[download2live]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I am not a finance guy. Appreciate some inputs

Invested in two different SIP's a few weeks ago. Both are from HDFC MF's

a) Top 200

b) Equity

Each SIP is Rs.10,000/month and Hope to invest for 3 years minimum. Any idea what should be a fair returns expectation?

Will suggest that you break up the 20k into 3 sections. High risk, Average risk and low risk. And pick the funds accordingly. Increase the time frame to atleast 5 years so that your investments can go through one cycle of recession. Actually now is a good time to start it off with recession looming on horizon.

Then you can expect a return of minimum 20%.

[sgiitk]

@mobik008; Both are excellent funds. Top200 as the name implies is a Giant/Large cap fund, with the HDFC EF does play in midcaps. An excellent choice. Stick with it and you will not be a loser in the long term.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@mobik008; Both are excellent funds. Top200 as the name implies is a Giant/Large cap fund, with the HDFC EF does play in midcaps. An excellent choice. Stick with it and you will not be a loser in the long term.

Thats heartening to know. I usually invest in MF's for a minimum of 3 years.

Originally Posted by download2live

Will suggest that you break up the 20k into 3 sections. High risk, Average risk and low risk. And pick the funds accordingly. Increase the time frame to atleast 5 years so that your investments can go through one cycle of recession. Actually now is a good time to start it off with recession looming on horizon.

Then you can expect a return of minimum 20%.

Hmmm. As mentioned, I am not a finance guy so i dont evaluate my investment options so minutely. The simple criteria's that I review before going ahead is their previous ROI history, Penalties for early withdrawing etc. Thankfully, both are open ended funds and can be withdrawn after 1 year without any penalty

Originally Posted by ghodlur

HDFC Top 200 is a good fund.

IMO the diversification till 45 yrs of age should be 70% - Equity, 15% - Balanced & 15% - debt funds. Thats my investment allocation till now. As you go beyond the age of 45 the equity exposure should reduce with an increase in an exposure to Balanced and debts funds.

I am quite far away from that age but, that's a good piece of advice. I havent thought in so deeply till now but, in future will keep in mind.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Apart from these One should also try to invest in PPF too.

Apart from MF's I invest roughly 25K a month in PPF and an equal amount in "Private Chit". Yeah, so in a way have spread my risk to some extent

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Apart from MF's I invest roughly 25K a month in PPF ....

How do you manage that! I thought there was a ceiling of 70,000 per annum.

[suvi]

I would recommend not going by percentage for allocation to Equity, but by need. if you are planning to get married in 2-3 years or buy a house in 2-3 years, it does not make sense to invest in Equity funds. Similarly a senior citizen with enough money, can invest his surplus (over what is needed for interest income to maintain monthly expenses) in Equity.
valueresearchonline is a very good website, and some of the best funds are already listed in this thread. happy investing.
Markets are falling, right time for individuals to buy and own (partially) successful business in our economy

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

How do you manage that! I thought there was a ceiling of 70,000 per annum.

Oh is it? I am not sure then as wifey ( who is a banker) manages my finances but, I do know that I invest around that in a few schemes in Post office for sure.

Not sure if entirely is in PPF or divided in different schemes

I do know one of the schemes (which i thought was part of PPF) is where you invest 11K and in 6 years, there is a guaranteed 10 Lakhs ( something around these lines)...there is an RD linked to this scheme as well.

[rajswiftvdi]

may be OT:

Once after the revised DTC in picture, equity investments also will be taxed though it is long term capital gains. May not be complete gain for tax computation, but deducting 'something'(any one know this % ?) from gain.

Will revised DTC take away all attractions of MF investments?

[Equus]

Excellent thread - much needs to be done on educating the masses on investing right.

One category of funds not covered above is the Multi-Cap funds.
These are equity diversified but are not bound from a market cap perspective of the companies its investing in. For eg: In turbulent markets, they usually flock toward giant/large caps, and move toward mid/small-caps in a bull market.
HDFC Equity, Fidelity Equity are couple of good ones.

Also, Balanced funds have a few sub-categories like equity-oriented/debt oriented/etc. Equity oriented are treated as equity, and attract the same tax treatment. They have usually limited to 75% of exposure to equity. HDFC Prudence is a good example. There are many in balanced category.

