.05 2.74 2.92
Household requisites 4.48 3.92 4.3
Others 1.12 0.99 1.06
Miscellaneous 24.91 28 26.31
Total 100 100 100.00

The most obvious thing about these components is how the weight for housing is zero in rural areas, but it’s a very high 22.53% in urban areas. If anyone has any insights as to why that is, please leave a comment.

How is CPI data collected?

Surveys are conducted to collect price data in urban and local areas. In the urban areas, 310 towns have been identified in the urban areas where the data is collected, and similarly there are 1,182 villages from where data is collected for rural areas. Interestingly, the post office workers are used to collect data in rural areas while employees of NSSO collect data in urban areas. So, this index is a result of survey done every month that helps establish the index values.

Difference between the WPI index and CPI Index

I did a post on the constituents of the WPI index a couple of years ago but I believe the constituents haven’t changed since then. Here are the components of the WPI index.

 

Primary Articles
Food Articles 15.4025
Non Food Articles 6.1381
Minerals 0.4847
Sub Total 22.0253
Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants
Coal Mining 1.7529
Mineral Oils 6.9896
Electricity 5.4837
Sub Total 14.2262
Manufactured Products
Food Products 11.5378
Beverages, Tobacco and Tobacco Products 1.3391
Textiles 9.7999
Wood and Wood Products 0.1731
Paper and Paper Products 2.0440
Leather and Leather Products 1.0193
Rubber and Plastic Products 2.3882
Chemicals and Chemical Products 11.9312
Non-Metallic Mineral Products 2.5159
Machinery and Machine Tools 8.3633
Transport Equipment and Parts 4.2948
Basic Metals and Alloys 8.3419
Sub Total 63.7485
Grand Total 100.00
I think one of the first things you notice in this list is that there is no housing, which is rather ridiculous for widely watched index when you consider how much people in cities pay for housing either in the form or rent or even worse high prices and EMIs. (Read: Thoughts on an Indian Real Estate Bubble).
There is no section for services as well, as the WPI is simply broken down into primary articles, fuel power and manufactured products.
The WPI also undergoes frequent revisions and those aren’t small either, and as far as I know CPI hasn’t gone through such big revisions so far.
Conclusion
Looking at the constituents, and the way the data is collected for the CPI index tells you that you can’t really look at this index as the absolute truth, and it is better served as an indicator of magnitude as well as direction of inflation and you shouldn’t give much weight to the number in a given month but rather how the direction is moving and what the magnitude is. I also feel that the CPI is a much better indicator than the WPI because of the way it is structured and because it doesn’t suffer from the frequent revisions that the WPI does.

3 Amazing Videos and 4 Great Articles

I want to start this week by saying that I feel this is the best weekend links post that I have ever done, and is certainly my favorite by a long stretch.

I’m going to share three amazing videos this week, and going through the videos and articles in this post may take about an hour or so but you wouldn’t want to miss it.

I’m sure you’ve at least heard of the first one, if not seen the video, I’m talking about Google Glass, and if it’s anything like the video, it’s quite outstanding and I can see how this can change the way we function 15 or 20 years down the line.

Here is the video, you need to watch it a few times to really understand what’s going on in all the frames.

The second concept is what they are calling 3Doodler, which is a pen that actually writes up in the air, a 3D printing pen essentially.

You have to see the video to get a better sense of what I am saying.

Now, two articles related to these things – the first one about Google, which is titled How Google Retooled Android With Help From Your Brain, and again I don’t think I’ll do justice to the article by writing about it so you better read it yourself.

The second article is about 3D printing, and how it resembles the computer in the 80s.

All this is cool stuff, but compared to the ability to move your artificial hand by just thinking? I don’t even have words!

How can you look at all this and not think about Singularity? How long before machines become smarter than humans, and what happens then?

Humans are smart, machines are getting smarter, but don’t forget animals. Wouldn’t you be blown away to learn that dolphins call each other by name? 

Wasn’t this amazing? Enjoy your weekend!

