Why me?

Slew of candidates appeared for job interview. You were among the chose candidates.

You narrowly escaped natural disaster. Millions lost their lives as the result of the disaster. You could have been crushed to death, but good fortune intervened.

Your kids are schooled at reputable institution. On the other hand, the neighbour kids who had dropped out of school were coerced to work in order to support the family. 

You have achieved tremendous success in life. In contrast, one of your close friends is struggling to make ends meet.

The above statements persuade you to Thank God in the first place. I concur with your state of gratitude.

Well, Let's take for instance the following meltdowns happened in your life.

Your business profit took a nosedive. On the other hand, your competitors quadrupled their profit this year.

You lost your job. The time is fleeting and still you haven't found another job. Meanwhile, your friends are climbing up the corporate ladder.

Your kids are the spoiled brats. In contrast, the relative's children are down-to-earth.

You channel all of your negative experiences into the process of questioning God " Why me?".

Herein lies the paradox: Over the period of your good times, you never stopped to ask, "Why was I chosen to achieve success and have good times in life?".  But, during the bad times, the act of impulsiveness and frustration predisposed you to question God, "Why did God have to choose me for all of the bad things that happened in my life?".

Success or failure is a state of mind. Thoughtful and intellectual people have mastered the art of regulating the failures in their life by keeping the emotions under check and being thankful for the lovely moments they've had in their lives.

This brief piece of writing was inspired by Arthur Ashe's famous phrases "Why me?".

Arthur Ashe was the first black to win the U.S. open, Australian open and Wimbledon. During a surgical treatment, he got infected with HIV from blood transfusion. He received lot of letters from his fans during his last days. Among the letters was a fan who asked Ashe, "Why did God have to select you for such a bad disease?". Arthur responded back to fan with thoughtful message, "When I was holding the cup, I never asked God, 'Why me?", urging the fan to enjoy life.

Ideal body myths

Get Lean, Get Muscular!!! These catchy sayings are frequently displayed outside on the gym walls. These phrases were engraved in our brain that triggered our obsession over well-toned and slim physique. With the advent of internet and social media, we gobble down at least minimum of 5 articles related to health and fitness every day. Fitness is the current buzzword. Whole lot of celebrities training routine & their diet chart are available across the web, and to attain their amazing physique we follow suit.

Common man can have a celebrity mindset, but they cant afford their lifestyle

Reality hits you hard when you try incorporating professional workout blueprint into your training routine. The professional's workout and diet pattern requires spending substantial amount of money and significant amount of time. The Herculean task requires more effort and time, and hence their workout style doesn't fit into the average man shoes. Prior to following the celebrities fitness approach, find some time to research over the celebrities' work-out duration and their diet process. Typically, their workouts last 1 hour or more and their dietician usually recommend splitting the eating pattern into 6-7 small meals a day. Moreover, it's not only hard work and perseverance that got them this physique, behind the curtain there lies a dark secret of fitness industry which we are completely oblivious such as medication and steroids and cosmetics. I wonder how this process which need to be followed throughout the day could suit the normal officegoers. Though you have pledged to start this hard process which need to be continued in the long run to accomplish the goals, it goes without sayings that at certain point of time, you were coerced to discontinue this process due to extended working hours or irregular lifestyle or you might have felt boredom doing the routine on daily basis. People in the 30s and above have family commitments. Being the responsible family man, neither do you have time to spare, nor you were able to hire dietician/personal trainer due to financial constraint.

