[RoadTiger]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Therefore, its safe to say that looking at the returns in 3 years which is almost zilch i am developing cold feet as a considerable amount is going into them. So I am seriously contemplating other instruments which are highly conservative but, atleast offer minimum guaranteed returns.

MF returns are tied to how the stock markets are doing. The fund manager's objective is to beat the underlying benchmark - in the case of a diversified large cap equity fund, the benchmark will be the Nifty or the Sensex. So, if you've been following the stock markets, you will know that they have been lacklustre for the last few years thanks to various issues incl. govt policy inaction, large current a/c deficit, high inflation etc.

The fun about economics (and life) is that things dont remain the same. Things may change for the better or for the worse and the markets will react accordingly.

Please note :
1. In the stock markets, you can achieve significantly better returns over a long, as in 7-10 year periods +. Most folks invested for that period of time in India would have achieved returns of at least 10%+ per year. Returns of 20-30% per year can be made only in exceptional years.

2. Market returns are lumpy not linear. After 3-4 years of doing nothing, the markets could suddenly surprise you with a 70% return in one year. The key to making money is being invested in the market when that happens.

3. Go with the proverb "be greedy in buying stocks when others are fearful, and fearful in buying them when others are greedy"

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by mobike008

IMO, if your tight pressed and dont know if you can continue investing for a longer period for decent returns then please look elsewhere for a investment plan which atleast provides guaranteed returns albeit at a lower percentage.

The scenario is that in case I need to buy a house/ property a year or two down the line, I will need money to be re-allocated for the new asset. In that case, MF and probably all other investments (except PPF) will take a hit or need to be stopped completely for a few years.
So, I am looking for an exit without any negative impact (e.g. paying taxes for short term capital gains, or paying exit load or something else that I am not even aware of).

Originally Posted by ghodlur

You can look to Liquid funds or pure debt funds to minimize the risk but take a hit on the returns

I am interested in liquid funds, since I was informed that it is better than bank FD in terms of returns. However I do not know how much more risk they have in comparison. Please share more details on these funds with examples.

Originally Posted by quadra

1. How much % should be set aside for investing? Out of the total income?
2. Now that we know the amount to invest, what % should be invested and where? What combination works best? Example: 20% MF + 30% Shares + 50% FD
3. Tracking investments?

Though I am not an expert, but my views for the above:
1. As much as possible. Perhaps 50% of income is very good. My personal target this year is around 35% of net income (after tax deductions).

2. If you have good financial backing then you can take higher risk.
e.g. rich father/ father in law, inherited property, lot of gold from wife, etc.
If not, then you are just like me. I cannot take much risk so I am looking at 20% MF, 40% PPF, 20% gold and 20% FD (bank + companies)

I have never invested in stocks, so at the moment there is no plan to invest there.

3. No idea, but maybe someone else can answer. Visit FundsIndia.com and see if they have this feature.

[quadra]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Though I am not an expert, but my views for the above:
1. As much as possible. Perhaps 50% of income is very good. My personal target this year is around 35% of net income (after tax deductions).

2. If you have good financial backing then you can take higher risk.
e.g. rich father/ father in law, inherited property, lot of gold from wife, etc.
If not, then you are just like me. I cannot take much risk so I am looking at 20% MF, 40% PPF, 20% gold and 20% FD (bank + companies)

I have never invested in stocks, so at the moment there is no plan to invest there.

3. No idea, but maybe someone else can answer. Visit FundsIndia.com and see if they have this feature.

Thanks a lot for this info. I have initiated 1 MF closure already

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by quadra

Thanks a lot for this info. I have initiated 1 MF closure already

Why redeem?
Instead make future investments in other instruments if you are looking at risk reduction?

[faustus77]

Hi everybody
Today's(31/7) Times of India Bombay edition,gives different asset classes to invest in.
Right from equity mutual funds to national pension scheme through liquid funds,monthly income plans,debt funds etc.
File it for future reference.
Regards
e-paper Sign-in

Go to page 13

[Ananthang]

Dear Bhpians - I am in need of advice on my current portfolio and let me know if I need sell something and reinvest wisely.

