https://nivritee.com/research Sourced articles on personal finance for families in eleven countries: investing, financial independence, the economy and your money, and money across borders. en Thu, 15 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT https://nivritee.com/research/what-to-do-after-a-job-loss https://nivritee.com/research/what-to-do-after-a-job-loss Thu, 15 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Most of the expensive mistakes after a layoff happen in the first fortnight: signing a severance agreement unread, claiming benefits late, letting health cover lapse, missing a loan payment without calling the lender, and cashing out retirement savings. This is the order to do things in, with the 2026 rules for the US, UK, India, Canada, Australia, Singapore and the UAE. https://nivritee.com/research/risk-and-return-explained https://nivritee.com/research/risk-and-return-explained Tue, 13 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics US shares returned about 10% a year from 1928 to 2025 against about 3.4% for Treasury bills, but lost money in 26 of those 98 years and fell 57% from peak to trough in 2007–09. Over every 20-year stretch in that record they still made money. Risk is the price of the extra return: what matters is whether you can afford to wait out a fall and whether you will. https://nivritee.com/research/pay-off-debt-or-invest https://nivritee.com/research/pay-off-debt-or-invest Sun, 11 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Repaying a loan earns its interest rate with certainty; investing earns an uncertain return, after tax. So costly debt goes first, a low-rate mortgage can sit beside investing, and an emergency fund and the right insurance come before both. https://nivritee.com/research/weaker-dollar-and-global-families https://nivritee.com/research/weaker-dollar-and-global-families Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money The US dollar index fell 10.8% in the first half of 2025, its worst start to a year since 1973, and the Fed’s broad dollar index ended 2025 down 7.4%. In 2026 the dollar steadied, and the rupee fell to record lows near 97 as oil surged. The same S&P 500 returned 16.4% in dollars in 2025, 2.7% in euros and 22.2% in rupees. What matters for a family is not which way the dollar moves but whether its savings are in the currency it will spend. https://nivritee.com/research/mutual-funds-explained https://nivritee.com/research/mutual-funds-explained Thu, 08 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics A mutual fund pools many investors’ money into one portfolio and issues units priced at the net asset value (NAV) once a day. The NAV itself says nothing about value; the costs and the holdings do. A yearly charge of 0.9% instead of 0.1% leaves about 17% less after 25 years, most active funds trail their index over long periods, and index mutual funds and index ETFs together held 52% of US long-term fund assets at the end of 2025. https://nivritee.com/research/insurance-basics https://nivritee.com/research/insurance-basics Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Insurance is for losses a household could not pay for itself: a large medical bill, the death of an earner somebody depends on, or years without income after an illness. Buy cover for those first, in that order, as plain term and health policies; size life cover to what dependants would need rather than to a multiple of salary; and be wary of policies that mix insurance with investment, which in India have returned 3–6% a year over 10 to 15 years. https://nivritee.com/research/state-pensions-compared https://nivritee.com/research/state-pensions-compared Sun, 04 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE For a man on average pay, mandatory pensions replace 63.2% of net earnings on the OECD average, but around half in the US, UK, Australia and Germany and less in Canada, New Zealand, Japan and India. At twice average pay the share falls further, and Singapore, Hong Kong and India rely mostly on the worker’s own account. Here is what each system pays in 2026, how claiming age changes it, and what it leaves a middle-class household to save. https://nivritee.com/research/wills-nominees-and-the-family-file https://nivritee.com/research/wills-nominees-and-the-family-file Fri, 02 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour In the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore and Australia, roughly half of adults have no will. Money then moves by three routes: joint ownership, a name on the account, or a will — and where there is no will, a fixed legal order that may not match your wishes. Families with assets in more than one country need a plan for each, and everyone needs a family file that says what exists and where. https://nivritee.com/research/what-fees-cost-over-30-years https://nivritee.com/research/what-fees-cost-over-30-years Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets A fee is charged every year on the whole balance, so it compounds against you. On 7% a year before costs, a 1% yearly charge leaves about a quarter less after 30 years than no charge at all, and 2% leaves over 40% less. Fund costs have fallen sharply — US equity funds averaged 0.40% in 2025 against 1.04% in 1996 — but platform and adviser layers sit on top, and in India a regular plan carries a distributor’s commission that a direct plan does not. https://nivritee.com/research/tariffs-and-your-household https://nivritee.com/research/tariffs-and-your-household Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money US tariffs rose in 2025 to their highest average level in about ninety years, were cut back by a Supreme Court ruling in February 2026, and were rebuilt