The Ideal Body Myths

Does that mean one shouldn't follow the advice of the revered ones from the fitness industry? The answer is no. My thoughts are, as Van damme said "God gave me a great body and it's my duty to take care of my physical temple", it's our responsibility to keep our body healthy, but the fitness buzzword of wanting a muscular, lean body appears to be alienating people. People were born and blessed with different physical traits (round physique, slow metabolism, hard to lose fat and so forth). The paradox is that fitness/fashion industry considers a particular body type (well-built and lean for men, hour-glass figure for women) as the ideal body type and rest of the body types were considered unimportant.  Hence, People with different sizes workout to achieve the ideal body labelled by the fashion community. Unfortunately, despite working out harder and many years of dedication, many fail to get the ideal body. Think practically, the fitness industry One-Size-fits-all program can't accommodate everyone. The truth of matter is that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Even if you work out harder but see little to no change in your body, it doesn't matter.  What matters most while training is your improvement in stamina, endurance, and conditioning. The least important should be the dream, desired body. Constant workout over a period of time helps you to become healthy both inside and outside. Your family never look down on you because you are not lean or muscular or size zero. Rather, they are happy when you look healthy and don't fall sick often. Helping your wife by carrying grocery bags, being a super dad by playing with kids is what matters most to family.  So, remember this, Workouts should be done just to improve your health and well-being. Seeking desired body should be placed at the bottom in the priority list. Ideal body is sort of window-dressing.

Why do we gradually lose motivation in training?

Little to no improvements in your body during the nascent training phase provokes you to quit the excercise. Isn't it jumping the gun?  Fitness is not miracle pill that could work within a fortnight. It takes substantial amount of time to notice some changes in your health. Hence, for the longer period of time, your fitness routine should be followed. Training consistently for longer period of time requires motivation. Motivation is the vital element that drives a man to achieve great heights. Humans needs certain motivational theraphies to get the success they were hoping for. You kick-start your day, charging yourself by listening to motivational tracks, inspirational speech and other motivation therapies. Despite the motivation factor, the charge you acccrued starts to drain overtime.   Did you ever realize the motivation factor which propeled you to achieve success during the initial phase of your training or career, failed to create an impact in the long run? Promotion, apparaisal, praise, losing weight, desired body and other things motivate us to advance further in our respective areas. These external rewards that motivates you are called as extrinsic motivation, which contributes only to short-term success. For long-term success, the best answer is intrinsic motivation. In the intrinsic motivation, person is motivated over an activity, not for external rewards, but because the action itself is enjoyable. In simpler terms, a person is motivated by the fun, challenge, or satisfaction of an activity, not by an outside outcome, pressure, or reward. Loving your training routine process with great zeal will enable you to stay motivated in the long run. Exercise may feel like a way to punish your body at times, but it should be never considered counterproductive - It's rather an activity filled with lots of fun and attractiveness.

Consistency beats Talent

In the next section, i have provided my workout pattern chart. Quite frankly, I could almost read your mind over my fitness advice. A slew of doubts arise in the reader's mind.- "Is this guy aware of fitness? Does he have the  fitness competencies?" Without a doubt, I strongly concur with your thoughts over my limited fitness knowledge.  To be honest, I am just an average Joe who doesn't have an ideal body and doesn't possess the skill set of fitness professionals. Morever, i am not fitness freak/enthusiast counting over the calorie intake. So, what is the main determinant that inspired me to write down this article? To begin with, I first started working out in my college gym. Though i had limited fitness competencies, I was consistent with my workout routine. Once I began to reap the benefits of excercise, I never looked back. Back in my 20s, I used to workout vigorously six days a week and train for one hour every day at gym. I got married in my late 20s, and soon i had lighbulb moment which pushed me to modify my training regime so that it didn't conflict with my professional and personal life.  I had to commute 4-5 hours to and from work eachday, so I stopped visiting the  gym as counter balance to spend quality time with my family.   At home, I started anew with the little weights i had with me.  I trained 3-4 days in a week and slashed the duration of workout to half-hour. I had been consistently doing it for almost 10 years at home - Trust me, I was able to maintain my physique in the same condition as it had been during my gym sessions.  The best part over the years of working out is that i had little to no workout injuries - i didn't push my body to it limits rather i understood my body and established the threshold limit which served as deterrent against overtraining. When boredom hits you hard because of repeated exercise pattern, try incorporating new workouts into your exercise program  My sole purpose to walkthrough over my workout journey is not to showcase my skills, rather its about how consistency could enable the average man with minimal skills to achieve good results overtime.

