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Organic Gardening: Shade Net Setup
In the last post I talked about how we started building our very basic organic terrace garden in the early spring of 2019. Soon the summer will start and we were worried if the plants will be able to handle the sun. Even during the spring season, the plants were having difficulty coping up with the heat on the terrace. So we decided to build a shade net. The idea was to
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Organic Gardening: The Beginnings
Some time soon after I retired in July 2018, we decided to grow some organic vegetables in the small place that we have available around our house and also on the terrace. And ever since I have been planning to write a couple of posts about it. But somehow other important things came up and I kept on postponing it. Finally the time has come :). The project has been one of the longest on-going one. We still keep adding and changing things.
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Budget 2020 and How It Affects Me
I am sure you already know everything you need to know about the budget by now. There are hundreds of articles covering every aspect in details. Now the question really is -- how much does it affect you? Since everybody's situation is different, their incomes and tax deductions are different, there isn't much advice that I can give. This is one of those times when I throw the clichéd answer "it depends". So instead, I thought I will pen down how it affects me.
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Year In Review – 2019 Net Worth
The final post in 2020 Year in Review series, is my net worth. Like last year, I took stock of my investments and asset allocation. As a reminder to the readers, the idea is not to know how much I am worth, but mainly to understand my asset allocation. Even so, it is fun to check out the net worth, so here it goes.
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Year In Review - 2019 Expenses
This is the continuation of my 2019 year in review series. See my previous post if you missed my returns report. As you probably know, I maintain two set of expenses -- one for monthly expenses and another for annual expenses. The monthly expenses include expenses that occur more frequently than once a year and the rest of the expenses go into annual expenses. Lets dive deeper into the report.
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Year In Review - 2019 Returns
It is that time of the year again when I do a review of my investments, expenses, net worth and also plan for the upcoming year. This year is special because I also have to do my 10 year planning as this is the start of a new decade. Anyway, enough banter, on to the good stuff. As usual, this will be a series and this is the first of them which covers my returns in 2019.
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Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund is Down!
Normally I do not write any mutual fund specific posts because I do not recommend specific funds. But in this case I will make an exception because many people I know have invested in Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund and are shocked to see it go down by 4.36% in one day! Yes even ultra short term debt funds go down. Most people forget or ignore the credit risk involved in debt funds. If you want absolute safety of investment go for liquid funds or overnight funds.
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The Doll House Project
What do you tell your daughter when she asks for a doll house? Well if you are like me, retired and have no work then you will say "I will build one for you" :) . And so it began. We had a few corrugated cardboard boxes which were the packaging material used for some furniture or electronics. We decided to build the doll house using that material so we can reuse the waste and also teach our kid some hands-on building skills. Eventually it turned out to be a skill building session and a test of patience for me :).
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Should You Invest in Bharat Funds?
By now everyone must have heard about the PSU based ETFs, namely, Bharat 22 ETF and Bharat Bonds EFT. Should you invest in them because they carry the safety of investing in companies mostly owned by the government? That is the topic of today's post, but I will be brief.
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Happy New Year 2020!
I would like to wish all my readers a very happy new year! May this year bring more happiness and cheer. I hope 2019 has been kind to you and you were able to achieve your goals. As for me, 2019 has been the first full calendar year in retirement and it was just fabulous! I am still getting used to the life in retirement although it has already been nearly one and a half years.
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