Lakhs to millions conversions calculator

I had created a crores to millions calculator some time ago, and on that post someone commented that a lakhs to millions calculator will also be useful because some companies report their results in lakhs, and then you have the need to convert them into crores or millions USD to compare it with other companies.

With that in mind, I created this handy little calculator that converts lakhs to crores, millions in INR and also in USD, so you can input a number and get the other numbers.

For quick calculations you can remember that 100 lakhs is a crore, 10 crores is approximately 2 million USD, a 100 crore is a billion, and if you need it, then a lakh crore is a trillion.

Enter Lakhs
Exchange Rate

In Crores of INR
In Millions of INR
In Billions of INR
In Millions of USD
In Billions of USD

Tax Free Bonds open for subscription in 2013

The last few days saw 4 companies announce the second tranche of their tax free bonds, and with the exception of HUDCO, the other three have identical interest rate and maturity periods.

The interest rates on the second tranche has gone down when compared with the first tranche and that’s because the interest rate on G-Secs have gone down between the time the first tranche was issued and now.

There is only one company that issued bonds earlier and hasn’t come out with a second tranche and that’s IIFCL. They were the only one to have a 20 year term so none of the bonds presently in the market (or to be issued shortly) have a 20 year term.

Here are the details of all the 4 tax free bond issues that are either open now or will open shortly.

Issuers

Open and Close Date

CARE Credit Rating

10 years Retail

15 years Retail

20 years Retail

Interest Payment Date 

HUDCO Tranche 2
Feb 18 2013 – Mar 15 2013

AA+

7.53%

7.69%

NA

 
PFC Tranche 2
Feb 25 2013 – Mar 15 2013

AAA

7.38%

7.54%

NA

 
REC Tranche 2
Feb 25 2013 – Mar 15 2013

AAA

7.38%

7.54%

NA

 
IRFC Tranche 2
Feb 25 2013 – Mar 15 2013

AAA

7.38%

7.54%

NA

 

These are all reasonably safe issues to invest in, and I think even with the lowered interest rate are useful for people in the 30% tax bracket. You can spread your money in two or more issues to diversify since they are so identical in nature. If you have any other questions please leave a comment, and I’ll answer them.

IRFC Tax Free Bonds – 2013

IRFC is the fourth company that I’ll be writing about which is issuing a second tranche of their tax free bonds, and their term structure is identical to REC and  PFC.

The issue will also open on February 25th and close on March 15th 2013, and that’s exactly the same as the other two as well, and I’m not sure why all these companies have decided to come out with their issues at the exact same time.

Option Tranche- II Series 1 Tranche- II Series 2
Tenor 10 years 15 years
Minimum Investment Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000
Coupon Rate for Retail Investors 7.38% 7.54%
For Others 6.88% 7.04%
Interest Payment Annual Annual

The issue is rated AAA which is the same as the other two and that’s probably the reason why they have the same interest rate as well.

Like the earlier issue this time you can invest in this issue in paper or Demat form and the bonds will be listed on the BSE so you don’t have to hold them to maturity but can trade them as well.

The interest will be paid annually, and there is no option to reinvest the interest in the same bond. I couldn’t find the interest payment date in the prospectus so if anyone knows that then please leave a comment.

This is the fourth post about tax free bonds and since they are so similar I don’t know what else to add. I will however note that they are talking about doing away with tax free bonds from next year onwards so if you are in the 30% tax bracket then these are good to own in your portfolio. Also, it’s good to diversify and own bonds from two or more issuers since their terms are quite identical.

If you have any questions then please leave a comment and I’ll answer them.

Click here to download the application form

REC Tax Free Bonds 2013

REC is the third company that I’m going to write about that has issued a second tranche of tax free bonds. PFC and HUDCO were the first two.

REC had also released the first tranche of its tax free bonds earlier and like the other companies, it has lowered the interest rates on its second tranche due to the lowering of the interest rates.

Here are the issue details from the second tranche of REC tax free bonds.