My workout routine

Stretch for 5 minutes to warm up your body.

Skipping/Jumping rope (3 sets, each set with duration of 3 mins and 1 min rest in between sets).  When you are beginner, begin with 1 min of jump rope. Once you have gained endurance, increase the duration of skipping overtime. Please do consult the doctor before doing this, especially for those who have crossed 35 years of age.  Skipping is one of the very few exercises which reduces heart resting period, resulting in more blood being pumped and flown throughout your body. Increased blood circulation improvishes your cardiovascular system. Our bone density declines as we age. Skipping reverses bone density loss. 10 mins of skipping is equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging (Time Saver). When boredom hits you hard because of repeated basic jump rope routine, try incorporating various jump rope skills into your workout - Double under, Criss Cross, One legged hop, Boxer's stance, Jogging and so forth. Trust me, once you have mastered the multiple jump rope skills, jump rope activity will be fun to do.  There are likely chances of injury when done improperly. Trust me, when performed safely, they put less pressure on knees than running - Knee friendly exercise. As a matter of fact, it will strengthen your knees. Beauty Tips - If you keep skipping for a few months, your skin will eventually glow.

Since skipping is high-intensity work-out, it has to be performed every other day for muscle recovery.

Bodyweight exercise. 

Pushups (Decline/Normal) - 3 set * 15 reps (1 minute rest in between sets).

Pullups - 3 set * Max rep (1 minute rest in between sets). 

Karlakattai (or) Indian Clubs - do single set of 50 right hand & 50 left hand swing in one go with heavy Karlakattai. This traditional form of workout existed since ages. Ancient warriors improved their grip, shoulder strength through Karlakattai swinging.  This exercise improves your shoulder posture and enhances mobility.

Russian twister - 3 sets * 15 reps. Do this for strong core and you will start to notice your love handles dissipates overtime. 

Stretch for 5 minutes to cool down your body.

Go for a long walk (10-15 KM in one go) at least once in a month. Walking doesn't put strain on your knees however i consider it to be lazy man's workout for people below 50. People below 50 can still move their body 360 degrees, hence i request them to do include high intensity cardio and strength training workouts along with walking.

 

How to deal with and get ready for the future

It is good to be competitive enough to sustain in the tough world, but it should be a part of your life and should not overlap with other elements in your life. We tend to perform action that are prudent in nature. We are very much obsessed with what is going to happen in the future and tend to regret a lot over our impulsive actions in the past that sabotaged our growth. Thoughts and actions about the future should be in the must-to-do list and can't be laughed off. Savings, Children education and their marriage expenses when they are grownup, Retirement safety plans, paying off debts, house purchase are considered as the fear factors in the future. However, fear factors must be kept in check. This phobia provokes human to worry too much about future. The concern about future creates negative impact on humans such as anxiety, fear, stress, depression.

In the next section, I'll briefly discuss some practical strategies for handling and preparing for the future.

Stop predicting the uncertain future

In the stock trading world, there is none who could forecast and predict the future market movements accurately. In the similar manner, none can predict the future of life and its outcome, you can't manipulate the occurrences in the future. There are certain outcomes that are out of our control, and one such is future outcomes. Future humbles us in our fight against prediction. Keeping this in mind, redress our thoughts about future. Accept the fate and move on. 

Life should not be considered complex

The simpler the life, the more contentment you gain. Roads with more hair pin bends and pit holes discomforts the driver. Likewise, when you set your life to be more complex and non-linear, life becomes hard nut to crack. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” - Confucius

“Take a simple idea and take it seriously.” – Charlie Munger

Everything about Warren Buffett’s investment style is simple. The genius behind E= mc2 is its simplicity and elegance. The simpler your life, the happier your life will be in the future.

