Ladies, Yes you can buy mutual funds, check which one suits your needs

    This article is dedicated again to the beautiful ladies often puzzled between the investment options. The point is not that which product is right. Every product has a certain objective and investment philosophy attached. Every individual is different and so are their investment requirements. Few of us need to keep extra cash in hand, few of us are planning a trip abroad after 2 years, and few are saving for child’s higher education. For every stage of life we have certain area to focus on. For these goals, one need to invest in the right investment vehicle.

    Financial awareness important for women

    #Mutual fund as an investment vehicle is an easy answer for all these worries. For every time horizon for our investment, there is a category of mutual fund.

    Mutual fund caters to investors of all risk appetite. From a fresher at a job to a middle aged employee, retired pensioner to a small retailer.

    Mutual fund has schemes designed which manages wealth depending upon the risk profiles of diverse set of investors with various time horizon for investments.

    For example, an investor who wishes to get fixed returns like bank deposits on his investments and has a investment horizon of less than one year can opt for debt funds like – liquid funds, ultra short term funds. These funds have very low risk and manages to offer better return than savings account and short term deposits. These funds invest in money market instruments, ultra short term government securities etc.
    An investor with time horizon of 1-3 years can invest in short term debt funds, dynamic bond funds. These funds are also low-risk products and offers higher return compared fixed deposits of banks of the similar tenure.
    An investor who has a medium term horizon 3-5 years can opt for balanced/hybrid funds which are debt centric. But also have some exposure to equity giving it better capital appreciation with a limited market risks. Investor with over 5-7 years horizon can look at equity based hybrid funds.

    Where the downside risk is mitigated by the debt portion and opportunity to take advantage of the upside of equity markets.

    For an young investor or any investor has a long term goal, pure equity mutual funds – like Large-cap funds are the best option to begin with. Over long term equity mutual fund is expected to give much higher inflation adjusted and risk adjusted returns.

    Why we are obsessed about ELSS mutual funds 
    5 reasons of choosing mutual funds over direct investments

    1. Individual good quality share comes at high price, where in mutual fund SIP can start with as low as Rs. 500 for monthly instalments
    2. Buying and selling direct equities within a year attracts capital gain tax, and high brokerage, mutual fund managers can keep transacting at any point of time, investors don’t need to pay any taxes of he holds the equity scheme units for more than a year.
    3. Investment in mutual fund is manged by a experienced research and find management team which is difficult doing at individual level.There is a guideline defined in the asset allocation capping exposure to individual companies as well as sectors.
    4. Mutual Fund team has a risk mangement team in place which assures the quality of the investment and proper due-diligence to mitigate various risks which also enable fund managers to manage funds and sell risky security at right time.
    5. Liquidity – Mutual funds can be easily bought and sold online over few clicks and the payout is 1-3 days, making it convenient for investment.

    #Mutual funds #equity schemes

    Include Dynamic Asset Allocation Funds in your portfolio to create wealth and cushion against equity market volatility

    Ideal for moderately conservative investors who wish to have some equity exposure, can build a retirement kitty with mutual fund using #SIP to invest and Systematic withdrawal plan to get a monthly income) reap maximum benefit of this fund category.
    In my previous posts I have written about #debt and #equity mutual funds and the advantages of investing in #mutual funds. In this post I would like to share some insight about the equity oriented hybrid funds which offers best of both worlds. These equity oriented balanced funds/ hybrid funds/ dynamic allocation funds should be part of core investment portfolio of an individual investor of any age

    What investors can expect from these funds?
    1. Tax free returns after 12 months, and exit load free after 12-18 months depending on the fund house
    2. Much higher return than Bank FD with lower downside risk compared to pure equity funds, mostly matching index returns over long term
    3. Doesn’t matter you are 22 or 42, Ideal as long term wealth creation with moderate risk, can build a retirement kitty with SIP and use SWP (Systematic withdrawal plan) to reap maximum benefit of this fund
    4. Even the worst fund in the category has given 10% return in five years. The top 5 have averaged return over 15%
    5. This category is expected to deliver less volatility with consistency compared to the equity market
    What investors should not do?
    1. Not compare it with a largecap/ midcap/ thematic funds, they may swing higher both sides and have a different investment approach and objective
    2. Do not consider hybrid funds to be risk-free, all investment instruments come with own share of risks, however, due to its diversification between asset class, it generally experiences less downside compared to benchmark. Not to get lured by past performance and very high returns, it is possible that fund management is taking higher risk than the fund mandate and may expose you to risks you do not wish in this category
    What are #dynamic allocation/#balanced funds?
    Here, I am focusing on equity oriented balanced funds. These funds have about 65% exposure in equity and rest in debt and cash. Thumb rule good investment practice, buy at low and sell at high is automatically adhered to because of its scheme mandate, mitigating risk for the investor. And during low phases it adjust its portfolio with higher equity buy and lower exposure in debt. The USP of the product category is capturing the downside risk. The chart defines how it actually benefits the investors.
    Debt oriented balanced/hybrid funds also part of the hybrid funds category which is ideal for conservative and retired investors. These funds are treated as debt instrument for taxation purpose.
    Who should buy equity oriented dynamic allocation funds (#balanced funds)?
    The category is for everyone. This carries lower risk compared to pure equity plays, still enjoys tax free returns as any #equity fund. The investment philosophy is simple but extremely effective “buy low and sell high”, as the equity market sees a upswing, fund managers book profits to rebalance the portfolio and vice versa when market falls. This is much easier said than done but the investment mandate is such, that automatically fund managers follow the rules and avoid temptation of exposing the fund into higher risk area.
    ICICI Prudential balanced advantage fund, the fund with the largest AUM in the category has beaten the category average and nifty 50 returns in the past 5 years and given return of 16% annualised return.
    Portfolio allocation of ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund shows higher commitment towards protecting the investor’s money along with generating surplus return. The equity portfolio is dominated by largecap companies and debt category has maximum exposure in govt securities of about 12% of the portfolio, most debt investments are in high credit score category of AA and above.
    The graph of 5 years return of a hypothetical investment of Rs. 10,000 in balanced funds of the top 5 mutual fund companies viz-a-viz Nifty

    Graph source – Moneycontrol.com


    Disclaimer – Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully


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