Buying home, investing in equal-weight index: Top personal finance stories

This week we report about the financial planning needed to buy a home and what investors must consider about equal-weight indexes

Data from online property listing platform Nobroker shows that a decade earlier tenants in key cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi-NCR would typically rent nine times before purchasing a house. Today, the younger generation is opting to buy after renting only four-five times. In this week’s lead story, Sanjay Kumar Singh & Bindisha Sarang explore the reasons for this trend. They explain the kind of financial preparedness one should have before deciding to purchase a house.

Most of us are familiar with market cap weighted indexes. Here, the weight of individual stocks is determined by their free float market capitalisation. Nowadays, equal-weighted indexes are also available, where each stock has an equal weight in the index. Deepesh Raghaw, a Sebi-registered investment advisor, weighs the pros and cons of investing in an equal-weighted index.

To enjoy the stability of large cap stocks and also the return kicker that mid-cap stocks are capable of providing, consider investing in the large and mid-cap category of mutual funds. If you are looking for a fund from this category, go through Morningstar’s review of DSP Equity Opportunities Fund.

If you desire a regular income after retirement, invest a part of your accumulated corpus in an annuity plan. To get an overview of the plans available in the market, look up Policybazaar.com’s table.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Rs 38,239 crore: Net inflows into equity mutual funds in August

Equity mutual funds recorded net inflows of Rs 38,239 crore in August, a 3 per cent increase over the previous month. This happened despite heightened stock market volatility and concerns over the United States of America's economy. This increase was driven by strong contributions from new fund offers and systematic investment plans.

August’s inflows marked the second-highest in a calendar month, following the Rs 40,608 crore received in June 2024.

Despite a sharp 4 per cent drop in the Nifty 50 during the first week, the stock market recovered in the latter part of August, ending the month with a 1.1 per cent gain.

Overall, net inflows into mutual funds dropped by 43 per cent to Rs 1.08 trillion, mainly due to a 62 per cent fall in debt mutual fund inflows. Sectoral and thematic funds saw a slight decline, while diversified equity funds posted a modest increase. The largest growth was seen in large-cap funds, as investors sought stability amid stretched valuations in mid- and small-cap stocks.