Make money decisions with maths, not hype.
Clear, independent guides on SIPs, index funds, tax, insurance, retirement and trading risk. Every article shows its working: the formula, the assumptions and the official source, so you can check the numbers yourself.
How much can a monthly SIP grow?
Move the sliders. Assumes a constant return, instalment at the start of each month.
Real markets do not deliver a steady return. See what a real SIP in the NIFTY 50 did from 2019 to 2026 in our data study. Full calculator
Pick the path that fits you
Three short reading lists, in the order we would read them.
Getting your basics right
Budget, emergency fund, insurance and credit score: the foundation that stops one bad month from becoming a crisis.
- The 50/30/20 Budget Rule, Adapted for Indian Incomes and City Living
- Emergency Fund in India: How Much to Keep, Where to Park It and How to Build It
- Term Insurance vs Endowment and ULIP Plans: The Real Numbers Behind "Buy Term, Invest the Rest"
- How to Buy Health Insurance in India: The Clauses That Decide Your Claim
Building long-term wealth
Low-cost index investing, SIPs, asset allocation and tax: the decisions that compound for decades.
- Index Funds vs Active Mutual Funds in India: What the SPIVA Scorecard and Costs Tell Us
- Direct vs Regular Mutual Funds: What a 1% Expense Ratio Gap Costs Over 20 Years
- Asset Allocation and Rebalancing: How to Split Money Between Equity, Debt and Gold
- Old vs New Tax Regime for FY 2026-27: The Break-Even Deduction for Your Salary
Trading without blowing up
What the data says about F&O, how to size positions and how to test a strategy before risking money.
- Why 9 Out of 10 F&O Traders Lose Money: What SEBI's Studies Actually Show
- Position Sizing and Risk of Ruin: The Maths That Decides Whether a Trader Survives
- Backtesting Without Fooling Yourself: A NIFTY Options Case Study on Costs and Overfitting
- How to Read an Option Chain: Open Interest, IV, PCR and Max Pain, with a Real NIFTY Example
New and updated guides
In-depth articles, each with worked examples, official sources and a clear date of last review.
A ₹10,000 Monthly SIP in the NIFTY 50 from 2019 to 2026: What Really Happened
Original data study: a ₹10,000 monthly SIP in the NIFTY 50 from February 2019 to October 2026, its XIRR, rolling 3-year results, the COVID crash, the 2026 fall, and what pausing the SIP would have cost.
Asset Allocation and Rebalancing: How to Split Money Between Equity, Debt and Gold
How to decide your equity, debt and gold mix by goal and risk, how a portfolio drifts, when and how to rebalance tax-efficiently, and a 2019-2026 NIFTY example of rebalancing in practice.
Backtesting Without Fooling Yourself: A NIFTY Options Case Study on Costs and Overfitting
We backtested a popular 9:20 NIFTY short straddle on 1-minute NSE option data from 2023 to 2026, then tested 56 parameter settings in and out of sample. What costs, slippage and curve-fitting do to backtest results.
Debt Funds vs Fixed Deposits After the 2023 Tax Change: Which Wins Now?
Since April 2023, debt fund gains are taxed at slab rates like FD interest. A comparison of after-tax returns by tax slab, the deferral advantage, risks, and where liquid, money-market and target-maturity funds still fit.
How to Buy Health Insurance in India: The Clauses That Decide Your Claim
A practical guide to choosing health insurance in India in 2026: how much cover, room-rent limits and proportionate deductions, co-pay, waiting periods under IRDAI's 2024 rules, super top-ups, and tax.
How to Read an Option Chain: Open Interest, IV, PCR and Max Pain, with a Real NIFTY Example
A column-by-column guide to the NIFTY option chain using a real NSE snapshot: premiums, open interest and its change, implied volatility, put-call ratio and max pain, and what each can and cannot tell you.
We test ideas on real data
Not opinions: analyses run on NSE data, with the method published so you can repeat them.
A ₹10,000 monthly SIP in the NIFTY 50, February 2019 to October 2026
93 instalments, ₹9,30,000 invested, worth ₹12,61,828 on 5 Oct 2026: an XIRR of 7.86% on the price index, through a 38.4% crash and a 14.3% fall from the 2026 high. What it teaches about expectations, staying invested and volatility.
Backtesting without fooling yourself: a NIFTY options case study
We tested a popular 9:20 short straddle on 1-minute NSE option data from 2023 to 2026, then swept 56 parameter combinations to show how easily a "best" setting is curve-fitted, and what costs and slippage do to the result.
IPOs with the numbers that matter
Mainboard and SME IPOs on NSE: dates, price band, the company's financials from its prospectus, subscription and listing performance. No grey-market rumours.
2 IPOs are open or upcoming: HD Fire Protect, Ravita Engineering Services.
| Company | Board | Listed | Issue price | Size | Subscribed | Listing gain | Return to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nityas Gems and Jewellery | Main | 8 Oct 2026 | ₹75 | ₹108.4 cr | 2.25× | +6.7% | +12.0% |
| Vishal Nirmiti | Main | 8 Oct 2026 | ₹220 | ₹178.0 cr | 1.71× | −2.3% | −7.2% |
| Eventions | SME | 8 Oct 2026 | ₹118 | ₹38.12 cr | 2.32× | −5.9% | −10.6% |
| Papadmalji Agro Foods | SME | 7 Oct 2026 | ₹72 | ₹20.18 cr | 2.46× | +0.4% | −9.2% |
| Green Asia Impex | SME | 7 Oct 2026 | ₹89 | ₹60.10 cr | 0.98× | 0.0% | −9.7% |
Calculators that show the maths
Every calculator explains its formula and assumptions under the result.
SIP, Step-up & Lumpsum
Project a monthly SIP, a yearly step-up or a one-time investment, with a year-by-year table.
SWP (withdrawals)
How long a corpus lasts when you withdraw every month, with inflation-rising withdrawals.
Retirement / FIRE
The corpus you need for an inflation-rising expense, and the SIP that gets you there.
EMI & Prepayment
Your EMI, total interest, and how much a prepayment saves in interest and tenure.
Old vs New Tax Regime
Compare your tax for FY 2026-27 under both regimes, slab by slab.
Position Size
How many shares or lots to trade so one loss never costs more than you planned.
Interactive learning games
Short simulations that let you feel the maths of risk, volatility and behaviour before it costs real money.
The Biased Coin Challenge
A coin that wins 60% of the time, even-money bets, and why most players still go broke.
Blown-Account Challenge
A strategy that really works, 100 trades, and one decision: how much to risk on each.
Drawdown Recovery
Lose 50% and you need +100% to get back. Guess the rest, then see real NIFTY falls.
Market Timing Showdown
Real NIFTY 50 months with dates hidden: can you beat simply staying invested?
Pradeep Rawal
I have spent more than 15 years in personal finance and stock market education. I teach money and investing workshops, build quantitative trading tools and backtesting systems for Indian markets, and started Financial Nirvana to explain personal finance the way I wish it had been explained to me: with the numbers on the table. The site is independent and ad-supported. It does not sell financial products, take commissions or accept paid placements.
Read the full profile Our editorial standardsFour rules behind every page
Show the working
Formulas, assumptions and worked examples are on the page. Our numbers come from code, not guesses.
Primary sources first
Tax and rules are checked against the Income Tax Department, SEBI, RBI, PFRDA and NSE, and linked.
Dated and reviewed
Each article shows when it was last reviewed. Rules change, and we update pages when they do.
Education, not tips
We never recommend a specific stock, fund or trade. We explain how things work so you can decide.