under other laws. Research finds the cost lands mostly on buyers in the importing country, spread across importers, shops and households; Yale’s Budget Lab puts it at about $1,100 a year for the average US household. Elsewhere the effect arrives through export orders, jobs, markets and interest rates. The useful response is a budget that knows which costs are rising, a cash buffer sized to your job’s exposure, and no trading on headlines. https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-start-investing https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-start-investing Sun, 27 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics The order matters more than the product: an emergency fund first, then any debt costing more than investments can earn, then free money from an employer and the tax breaks your country offers, then a broad, low-cost index fund. In 2026 that means, for example, up to $24,500 in a US 401(k), £20,000 in a UK ISA, C$7,000 in a TFSA and a 12% employer super contribution in Australia. Automating it does more than picking the perfect fund. https://nivritee.com/research/real-vs-nominal-returns https://nivritee.com/research/real-vs-nominal-returns Fri, 25 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills A nominal return counts money; a real return counts what the money buys. Over 126 years US shares returned about 9.8% a year before inflation and 6.6% after it, and a deposit paying 6.25% against 4% inflation earns about 2.2% in real terms before tax. Planning in real terms changes how big a future number really is. https://nivritee.com/research/sequence-of-returns-risk https://nivritee.com/research/sequence-of-returns-risk Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE While you are saving, the order of good and bad years barely matters. Once you are withdrawing, a fall in the first few years forces you to sell low, and the money sold never recovers — so two people with the same average return can end decades apart. A cash runway, flexible spending and a modest starting withdrawal rate are the main defences. https://nivritee.com/research/what-your-partner-needs-to-know https://nivritee.com/research/what-your-partner-needs-to-know Tue, 22 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour In most households one person knows where everything is. Readiness means your partner knows four things too — what you own and owe, where each is held, who to call, and what the plan is — plus the paperwork that makes it usable: a will, up-to-date nominations or beneficiaries, insurance details and a way into the accounts. The easiest time to share all of it is now, when nothing is wrong. https://nivritee.com/research/sip-vs-lump-sum https://nivritee.com/research/sip-vs-lump-sum Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets With money already in hand, investing it at once has beaten feeding it in over a few months roughly two-thirds of the time, by about 2% after a year for an all-equity portfolio, because markets rise more often than they fall. A SIP from each month’s salary is not that choice: it invests money as soon as it exists. Its real advantage is behavioural: automatic, regular investing takes the stop-start timing decisions out of investors’ hands. https://nivritee.com/research/rent-or-buy https://nivritee.com/research/rent-or-buy Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money Compare rent with the unrecoverable cost of owning — interest, upkeep, property tax and the return your deposit gives up, less expected price growth — not with the mortgage payment. At autumn 2026 rates, owning the average London home costs somewhat less than renting it, an Austin home costs far more to own than to rent, and an HDB flat in Singapore costs far less. Transfer taxes then decide how long you must stay. https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-choose-a-fund https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-choose-a-fund Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics Start with what the fund owns and what it charges; those two decide most of the result. The evidence on past performance is discouraging: almost no US equity fund that was in the top quarter in 2021 stayed there every year to 2025, while Morningstar has called the expense ratio the most proven predictor of future fund returns. For index funds, compare tracking difference, size and, if you live outside the US, where the fund is domiciled. https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-save-more https://nivritee.com/research/how-to-save-more Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills The most reliable way to save more is to make saving happen without a decision each month. In one US company, 86% of staff hired under automatic enrolment were in its 401(k), against 49% of those hired the year before; in Great Britain, workplace pension participation rose from 55% to 89% after automatic enrolment; in Denmark, automatic contributions raised total saving while tax incentives mostly moved money between accounts. Commitment, reminders and clearly labelled pots add to that — information on its own adds surprisingly little. https://nivritee.com/research/student-debt-systems-compared https://nivritee.com/research/student-debt-systems-compared Sat, 12 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children Student debt comes in two shapes. Income-contingent systems — England, Australia, New Zealand — take a share of income above a threshold and, in England, write off what is left after 30 or 40 years. Loans in the US, Canada and India have a schedule, with income-based relief in the first two and a fixed EMI in the third. The shape decides what the debt does to a household’s