Blog

Coming next

Topics queued for the next few months. The order may shift based on what readers ask for on the contact page, and on which calculators land in the popular set first.

• PPF, EPF and VPF: who should use which
  Three EEE-or-near-EEE instruments, three completely different use cases. A side-by-side on contribution caps, lock-ins, withdrawal flexibility, and where Voluntary Provident Fund quietly wins.
• Capital gains tax on mutual funds, after July 2024
  The post-budget LTCG rate of 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh per year, debt funds under Section 50AA, what counts as equity for tax, and how to sequence redemptions to minimize the bill.
• NPS Tier-1 vs equity MF for retirement
  NPS gives an extra ₹50,000 Section 80CCD(1B) deduction and lower fund-management charges, but locks 60% as taxable annuity. A 25-year corpus comparison at realistic return assumptions.
• HRA exemption, the real Section 10(13A) math
  Walk-through of the three-way minimum (HRA received, rent − 10% basic, 50/40% of basic) with metro vs non-metro caveats, employer rejection scenarios, and parent-rent landlord arrangements.

Why calculators come first

Finance content on the Indian internet is mostly thin: a 600-word post that summarizes the same generic SIP advice everyone else has written, with a calculator buried at the bottom as a feature. We took the opposite path. Build the calculator first, because the math is what people actually need. Write the long-form prose alongside it, because the assumptions and the regulatory basis matter as much as the number.

Each calculator carries its own structured guide: what the instrument is, how the formula works, a worked example with real Indian numbers, common mistakes specific to the Indian context, a tax callout and 10 FAQs. The guides in this section pull threads across multiple calculators rather than repeat that ground.