My Funds in concern - Majorly need your advice here -

Reliance Diversified Power: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 4.7K
Reliance Diversified Power: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 3.3K
Reliance Gold FOF: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 6.1K
Reliance Growth: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 8.3K; Div- 1.5 K paid out
SBI Magnum Comma: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 7.2K; Div- 1.5 K paid out
Sund Select Mid Cap: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 10.2K; Div- 1.2 K paid out

Apart from above I am into HDCF Top 200, HDFC Equity and Reliance Regular savings which I am assuming is ok.

My plan is to sell out some these non performing funds and enter into a 2 Yr SIP in IDFC Premier Equity Plan A.

Please help out, I am ok to take up the losses as the amounts are very less and less than Rs. 10000.

[coolabhi]

Well your spread is quite wide.no doubt we should not put all eggs in one basket but diversifying in excess is also not advisable.as a personal opinion I suggest you to invest max 10% of your savings in equity ,shift to debt funds till things settle down for Indian economy.invest in gold right now and sell around diwali.HDFC top 200 is a good pick,dont have much idea about other funds.overall as I said stay away from equity as of now,just a personal opinion,I may be wrong

[SankalpDesai]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Dear Bhpians - I am in need of advice on my current portfolio and let me know if I need sell something and reinvest wisely.

My Funds in concern - Majorly need your advice here -

Reliance Diversified Power: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 4.7K
Reliance Diversified Power: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 3.3K
Reliance Gold FOF: Invested - 5K. Current Value - 6.1K
Reliance Growth: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 8.3K; Div- 1.5 K paid out
SBI Magnum Comma: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 7.2K; Div- 1.5 K paid out
Sund Select Mid Cap: Invested - 10K. Current Value - 10.2K; Div- 1.2 K paid out

Apart from above I am into HDCF Top 200, HDFC Equity and Reliance Regular savings which I am assuming is ok.

My plan is to sell out some these non performing funds and enter into a 2 Yr SIP in IDFC Premier Equity Plan A.

Please help out, I am ok to take up the losses as the amounts are very less and less than Rs. 10000.

As mentioned by coolabhi, you have diversified too much. Here's what you can consider doing with your funds -

1. Reduce the number of funds to 4 or max 5 from the current 8-9.
2. Hold your current positions in HDFC - Top 200 and Equity. They are very good and will yield good results in the long run.
3. Sell Reliance Power. Power sector isn't doing good (as of now) and schematic funds in power/infrastructure haven't really performed well.
4. Stay put in Gold. You can consider selling it during Diwali and the wedding season.
5. You can consider moving out of SBI Magnum and Sundaram if you don't mind taking losses (on SBI). Start an SIP in a good fund - equity or debt - depending on your risk appetite. I suggest HDFC Top 200 for equity and you can opt for a good debt fund of your choice as I'm not much into debt funds.

[Mr.Beat]

Guys, i have just started out with my career. I am clueless about investing and tax saving procedures for that matter. I am willing to invest around 15 k per month and would need money by Feb 2014. What should my portfolio look like? HDFC tax saver 5k per month is good?

[coolabhi]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beat

Guys, i have just started out with my career. I am clueless about investing and tax saving procedures for that matter. I am willing to invest around 15 k per month and would need money by Feb 2014. What should my portfolio look like? HDFC tax saver 5k per month is good?