saving far more than the balance does. https://nivritee.com/research/how-much-do-you-need-to-retire https://nivritee.com/research/how-much-do-you-need-to-retire Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE Start from what you will spend, not from what you earn. Subtract the state and workplace pensions you can rely on, and multiply what is left by about 25 for a 30-year retirement, or by closer to 30 for a 40-year one. Real spending has tended to drift down about 1% a year through retirement while healthcare rises, and a 65-year-old today can expect to live another 15 to 25 years depending on country and sex — so plan for the long end. https://nivritee.com/research/talking-to-ageing-parents-about-money https://nivritee.com/research/talking-to-ageing-parents-about-money Wed, 09 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour Most families have this conversation too late, in a hospital corridor. Asked early, it comes down to six things — what comes in, what is saved, what is owed, what cover exists, where the papers are and what your parents would want — plus a power of attorney signed while they are well, a watch for scams, and an agreed split of support between siblings that also fits inside your own plan. https://nivritee.com/research/index-vs-active-funds-spiva https://nivritee.com/research/index-vs-active-funds-spiva Mon, 07 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets Most actively managed equity funds trail their benchmark after fees, and the share grows with time: to June 2026, 90.5% of US large-cap funds lagged the S&P 500 over 15 years. India and Europe show the same long-run pattern, with real exceptions — Indian mid- and small-cap funds had their best year against the index since 2014 in 2025. Winners rarely stay winners, and the cheapest funds succeed most often. https://nivritee.com/research/oil-shocks-and-household-budgets https://nivritee.com/research/oil-shocks-and-household-budgets Sat, 05 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money When conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz in 2026, Brent crude rose from $71 to a daily high of $138 within six weeks. Oil reaches a household in three rounds: at the pump within weeks, through transport and food over months, and through wages and interest rates over a year or more. The IMF’s rule of thumb is that each 10% rise adds about 0.4 points to global inflation. Importers such as India, Japan and most of Europe feel it most; the household response is a budget that separates fuel from everything else, a buffer, and a plan tested against inflation that stays higher for longer. https://nivritee.com/research/how-the-stock-market-works https://nivritee.com/research/how-the-stock-market-works Thu, 03 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics A share is a small part-ownership of a company, bought and sold on an exchange between investors. Over 1900–2025, US shares returned about 6.6% a year after inflation against 1.6% for bonds and 0.5% for cash, and shares were the best asset in every market with a continuous record. But most individual US stocks since 1926 did worse than Treasury bills over their listed lives, and about 4% of companies produced all of the market’s net gain, so the long-run return belongs to the whole market, not to the typical stock. https://nivritee.com/research/money-system-that-runs-itself https://nivritee.com/research/money-system-that-runs-itself Wed, 02 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills The strongest finding in household finance is that people save what they are set up to save. So design the system once: one account where income lands, separate places for bills, spending, the emergency fund, goals and investing, and transfers that move money on payday before anyone decides anything. Then check it for an hour a month and rethink it once a year. https://nivritee.com/research/moving-back-to-india-money-checklist https://nivritee.com/research/moving-back-to-india-money-checklist Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Global & NRI money Coming home is several changes on different timetables. Your tax status follows day counts under the Income-tax Act, your bank accounts follow RBI rules under FEMA, and your investments, insurance and living costs each need their own step. This checklist explains each one in plain terms, with official sources — confirm the tax parts with a chartered accountant. https://nivritee.com/research/saving-for-a-childs-education https://nivritee.com/research/saving-for-a-childs-education Sat, 29 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children Count the years from your child’s age to about eighteen, price the course today, and carry it forward at education inflation rather than general inflation — in Nivritee’s defaults, 3.0–8.0% a year against 2.0–4.0%. Then use the account your government offers where one exists, and hold the money in the currency the fees will be charged in. https://nivritee.com/research/four-percent-rule-by-country https://nivritee.com/research/four-percent-rule-by-country Thu, 27 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE The 4% rule says a first-year withdrawal of 4% of savings, raised with inflation each year, lasted at least 30 years in US market history. Tested across 17 countries it held in only four, and longer horizons need lower rates — so treat it as a starting point to test against your own spending, country and timeline. https://nivritee.com/research/talking-about-money-as-a-couple https://nivritee.com/research/talking-about-money-as-a-couple Tue, 25 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour Money disagreements are common and, in long-run data, more strongly linked to divorce