The terms, explained plainly
No jargon left unexplained. Search or scroll — every term you’ll hear in a conversation about your money.
Asset Allocation
How your money is divided across different types of investments — equity, debt, gold, etc. — based on your goals and risk appetite.
AUM (Assets Under Management)
The total market value of all the investments a fund, or a distributor’s client base, currently manages.
CDC (Continuous Discharge Certificate)
An official seafarer identity and service record document — often referenced when working out sea-time days for tax residency purposes.
Compounding
Earning returns not just on your original investment, but on the returns it has already generated — the reason starting early matters so much.
Debt Fund
A mutual fund that invests in bonds and fixed-income instruments, generally lower risk and lower volatility than equity funds.
Diversification
Spreading investments across different assets so that one poor performer doesn’t sink your entire portfolio.
ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme)
An equity mutual fund with a 3-year lock-in that also qualifies for a tax deduction under Section 80C.
Emergency Fund
Money set aside for unplanned expenses, kept separate from long-term investments. For mariners, sign-off gaps often need their own version of this.
Equity
Ownership in a company, typically in the form of shares. Equity investments aim for growth but come with more short-term volatility.
Exit Load
A small fee charged if you withdraw from a mutual fund before a specified period — worth checking before you invest.
Expense Ratio
The annual fee a mutual fund charges to manage your money, expressed as a percentage of your investment.
Hybrid Fund
A mutual fund that invests in a mix of equity and debt, aiming for a balance between growth and stability.
Index Fund
A fund that passively tracks a market index, like the Nifty 50, aiming to mirror its returns at a lower cost than active management.
Lock-in Period
A minimum time your money must stay invested before you can withdraw it without a penalty — ELSS funds, for example, have a 3-year lock-in.
Lumpsum Investment
Investing a large amount all at once, rather than spreading it out — common for mariners deploying money received at the end of a contract.
NAV (Net Asset Value)
The per-unit price of a mutual fund on a given day — essentially, what one unit of the fund is currently worth.
NPS (National Pension System)
A voluntary, market-linked retirement scheme open to any Indian citizen — a way to build your own pension when there’s no employer doing it for you.
NRE Account
A bank account for NRIs to hold foreign earnings in India, with interest that’s typically tax-free in India while your NRI status holds.
NRO Account
A bank account for NRIs to manage income earned within India — rent, dividends, etc. — subject to Indian tax rules.
Portfolio
The full collection of investments you hold — funds, stocks, insurance, and more — considered together.
Risk Profile
An assessment of how much investment risk you can and are willing to take, based on your goals, timeline, and comfort with market swings. We assess this before recommending any fund.
Sign-on / Sign-off
The start and end of a sailing contract. The gap between sign-off and the next sign-on is when income typically pauses — a key planning point for mariners.
SIP (Systematic Investment Plan)
Investing a fixed amount into a mutual fund at regular intervals, rather than all at once — a common way to build a disciplined investing habit.
STP (Systematic Transfer Plan)
Automatically moving a fixed amount from one mutual fund into another at regular intervals — often used to move a lumpsum into equity gradually.
SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan)
Withdrawing a fixed amount from your mutual fund investment at regular intervals — useful for generating a steady income from a corpus.
Tax Residency
Your tax status in India, which for mariners often depends on the number of days spent outside the country in a financial year — directly affecting NRE/NRO treatment.
Term Insurance
Pure life cover — if something happens to you during the policy term, your family receives the sum assured. No maturity payout otherwise.
ULIP (Unit Linked Insurance Plan)
An insurance product that blends life cover with market-linked investing in a single plan — see our Insurance page for why we generally favour keeping these separate.
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