Really good website - valueresearchonline.com. I primarily invest in 5* or 4* funds rated here. The CEO, Dhirendra Kumar appears on "Investors Guide" on ET Now on weekends too.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by suvi

I would recommend not going by percentage for allocation to Equity, but by need. if you are planning to get married in 2-3 years or buy a house in 2-3 years, it does not make sense to invest in Equity funds. Similarly a senior citizen with enough money, can invest his surplus (over what is needed for interest income to maintain monthly expenses) in Equity.
valueresearchonline is a very good website, and some of the best funds are already listed in this thread. happy investing.
Markets are falling, right time for individuals to buy and own (partially) successful business in our economy

While I agree with most of your comments, completely disagree on the "right time"..

There is no such thing as timing the market. Its the time in the market that really counts.

[SankalpDesai]

Hi people,

Just bumped onto this thread. Feels nice to see Financial discussion on Team-BHP. Though I am not an out-and-out Finance guy, I have some understanding about Mutual Funds owing to two vital facts - I am a Gujarati and my uncle is a big-bull.

I don't have a diversified portfolio as of now as my requirements suggest I invest in Equity funds more than Debt funds. I have chosen to invest in the following funds -

Equity Funds -

HDFC Top 200
HDFC Equity
DSP BlackRock Top 100

Tax Saver -

HDFC Equity Tax Saver
Canara Robeco Tax Saver

As you can make out, HDFC is my favorite fund house and they have delivered good returns consistently over the past few years. I had Reliance MF too in my portfolio, but the funds weren't managed well then. I hear Reliance is doing good though, these days.

[sgiitk]

@SankalpDesai; All three of your Equity Funds are excellent. As for the ELSS value Research (http://www.valueresearchonline.com) rates Robeco as 5* and HDFC as 4*. I am sure you are aware that ELSS with be gone with the DTC.

By all accounts under the DTC Long Term Capital Gains from Equity will be exempt after one year, but Dividends will be taxed at 5% (or half your marginal rate, I am not sure). The year may be computed differently, and you will have to cross one financial year cleanly. In other words 31/3/2012 to 1/4/2013 will be kosher, but 1/4/12 to 31/3/2014 will not, since it will not leave a clean tax year.

I do find ValueRes ratings a bit too dynamic. For example the HSBC Equity was 5* during the slump, and now it is 3*. A very conservative management will save you in a slump but then do not expect them to ride with the hares when things get better.

[sgiitk]

@Equus; I came across an interesting fund. Franklin_templeton Dynamic PE Fund. The is a FoF investing in ther Blue Chip and Income Funds. The ratio is dynamically change depending on the market. Last I saw was 45% Equity, & 55% Debt. It can go from 0% to 100% in any category. This naturally does not enjoy Sec.10 tax benefits, so the best is to go for Growth and take your Long Term Capital Gains as they come. Saves you the hassle of moving from cash to Equity and vice versa, while keeping your overheads, and long term capital gains intact.. It is unrated since there is no peer index for it. It is a very old fund (Oct.2003)

[mayankjha1806]

When choosing a fund i look at a long term fund (5 years or above) and look at their NAV, CAGR, Now i hear that there is something called Beta and some other indicators in deciding the quality of fund. Would someone explain what this exactly is.

Also whats the experts take on NFO's. I do invest sometimes in them and have been mostly lucky. I am now sitting on mostly 20%+ CAGR on all my NFO's

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

When choosing a fund i look at a long term fund (5 years or above) and look at their NAV, CAGR, Now i hear that there is something called Beta and some other indicators in deciding the quality of fund. Would someone explain what this exactly is.

Also whats the experts take on NFO's. I do invest sometimes in them and have been mostly lucky. I am now sitting on mostly 20%+ CAGR on all my NFO's

Don't worry about the Beta much, if you are not one of those finance geeks.
Beta is a factor that measures the volatility of the the fund w.r.t it's benchmark.

Suppose your fund is benchmarked against Nifty50. Then beta of benchmark is considered as 1. If your fund's more volatile than the benchmark (supposing beta is 1.50)it means it will give you 50% more return either side(+/-). That is risk of your fund is high.

But don't bother much about it. These are tools for your fund manager to ponder upon.

And keep buying in the NFO's ,they are sure to give you good return. But keep a eye on the beaten up mutual funds during the market crash. Sometimes you'll find their NAVs to be even less than 10. Then go cash in on the bargain.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

And keep buying in the NFO's ,they are sure to give you good return. But keep a eye on the beaten up mutual funds during the market crash. Sometimes you'll find their NAVs to be even less than 10. Then go cash in on the bargain.

NAV less than 10 does not mean it is a bargain