than any other kind. What helps is not agreeing on everything but seeing the same picture: a structure for joint and personal money, a regular money date, an agreed answer to who sees what, and one plan that holds two careers which may stop at different times. https://nivritee.com/research/gold-over-50-years https://nivritee.com/research/gold-over-50-years Mon, 24 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets From 1971 to 2025 gold returned about 9.0% a year in dollars against 11.1% for US shares with dividends and 3.9% inflation. The average hides two long droughts: gold fell about 70% from its 1980 peak to its 1999 low and took until 2025 to pass that peak after inflation. For Indian households a weaker rupee softened the slump, and gold’s real case is as a diversifier that has often risen when shares fell, not as a growth engine. https://nivritee.com/research/recessions-jobs-and-markets https://nivritee.com/research/recessions-jobs-and-markets Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money In the US the share market bottomed in March 2009, unemployment peaked seven months later at 10%, and payroll jobs did not regain their early-2008 level until May 2014. The cash that carries a household through is sized by how long a search can take in a bad year — the median reached 25 weeks in 2010 — and the portfolio is protected mostly by not being sold at the bottom. https://nivritee.com/research/financial-terms-explained https://nivritee.com/research/financial-terms-explained Thu, 20 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics Most investing jargon describes something simple. A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point; NAV is what one unit of a fund is worth; XIRR is your real yearly return when money went in at different times; duration says how far a bond falls when rates rise. This glossary gives each term a short definition, from a regulator or the original source where one exists, and most of them a worked example you can check. https://nivritee.com/research/how-income-grows-across-a-career https://nivritee.com/research/how-income-grows-across-a-career Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Pay rises fastest in the first decade of work, flattens through the 40s and often falls in the 50s: in the US, median weekly earnings peak at 35–44, and for 80% of men earnings fall between 45 and 55. Job switchers out-earn stayers, a gender gap opens after 30, and only the part of a raise above inflation adds buying power. Plan on modest real growth, and treat the rest as upside. https://nivritee.com/research/what-sending-money-home-costs https://nivritee.com/research/what-sending-money-home-costs Sun, 16 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Global & NRI money Sending the equivalent of $200 across a border cost 6.36% on average in the World Bank’s latest survey, more than twice the 3% the world has set as its 2030 target. Corridors into India are cheaper than that, but inside a single corridor quotes run from under 1% to over 20%. The fee you see is only part of the price, so compare the amount that arrives. https://nivritee.com/research/is-a-degree-worth-it https://nivritee.com/research/is-a-degree-worth-it Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children Across the OECD, adults with a tertiary degree earn 54% more than those who stopped at upper secondary school, and are more likely to be in work. The average hides a wide spread: in England about 20% of women and 30% of men can expect a negative lifetime return, and the subject studied makes a very large difference. A degree is usually worth it; whether a particular one is depends on the subject, the cost and the country. https://nivritee.com/research/fire-movement-what-it-gets-right https://nivritee.com/research/fire-movement-what-it-gets-right Thu, 13 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE FIRE — financial independence, retire early — means saving a large share of income until your investments can cover your spending. Its core ideas about savings rate, conscious spending and owning your time hold up well; its weak points are healthcare, long horizons and market timing. Financial independence is worth having even if you never stop working. https://nivritee.com/research/joint-or-separate-finances https://nivritee.com/research/joint-or-separate-finances Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour There are three ways to hold money as a couple: all joint, all separate, or a joint pot for shared costs with personal money beside it. Experiments and large surveys link more pooling with happier, longer relationships, especially when money is tight. When incomes differ, splitting shared costs in proportion to income — or so both keep the same amount — is usually fairer than halves. https://nivritee.com/research/rebalancing-when-how-and-what-its-worth https://nivritee.com/research/rebalancing-when-how-and-what-its-worth Sun, 09 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets Left alone, a 60/40 portfolio drifts toward shares in good years — to about 75% after 2021–2025. Vanguard’s research found rebalancing controls risk rather than raising return, with no best frequency: checking once or twice a year and acting at a 5-point band is reasonable. New money and withdrawals do most of the work at least cost. https://nivritee.com/research/market-concentration-and-your-index-fund https://nivritee.com/research/market-concentration-and-your-index-fund Fri, 07 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money At the end of September 2026 the ten largest companies made up 39.1% of the S&P 500, a level last seen in the mid-1960s, and a “world” index was 73% American. Concentration is not a