Minimalism is extension of simplicity

Try to be minimalistic. Minimalism advocates “Less is more.” Purchase the must ones and not the ones which gives you temporary pleasure. Surely, while flaunting your new iPhone 14 series can make people envious and makes you feel happy, you may discover that over time you don't appear to appreciate and care for the gadget as much as you did when you first got it. Meanwhile, how many times you were awestruck watching the various pattern of the disappearing sun during the evening. Scores of times right, you would have watched this act. However, every time you bring out the same joy and vibrant mood while observing the nature. See, this is the actual state of happiness that residues in the soul, but we seek happiness from worldly things. So, identify the possessions that are going to give you the permanent contentment and try ignoring or buying less the things that give temporary happiness. 

Develop the character of Resilience

Be prepared to face the consequences, threats and losses in the future. No one matter how special you think you are, Life is a roller-coaster ride. Develop the character of resilience. Men, who are trained to be resilient, effectively handles situations that happens out of blue. A resilient scholar in his mid 40s lost his son in battle, instead of grieving over the loss of his Son, he stated that “I knew the moment when my son was born, he has to die one day.”

Develop your professional skills

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." - Alvin Toffer

Develop your technical skills by attending training, taking a course, reading often, practicing. The upgraded knowledge is the only weapon you have to help you in the case of unexpected changes.

Sometimes it is good to surround yourself with Jerks

"Good things happen in your life when you surround yourself with positive people." – Roy Bennett

 And the opposite is also true. It's fine to have acquittance with jerks. Jerks are the ones who rebel against your success and shatter your self-confidence to the ground. Good people never stopped to notice your weakness and always laud your efforts. On the contrary, People who are wrong-headed and jerks undermine your efforts in the preparation for the better future. You believe that starting a business or choosing a better profession could aid you a safe haven in the future, but jerks constantly emphasis the negative consequences your choices would create in the future. Their criticism, bullying helps you to understand your flaws, weakness and mistakes, which aids you in preparing a better person for the future.

Art of giving

Ever wondered, why four out of top ten billionaires in America are Jews? Jews constitute less than 2% of America's population, Yet, in the race for billionaires, this group outperformed others.

 Remembering the famous quote from Deepak Chopra, "When you want something, give it."  Jews follow this success mantra which helps them to build fortune and success overtime. When you are the ones who focus only on receiving and shy away from giving, then typically, the harder you work to achieve your goal, the further away it seems to be.  Your future income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

Build your reputation

Our word of mouth and reputation are very important things to be human. In the more traditional Jewish and Japanese communities, everything is based on absolute trust in every member of the community. When someone needs help starting a new business or for any other need, the entire community mobilizes and contributes by lending money. And this loan is often interest-free, without a contract, just sealed with a word and a handshake between the parties. This is enough. The person had given his word that he would return the borrowed money on the agreed date. In India, however, the beneficiary does not uphold his reputation and honor in terms of repayment. This is the vital reason why Indians don't lend money. Good reputation builds a solid future for you and your family. Just because you have a prosperous and powerful life does not guarantee the same for your children or grandchildren. The reward of your good name and dignity would be passed down to your heirs through the ages.

Emergency funds

Emergency funds are the vital fund that should be in everyone's investment portfolio. In the future, emergency funds act as hedge against inevitable financial worries in the form of job loss and medical emergencies. Stash cash which is five times your current income to counter act the emergency needs in the future. Please check my article "Emergency funds bliss to salaried personal" to know more about emergency funds.

Mortality awareness

"Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life" - Buddha

"Every mortal will taste death. But only some will taste life." – Rumi

Mortality is the only fact of life that is never going to be wrong. Awareness of mortality gives us compelling reason to live fully. Death is certain any time, but we have a choice how we can die - with regret or with smile. People who live fully and with purpose, fear less about death than the people who lived unfulfilled and meaninglessly. Live your life fully so you don't have to regret over anything during death in the future.

Build a powerful body

Success can’t be achieved through poor health. Incorporating exercise into your daily life improves your overall health condition. It doesn’t matter how long you train each day, but stay consistent. Strong body helps you in building the strong future.