Hi Mr.Beat, One can maximum get 1,00,000 Rs deduction by investing in Insurance/Tax saving Mutual funds and Provident fund deducted from your salary.As far as i know any mutual fund offering tax benefit has a lock in period of 3 years.
My suggestion :-
Invest 5,000 Rs per month in Recurring deposit(Low return and low risk)
Invest 5,000 Rs per month in Gold ETF (Again a safe bet)
And the remaining 5,000 you can invest in HDFC top 200 (equity fund - High risk)

Your investments basically depend on your risk appetite.
An ideal investment break up for a married person(having financial responsibilty) :- 70% (low risk-Fixed deposit,Reccuring deposit,Debt mutual fund) 20% (High risk - Stocks,Equity mutual fund) , 10% in Gold or silver.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by coolabhi

Hi Mr.Beat, One can maximum get 1,00,000 Rs deduction by investing in Insurance/Tax saving Mutual funds and Provident fund deducted from your salary.As far as i know any mutual fund offering tax benefit has a lock in period of 3 years.

The dtc does away with the benefit for ELSS. So this savings will be a less than one year phenomenon. I will wait for the final shape of the dtc before investing in any ELSS.

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by SankalpDesai

As mentioned by coolabhi, you have diversified too much. Here's what you can consider doing with your funds -

1. Reduce the number of funds to 4 or max 5 from the current 8-9.
5. You can consider moving out of SBI Magnum and Sundaram if you don't mind taking losses (on SBI). Start an SIP in a good fund - equity or debt - depending on your risk appetite. I suggest HDFC Top 200 for equity and you can opt for a good debt fund of your choice as I'm not much into debt funds.

Thanks SankalpDesai. Let me start with selling out Rel Diversified power first.

Please suggest if I start with with TOP 200 itself (since we already have close 30K on it) or invest SIP in IDFC permier equity plan A.

I am ok to take minor risks, because my remainings savings are in PPF. Yes I dont have anything as liquid, but for that I have a bit of corpus and can also bank on my parents, who anyway have decent sum in S/B accounts and never listen to me. One way is good for them, atleast it is safe and they consider MFs and Stock similar to Horse Racing.

SG Sir, please let me know your views also on my portfolio.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Last year this time I had invested 10K/Month in HDFC Top 200 and 10K/Month in HDFC Equity which I shared on this thread.

When I was asked to renew the investment plan I happen to check its status and was shocked to note that I had gained approximately Rs.1500 in each fund.

I got upset and asked for a reedemption and to my aghast in a couple of days when they actually apply the redeemption value, the NAV went even further down and I actually lost Rs.1500 on each portfolio.

As mentioned in this quote. I decided to exit from my 20K monthly SIP portfolio last month and when I applied for redemption ( hand written letter to bank) I was getting a profilt of roughly 3K more than 12-month invested value.

When the money got credited after 2-3 days the NAV value shot down and i actually ended up with a loss of 3K

To add salt to my injury, they deducted again 20K from my account this month and i think it was my fault I did not mention " complete closure" of these two SIP portfolios and just asked for redemption.

I need to go to bank again this weekend and close these SIP's in totality.

[faustus77]

Hi everybody
I want to invest some money for my daughter in debt mutual funds to diversify her assets.Holding period longer than a year and growth option.
I am a total novice as far as this category goes.
Could somebody please guide.
I checked with somebody and he recommended SBI dynamic and SBI income funds.He mentioned that returns are more than 11% whereas a financial website shows 9.68 for dynamic.
The other options he suggested HDFC short term(returns 9.14) and Canara robeco(returns 9.23)
Can somebody please help.
Thanks a lot and regards

[alter.e.go]

Originally Posted by faustus77

Hi everybody
I want to invest some money for my daughter in debt mutual funds to diversify her assets.Holding period longer than a year and growth option.
I am a total novice as far as this category goes.
Could somebody please guide.
I checked with somebody and he recommended SBI dynamic and SBI income funds.He mentioned that returns are more than 11% whereas a financial website shows 9.68 for dynamic.
The other options he suggested HDFC short term(returns 9.14) and Canara robeco(returns 9.23)
Can somebody please help.
Thanks a lot and regards

An FD will give you 9.5 - 10 % per annum. 'HDFC short term(returns 9.14) and Canara robeco(returns 9.23)' are less than that.

And you run the risk of not even getting that if market conditions are not 'favourable' .