forecast of a crash, but it does mean an index fund carries more single-company, single-sector and single-country risk than its name suggests. You can measure your own in four checks and decide whether to spread it. https://nivritee.com/research/etfs-explained https://nivritee.com/research/etfs-explained Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics An exchange-traded fund holds a portfolio like a mutual fund but trades on a stock exchange all day. Large dealers create and redeem units to keep its price close to the value of its holdings; when that mechanism is blocked, as for India’s international ETFs in September 2026, prices can run far above value. For investors outside the US, the fund’s domicile decides how much dividend tax is withheld and whether US estate tax applies above US$60,000. https://nivritee.com/research/liquidity-why-net-worth-is-not-spendable https://nivritee.com/research/liquidity-why-net-worth-is-not-spendable Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Liquidity is how quickly an asset becomes cash and how much you lose doing it. Cash is instant, listed shares settle in a day or two, a home takes months, and pensions are locked for years by law. In a crisis the middle of that range gets slower and dearer. The fix is to hold each pound, rupee or dollar in something whose speed matches when it will be needed. https://nivritee.com/research/inflation-is-not-one-number https://nivritee.com/research/inflation-is-not-one-number Sun, 02 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Data reports One inflation rate understates the costs that matter most to families. In the defaults Nivritee projects with, general inflation runs 2.0–4.0% across eleven markets, education 3.0–8.0% and medical 5.0–12.0%. Over fifteen years, a cost rising at 12% grows to more than five times today’s figure; at 4%, to less than twice. https://nivritee.com/research/home-bias-and-currency-risk https://nivritee.com/research/home-bias-and-currency-risk Fri, 31 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Global & NRI money Investors everywhere hold far more of their own country’s shares than its weight in world markets, which concentrates risk. For a family earning in dirhams or dollars and planning to live on rupees or pounds, the bigger question is currency: measure every holding in the currency your future bills will be paid in, then diversify across markets from there. https://nivritee.com/research/higher-education-costs-by-country https://nivritee.com/research/higher-education-costs-by-country Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children In every destination that charges tuition, an international undergraduate pays several times the home fee: about 5.2 times in Canada, 2.2 to 4.8 times at NUS in Singapore, and three times at IIT Hyderabad. Germany is the exception, charging most students only a semester contribution. Living costs are the part nobody subsidises, and a fee twelve years away should be priced at that country’s education inflation, not today’s figure. https://nivritee.com/research/catching-up-on-retirement-savings https://nivritee.com/research/catching-up-on-retirement-savings Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE Most households in their late forties have less put by than the rules of thumb say, and in the US fewer than two in three families aged 45–54 hold a retirement account at all. Fifteen or twenty years is still long enough to change the result, but not through returns: the levers that work are a much higher saving rate, using the catch-up and carry-forward rules each country offers, working a few more years, and claiming the state pension later. https://nivritee.com/research/sandwich-generation https://nivritee.com/research/sandwich-generation Sun, 26 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour Being “sandwiched” between an ageing parent and your own children is common: 54% of Americans in their 40s are, and most older Indians live with their children. The costs that come with it — care and health — rise faster than prices in general. Families who name the cost, share it, insure early and keep saving something for themselves come through it best. https://nivritee.com/research/global-diversification-125-years https://nivritee.com/research/global-diversification-125-years Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets Across 126 years of the Dimson–Marsh–Staunton data, equities were the best asset in every market with a continuous history — yet over 1900–2005 real returns ranged from about 2.4% to 7.8% a year by country, Russian and Chinese investors lost everything, and German and Japanese shares fell over 85% in the 1940s. A world portfolio has been steadier than almost any single market. The US century was exceptional, and that is the reason not to assume it repeats. https://nivritee.com/research/interest-rates-and-your-money https://nivritee.com/research/interest-rates-and-your-money Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money After cutting through 2024 and 2025, several central banks raised rates again in 2026 as energy prices, driven up by the conflict in the Middle East, pushed inflation back above target: the Fed to 3.75–4.00% in September, the RBA to 4.60%, the ECB to 2.50% and, on 7 October, the RBI to 5.50%. A rise reaches a US household with a 30-year fixed mortgage barely at all, an Australian or Indian floating-rate borrower within months, and a British or Canadian one when their fix ends. Savers gain, but more slowly than borrowers pay. https://nivritee.com/research/compound-interest-explained https://nivritee.com/research/compound-interest-explained Mon, 20 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics Compound