Bottomline

India ranked 136^th in the World Happiness report 2022 because of prominent factors such as poverty, unemployment, corruption, pollution and cleanliness. In addition to these factors, vast majority of Indians are conservative phobic and worry a lot about the future. What if I lose my job? What if my kids don’t study well? What if I choose a profession which doesn’t belong to the rat race? What if I'm not a step ahead of my relative? How many what ifs and concerns about future. It's high time we stop living the other people’s live and begin to live our own life to the fullest. Happiness is the quality of thought, state of mind, hence can be achieved only when you live your life the fullest. Hope some of the strategies discussed in the article helps you to deal with the future in more positive approach.

 

 

Why are successful people modest and humble?

                                               

Common misconception is that people are successful because of their perseverance, sheer hard work, profound knowledge, innate abilities, abstract ideas. This is half-truth. Being modest and humble are the most influential factor to be successful.

Larry King, one of the greatest interviewers of all time, who interviewed many powerful and successful people, was once asked a question: Are your guests as genuinely nice as they seem to be? His remarkable answer was, "The bigger they are, the nicer they are".

Socrates, the greatest philosopher of all time, states that "The only thing I know is that I don't know anything." He firmly believes that one stops learning when he considers himself smart. An attitude of knowing everything makes it difficult to learn anything.

Frank Wells was the president of the Walt Disney company from 1984 until his death in 1994. After Wells died, his son found a piece of paper in his wallet that read "Humility is the essence of life." Later, it was discovered that Frank Wells had carried that note with him for thirty years.

One of my favorite formulas from Einstein: Ego=1/Knowledge. The more knowledge a person possesses, the lesser the Ego. Conversely, the lesser the knowledge, the more the ego. The relationship between the knowledge and ego are inverse.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Every man I meet is master in some point, and in that I learn of him." Humility is the gateway to attain wisdom.

Charlie Munger said, "How you behave in one's place helps you in surprising ways later." Successful people understand how to remain grounded and modest in public.

Mahatma Gandhi, the classic example of being modest and humble, always travelled in third class compartment. During his overseas tour, nevertheless, he had opportunity to travel by air carrier, he always preferred ship, no matter how long the journey is. This simplicity and his remarkable character of being self-evident helped him connect with the masses, in particular the ordinary people. What is most amazing is how, despite little media coverage and propaganda during the pre-Independence period, a nation with nearly 90% of its citizens being illiterate and heavily affected by religion and casteism managed to remain united under his leadership.

How could Ratan Tata, Warren Buffet, Bill gates stay rich for longer period of time? There are million ways to get rich, but there is only one way to stay rich: Humility. The irony is that few things squash humility like getting rich in the first place.

The tree to grow upwards, its root needs to penetrate deep into the soil. The deeper the root penetrates, the higher the tree grows. Successful persons follow the suit of the tree's innate qualities. The more grounded and humble a person is, the more success he has.

Bottomline:

Highly successful people mind their words. They add phrases like "seems to me", "so far as I know" to their assertions, which let them stand out from the crowd. 

Successful people believe in the following statement

Knowledge is overrated. Wisdom is underrated.

Talent is overrated. Resilience is underrated.

Intellect is overrated. Temperament is underrated.

Confidence is overrated. Humility is underrated.

Being more frequently right than others is overrated. Being less wrong than others is underrated.

 

An alternate investment for fans of Fixed Deposit

I’d would like to begin my article by sharing some powerful money quotes from W.G.Summer.
"Money is one of the oldest human inventions and one of the most important, there is none that has been perfected so slowly. Money and financial system are still work in progress. They are still evolving. And anything that is still evolving has its share of problems". 

Financial markets are flooded with numerous investments. Back then, few investment products were available in the market. Public was forced to pick among the few investments that were shown to them. Financial world had evolved a lot since then. People, nowadays, have been offered various investment models. They are building fortune by choosing the instrument of their choice that provides good returns and low risk in the long run. Investment instruments are mushrooming the market, yet people consider the FD as the best and safest investment plan. 
The first line of defense for the public's continued support for the FD is they are unwilling to come out of their comfort zone in terms of investment. Furthermore, the public are neither aware of nor willing to accept the other investment products that are both safe and profitable. 
In this article, I will walk through over the debt fund which could be used as alternative to FD. I have made deliberate attempt to keep the article short and simple
 
Please skip the sections that follow if you are familiar with bonds and debt funds. To get to the main section, "Gilt Debt Mutual fund - An alternative to Fixed Deposit investing," keep scrolling down.