Option Tranche- II Series 1 Tranche- II Series 2
Tenor 10 years 15 years
Minimum Investment Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000
Coupon Rate for Retail Investors 7.38% 7.54%
For Others 6.88% 7.04%
Interest Payment Annual Annual

Credit Rating of REC Tax Free Bonds

CRISIL has given this issue its highest ‘CRISIL AAA’ rating, and CARE has also given this issue its highest ‘CARE AAA’ rating.

Open and Close Date of REC Tax Free Bonds

The issue opens on February 25th 2013, and closes on March 15th 2013.

Listing of the Bonds

The bonds will list on both the NSE and the BSE, and will start trading shortly after their issue.

Dematerialization and Physical Form

If you have a Demat account then you can buy these bonds in Demat account but it is not necessary to have one to own these since you can also subscribe to these bonds in the paper form. You can only trade in them in Demat form though.

Security and Safety

I feel that all these bonds coming out are fairly secure in nature but it is always good to spread around your money and not invest all of it in just one issue. Currently, there are 4 issues open so you can split your money in two or three of them.

Conclusion

I’ll keep this post short because there is not a lot new that I have to say other than what I’ve already written in other reviews but since a lot of people read one and not the others, I’ll just repeat that since interest rates are coming down, and these bonds may not be in existence next year onwards, it makes sense for people in the 30% tax bracket to have these as part of your portfolio.

If you have any other questions, please leave a comment, and I’ll answer them.

Click here to download the application form

HUDCO Tax Free Bonds 2013

Just a few days ago PFC announced their tax free bond issue, and now HUDCO has also announced the second tranche of their tax free bond issue.

The issue structure is similar to the earlier one but the interest rate is lower than the first tranche. This is because the interest rates on these bonds is tied to the interest rate on G-Secs and those yields have come down since the issue of the first bond.

The rate is still however slightly higher than those of the second tranche of PFC tax free bonds.  The issue is also rated one notch lower than those of PFC. It is rated ‘CARE AA+’ from CARE and ‘IND AA+’ from IRRPL.

Option Tranche- II Series 1 Tranche- II Series 2
Tenor 10 years 15 years
Minimum Investment Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000
Coupon Rate for Retail Investors 7.53% 7.69%
For Others 7.03% 7.19%
Interest Payment Annual Annual

HUDCO Tax Free Bond Open and Close Date

This issue opens on the 25th February 2013 and closes on March 15 2013.

Interest Payment

There was a question on the previous post about how the interest will be paid, so I’m adding the answer to that in this post as well. The interest will be paid annual, and there is no option of getting the interest reinvested in the bond like you can do in a fixed deposit. At the time of maturity you get interest for the final year plus whatever you initially invested in the bonds.

Listing of Bonds

This doesn’t mean that your money is locked in the bond for 10 or 15 years as these bonds will be listed on the NSE as well as BSE and you can sell the bonds there at any time. However, the market price of the bonds fluctuate on the stock exchange so you may get a higher or lower price than what you paid at the time of purchase. Presently, interest rates are going down, and bond prices go up when interest rates go down so the chances that the price of these bonds are higher on the stock exchange one year down the road is greater than the chance of their price being lower than the face value.

Who is a retail investor?

A retail investor is an individual or a HUF who invests less than Rs. 10 lakhs in this bond. If you buy the bonds from the stock exchange then you won’t get the additional interest that is available to the retail investor.

How can I buy the bond?

If you have a Demat account and a trading account with a broker like ICICI Direct or Edelweiss, then you should be able to buy the bond online itself. It is not necessary to have a demat account to buy these bonds though, and you can also go to a branch of Karvy, ICICI Securities or Axis Capital to buy these bonds. These are the registrars of the bonds so you should have the option to buy the bonds from them, but I’m sure there are other sources where you can buy them as well. Please leave a comment if you have bought or are going to buy these HUDCO tax free bonds from one of the other sources.

Conclusion

I don’t have much to add other than what I said in the post about the PFC tax free bonds, which is the fact that this is a good interest rate for people in the 30% bracket, and these bonds may not even exist next year so it is probably a good idea to have some part of your fixed income portfolio in a tax free bond issue, either this or any of the other ones. You might also want to diversify and buy the bonds from two or three different issuers since their terms are so similar.

Click here to download the application form

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