interest is growth on growth: 10,000 at 7% a year becomes about 76,000 in 30 years, against 31,000 if only the original sum earned interest. The rule of 72 estimates doubling time well between about 4% and 12%. Fees and inflation slow compounding, and the same arithmetic on a card charging 21–45% a year doubles a debt in roughly one and a half to three and a half years. https://nivritee.com/research/emergency-fund-how-much https://nivritee.com/research/emergency-fund-how-much Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Three to six months of essential spending is a sensible starting range, but nobody can trace it to a study. The size that fits your household depends on how long a job search takes where you live, how much of your income unemployment benefits would replace — often far less than half for a middle-class salary — and whether a visa, a single income or irregular pay shortens the time you have. https://nivritee.com/research/rupee-over-25-years-for-nris https://nivritee.com/research/rupee-over-25-years-for-nris Fri, 17 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Data reports A dollar bought ₹45 on average in 2000 and ₹87 in 2025, a fall of about 2.7% a year, and the dirham moved exactly with it. The pound fell less and the euro and Singapore dollar more. Higher inflation in India explains the direction; for an NRI the lesson is to judge savings in the currency they will finally be spent in. https://nivritee.com/research/fatca-crs-and-tax-residency-explained https://nivritee.com/research/fatca-crs-and-tax-residency-explained Wed, 15 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Global & NRI money Under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard, banks and funds report accounts held by non-residents to their own tax authority, which passes the details to the country where the holder is resident; 116 jurisdictions have begun exchanging. The US runs its own system, FATCA, and taxes its citizens wherever they live. Which country you are resident in is decided by each country’s own tests, mostly day counts, so keeping a record of your days and your papers is the first job. https://nivritee.com/research/teaching-children-about-money-by-age https://nivritee.com/research/teaching-children-about-money-by-age Mon, 13 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children Research for the UK’s Money Advice Service found the building blocks of later money behaviour are usually in place by about age seven, and the OECD finds teenagers who talk about money with their parents score higher on financial literacy. The useful lessons are small and practical: visible coins for the youngest, jars and pocket money in primary school, a budget and a bank account in the teens, and an honest view of the family’s own money. https://nivritee.com/research/deposit-and-bond-ladders https://nivritee.com/research/deposit-and-bond-ladders Sat, 11 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE A ladder splits a sum into deposits or bonds that mature one after another, usually a year apart, so a known amount arrives each year without selling anything. It suits the first years of independence. It does not remove reinvestment risk, inflation or deposit-insurance limits, so it works best as one rung of a larger plan. https://nivritee.com/research/behavioural-biases-that-cost-investors https://nivritee.com/research/behavioural-biases-that-cost-investors Thu, 09 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour Investors in US funds earned 8.7% a year over the ten years to 2025 while the funds themselves returned 9.9%. The gap comes from when people buy and sell, driven by a handful of well-studied biases. Each has a simple counter-measure, and couples can turn those into shared rules that make the costly decision harder to take alone. https://nivritee.com/research/market-crashes-and-recovery-times https://nivritee.com/research/market-crashes-and-recovery-times Wed, 08 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets The S&P 500 has fallen 20% or more about once every six years. Recoveries to the old peak have taken from six months (2020) to 25 years (1929, on price alone), and Japan’s Nikkei took 34. Dividends and falling prices shortened some waits a great deal. Investors who sold in a fall usually bought back far fewer shares than they sold. https://nivritee.com/research/government-debt-bond-yields-and-your-mortgage https://nivritee.com/research/government-debt-bond-yields-and-your-mortgage Mon, 06 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money Public debt is heading toward 100% of world GDP, and the extra return investors want for lending long — the term premium — has climbed back above zero. Ten-year yields set fixed mortgage rates in the US, UK and Canada; floating loans in India and Australia follow the central bank instead. Know which one your loan follows, and test the payment two points higher. https://nivritee.com/research/common-investing-mistakes https://nivritee.com/research/common-investing-mistakes Sat, 04 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics Over the ten years to 2025, the average dollar in US funds earned about 1.2 points a year less than the funds themselves, because of when money went in and out — though a 2026 study argues timing explains far less of that. Better evidenced are the costs of heavy trading, leverage and concentration: 87.7% of individual Indian F&O traders lost money in FY26, and the most active US households in one classic study trailed the market by over six points a year. https://nivritee.com/research/family-balance-sheet-net-worth-statement https://nivritee.com/research/family-balance-sheet-net-worth-statement Thu, 02 Jul 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills A family balance sheet lists everything the household owns at a value it could realise and everything it owes at what it would take to settle today. Value investments at market, not cost; the home cautiously, after selling costs; pensions only where vested. Then separate net worth from the smaller figure that can actually fund your independence, and update it on the same date each year. https://nivritee.com/research/household-wealth-by-age-across-countries https://nivritee.com/research/household-wealth-by-age-across-countries Tue, 30 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Data reports In every survey here, household wealth climbs steeply from the under-35s to a peak somewhere between 55 and 74, and the median sits far below the mean. Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong publish household income rather than wealth, so for them the honest comparison is income. https://nivritee.com/research/gulf-gratuity-and-pensions-when-you-move https://nivritee.com/research/gulf-gratuity-and-pensions-when-you-move Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Global & NRI money Expatriates in the UAE earn an end-of-service gratuity of 21 days’ basic pay a year for the first five years and 30 days after that, capped at two years’ pay — and no state pension. That makes the gratuity a useful one-off sum and nothing more: everything after you stop working has to come from savings you build yourself. https://nivritee.com/research/childs-education-or-your-independence https://nivritee.com/research/childs-education-or-your-independence Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Education & children Most parents put a child’s education first, and many quietly save less for themselves to pay for it. Planning bodies argue the other way round: education can be funded several ways, while nobody lends you money to live on later. The useful step is not choosing one, but putting the real cost — at home or abroad — into your own plan and seeing what it moves. https://nivritee.com/research/bucket-strategy-explained https://nivritee.com/research/bucket-strategy-explained Thu, 25 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Retirement & FIRE The bucket strategy keeps the next year or two of spending in cash, the following several years in bonds and the rest in shares, so a market fall never forces a sale. Studies find it does no better than a simple rebalanced portfolio on the numbers; its real value is behavioural, and it only works if the buckets are refilled with discipline. https://nivritee.com/research/lifestyle-inflation-and-enough https://nivritee.com/research/lifestyle-inflation-and-enough Tue, 23 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Family & behaviour Lifestyle inflation is spending that rises to meet each raise, and psychology explains why it feels natural: people adapt to what they have. Income does keep helping most people, but a plan that lets spending rise in lockstep never gets closer to independence. The arithmetic says savings rate, more than income, decides how many years it takes — so the strongest guardrail is to decide what enough looks like and route part of every raise to savings before it can be spent. https://nivritee.com/research/asset-allocation-by-age https://nivritee.com/research/asset-allocation-by-age Sun, 21 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing & global markets Rules like “own your age in bonds” and target-date funds both cut shares as you age — Vanguard’s default path holds 90% in shares until about 40 and 30% by 72. The research behind them is really about horizon and human capital: a long horizon and a steady salary can carry more shares, while the years either side of stopping work carry the most risk. Early retirees face a longer horizon and a longer danger window at once. https://nivritee.com/research/inflation-shock-and-household-budgets https://nivritee.com/research/inflation-shock-and-household-budgets Sat, 20 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT The economy & your money Inflation peaked at 9.1% in the US, 11.1% in the UK and 10.6% in the euro area in 2022, and pay fell behind prices almost everywhere. Inflation then slowed, but the price level never came back down: US consumer prices in August 2026 were about 28% above January 2021, UK prices about 32%. A 2026 energy shock has pushed inflation up again, to 3.8% in the euro area in September. Budgets, pay talks and long-term plans all have to work from the new price level. https://nivritee.com/research/bonds-explained https://nivritee.com/research/bonds-explained Thu, 18 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Investing basics A bond is a loan you can sell. Its coupon is fixed, so when market rates rise its price falls until its yield matches the new rate, by roughly its duration for each percentage point. That is why the US bond market index lost 13.01% in 2022 and UK gilts 23.8%. The same arithmetic now works in savers’ favour: in early October 2026 ten-year government bonds yielded 5.31% in the US, 5.33% in the UK and 7.22% in India. https://nivritee.com/research/budgeting-methods-compared https://nivritee.com/research/budgeting-methods-compared Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:00:00 GMT Money skills Every popular budgeting method — 50/30/20, zero-based, envelopes and pay-yourself-first — can work, and no rigorous study shows one beating the others. What the research does support is saving automatically, keeping money in separate named pots and knowing where it goes by category. Fixed percentages travel badly: housing is a third of US household spending, while food alone is 47% of the average rural Indian household budget.