What is Bond?

Prior to understanding debt mutual fund, first we should know about bonds. The Debt mutual fund is a basket comprising portfolio of various bonds. No prior rudimentary knowledge about the bonds increases your risk of picking the wrong debt MF. Hence here, Iam persuading the readers to understand the basic fundamentals of the bond.   The word "Bond" sounds very familiar and may be easy to define. 

                                

Bond is an agreement between issuer and investor. The party, which have fund shortage for a particular cause or initiative, issues a bond to the open market. In turn, the investor purchases the bond expecting good returns as obliged in the bond agreement. Here, the issuer could be the government or the corporate. Hence, primarily the bonds are of two types namely - Government bond and Corporate bond. 
 
What is Government Bond
Government Bond are issued by state and central government. These bond fall under the category of government securities (G-Sec). Government bond are mostly risk-free as they invest only in government-oriented works and they don't default in paying out interest and principal back to the investor. The returns are relatively low when compared to other bonds.
 
What is Corporate Bond?
On the other hand, private companies borrow money from the public by issuing corporate bonds and debentures in order to expand their business and meet their working capital. The bondholder are promised higher fixed rate of interest. Their promised returns are relatively higher in comparison with the returns of the government bonds. Corporate bond have higher risk than government bond.
 
How Bond system works?
The bond issuer makes a promise to pay bondholders a fixed sum of money at a future maturity date which is known as Face value. Every bond is issued with a fixed rate of interest per annum, known as Coupon rate of bond.
 
Let's imagine this, Government runs a project called "Green initiative". There is shortage of 5 Lakh required to complete the project. The govt plans to raise fund through issuing bonds. Prior to unveiling new bond out to the public, they monitor and analyse the various parameters in the market that are highly influential. Finally, based upon the market movement and their case study, the govt issues "Green Initiative Bond" offering 1000 units to purchase, each unit costs at a face value of Rs. 500 @ interest rate of 10%.
 
Loan amount needed:  Rs. 5,00,000
Face Value of the bond:  Rs. 500
Total no of units offered: 5,00,000/500=1000 units
Interest rate/Coupon Rate: 10% [yields Rs. 50 annually per unit]
Maturity period: 5 years
Return type: Fixed returns

Issuer: Central/State government
Green initiative Bond is now out to the public. Investors starts to purchase the bond.

 
Why corporate bonds give higher return than government bonds?

Here is the catch. Picture this, you are willing to loan Rs.1 lakh and have option to choose between two borrowers. The first person is reliable and trustworthy, agrees to pay you interest of 6% annually. The other one, who has history of low credibility due to his loan default, willing to offer you 10% annually. Who would you choose, the reliable, consistent performer with low interest rate or the one who has poor records on returning the capital and interest but promises high interest higher returns. Eventually, in spite of the lower returns, most of us would lend the amount to the credible person. This same strategy applies to corporate investment. Over the years, few of the Corporate bonds failed to repay the loan and went bankrupt. 

                                    

This assertion that some corporate bonds have defaulted cannot be taken at face value. This doesn't make any sense that bonds which assures you high returns go bankrupt or default on interest payouts. 
 
Do profound market analysis before investing in bonds
Lower returns instrument doesn't require in depth analysis as they fall into low risk. The high interest payouts eventually fall into high-risk category. Before investing in a high-risk bond, it's advisable to research the bond thoroughly, learning about its portfolio, interest risk, credit risk, liquid risk and other prominent factors influencing your investment. 
 
How do fluctuating interest rate affect bond prices?
Lets take the case of Green initiative bond.
Consider this, on the brighter side, after one year after investing in this bond, there is slump in the market interest rate of the newer bonds, which means the interest rate of a year old "Green Initiative bond" is relatively higher compared to the new bonds out in the market.  Green Initiative Bond holder have the opportunity to sell their bond @ higher bond price [Greater than Face value of Rs.500 per unit] as this bond is currently more valuable in the market due to higher interest rate.
 
Conversely, two years after investing in this bond, there is surge in the market interest rate, which means new bonds out in the market offer relatively higher interest rates than the older "Green Initiative Bond". In dire need to sell, unfortunately, the Green Initiative Bond investors sell their bonds @ lower bond price [Lesser than face value of Rs.500 per unit]. So there is loss in their capital gains. There is inverse relationship between bond price and interest rate. Bond price increases in case of lower market interest rate and decreases when the interest rate is high in the market.

The above case study is an example of interest rate risk. Bonds are subjected to interest rase risk, credit risk and liquid risk.
The brief overview of bonds may have aided you in understanding the fundamentals and how they function. Lets talk about the  Debt MF.  

Debt Mutual Fund

Debt, the word itself means loan. Debt MF is the basket of multiple bonds/securities such as Treasury bills, Government Securities, Commercial papers, debenture and so on. The fund manager manages and allocates the pool of investment money into fixed income securities. Debt MF invest in bonds that have maturity period ranging from 1 day to 10 years. Interest rate risk is low for maturities less than 3 years and more for maturities more than 5 years. 
 
Should I invest in Bond or Bond/Debt funds?
For an investor, the crucial choice lies between investing in a bond directly or in a bond fund through the mutual fund route. When you buy individual bonds directly, you don’t have to pay fees to manage them. However, bond funds offer benefits despite the operational cost. The biggest advantage of bond funds is diversification.
Mutual funds can buy and sell bonds more efficiently than individual investor. Professionally managed funds also generate high returns in comparison to single bonds.
 
Debt funds are an excellent tax efficient alternative to other deposit schemes such as Bank deposits or Post office deposits or other govt. small saving schemes. Let's discuss their pros and cons
 
Pros of Debt fund:

• No Lock-in period, very liquid so one can withdraw money as and when one requires.

• They are significantly less volatile and less risky than Equity funds

• Few debt funds offer better returns than other popular deposit schemes

• They are an excellent tax efficient in case of long-term investments than many fixed deposits due to indexation benefit.

• There is less risk of defaulting as they invest in number of fixed income securities.

Cons of Debt fund:

• Debt funds carry interest rate risk and can add/reduce your capital based on interest rate movement

• Debt fund carry credit risk when some fund managers buy bonds of small companies that offer higher interest returns but have higher chance of default.

• Some Debt funds have expense ratio of as high as 2.1% which is deducted from your total return

Types of Debt fund
Some of the Debt funds are

·      Overnight fund

·      Liquid fund

·      Ultra-Short Duration fund

·      Money market fund

·      Short Duration fund

·      Corporate fund

·      Gilt fund

 
Gilt Debt Mutual fund - An alternative to Fixed Deposit investment
Coming to the crux part of this article, Gilt Debt MF is termed as the alternate investment vehicle in the place of FD. Gilt funds are debt funds that primarily invest in government securities having holding period of more than 3 years.  Roughly, they invest close to 80% of the investment in the government securities. They give higher returns than other debt funds that invest primarily in government securities. On the flip side, this fund has higher chances of interest risk than other debt funds because of its longer holding period. As a general rule, the longer the holding time, the greater the likelihood that funds may be exposed to interest rate risk. Hence, the longer maturity period of the Gilt fund has higher chance of getting exposed to the risk of fluctuating interest rate. On the other hand, other short term debt funds such as Overnight funds, Liquid funds, ultra-short funds, Short Funds have lower interest risk because of their investment in securities having holding period starting from 1 day to 3 years.
 Well, looking out on the brighter side of the Gilt fund having maturity period more than 3 years, these funds protect your capital gains from paying more taxes through the inflation indexation mechanism. Furthermore, in spite of interest risk posing threat to the gilt fund, these funds have lower likelihood of defaulting on capital and interest payouts to buyers.

Post Tax returns comparison of the FD and Gilt Debt fund
As stated above, the MF are extremely tax-efficient in case of longer maturity period when compared with FD.

 Let me illustrate on how the post-tax returns are calculated for the two investment instruments. Kavin invested 5 lakhs in a Debt MF with maturity period of 5 years, interest rate of 10% annually. According to SEBI, investments for longer duration (> 3 years) are taxed at 20%. In Kavin's case, since the holding period is more than 3 years, interest accrued would be taxed at 20%.
 

Deposit Amount	Rs. 5,00,000
Liquidity	Anytime
Premature Withdrawal	No charges
Partial withdrawal	Possible
Tax deducted at source	No TDS
Tax Rate	20% with Indexation
Interest	Rs. 3,05,255
Tax Amount	Rs. 61,051
Post Tax returns	Rs. 2,44,204

Raja invested in Fixed Deposit having 5-year tenure offering interest of 10% annually. As per the RBI standard, FD interest would be taxed @ 10%. In the budget of 2019, government announced that tax is not applicable for accrued interest that is less than Rs. 40,000 annually. In case of Raja, his interest accrued is Rs.50,000 annually, which is more than the threshold limit, hence, his interest accrued would be taxed @ 10%.

Deposit Amount	Rs. 5,00,000
Liquidity	Locked for tenure
Premature Withdrawal	2% on interest charged
Partial withdrawal	Not possible
Tax deducted at source	10% on interest
Tax Rate	30%
Interest	Rs. 3,05,255
Tax Amount	Rs. 91,577
Post Tax returns	Rs. 2,13,678

From the above FD table, the items highlighted in red clearly indicates that these are the areas where FD takes the back seat. Post Tax returns of FD, unfortunately, offers relatively less amount (Rs.2,13,678) in comparison with Debt mutual fund Post Tax returns (Rs.2,44,204).

 
How could the Debt fund outplay the FD over reducing the tax on the returns?
The answer is "Indexation" - powerful tool to save tax for MF which are long-term in nature (more than 3 years). It helps in adjusting the purchase price with the inflation level. Indexation rates are calculated using Cost Inflation Index (CII). Following are the CII chart over the last 20 years.

To keep it simple, an item was priced at Rs.100 in 2001. Twenty years later, the same item is priced at Rs.300. In the same manner, CII was 100 in 2001, but over time it increased to 300 points. It implies that money has lost purchasing power when performance over the past 20 years is considered. Generally, it is the rise in prices, cost of living and decrease in purchasing power of money. The benefit of indexation would apply only if inflation is positive. If the inflation rate turns negative, you might not get any help from indexation. This is because indexation does not apply in a deflationary situation.
Here is the formula for calculating indexation:
Indexation = Actual price paid for the investment * (CII for the fund sale year/CII for the fund investment year)

Bottom Line
Certainly, FD is less risky and has less chances of bankruptcy. FD is considered as Lazy-man's investment tool as the investors are unwilling to take risk in the fluctuating market and they feel comfortable investing in less risky instruments. Over the last 20 years, fixed returns from FD are between 6-8%, and unfortunately, this range of return from the FD fails to beat the inflation and paying higher tax on returns. Assume this, the annual inflation is 6% and returns accrued from the FD is 8% annually. It means the inflation has eaten most of your returns and the left over (8%-6% = 2%) is your actual returns. 
The plight of inflation affects both FD and Debt MF. However, as illustrated previously through the table chart, that Debt fund indexation inflation mechanism acts as hedge against paying higher tax on the returns. 
Try incorporating “Laddering invest mechanism on FD”, in case you are not convinced yet on investing in Debt Funds. To counter the fluctuation market, invest in FD wisely through the process of Laddering mechanism.
 

Reference:

• Mutual Funds - R.K. Mohapatra
• 108 question and answers on Mutual Funds and SIP - Yadnya Investments.