[swiftnfurious]

Which among tax saving (ELSS) funds would anyone suggest now ? I had HDFC Tax Saver and redeemed it. The growth fund had terrific return but sadly that was very few units. The rest was dividend payout which had fair returns.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by null

Why is Birla Sunlife MF not quoted by either of you? Their funds (which I have listed) were rated well on Moneycontrol & the returns were decent too... hence this question.

Do not go by anyone's ratings and rankings.

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

Please do not look solely at Moneycontrol.

For mutual funds, Value Research and Morningstar are much, much better.

Actually I find moneycontrol excellent platform to compare the numbers.

You are right. For mutual funds, the maximum weight-age should be given to 5 years returns. That's where the magic lies. Since we have seen a good bull run in recent past, any MF doing less than 20% returns annualized over past 5 years should be knocked off.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Since we have seen a good bull run in recent past, any MF doing less than 20% returns annualized over past 5 years should be knocked off.

Large cap funds that focus only on giant and large companies have not yet crossed 20% CAGR over 5 years, but they are close. Note that NIFTY return over 5 years is only around 12%.

If a large cap fund really gives over 20% CAGR over 5 years, what it really means is that it has some proportion of mid/small-caps. This should be fine except when you are allocating certain percentages into each category (giant + large, mid, small) like I do in which case I do not want my large cap fund to invest in small caps.

Moneycontrol is good except when people solely go by the recommendations on their MF home page like @null has done. I go to moneycontrol myself to check what is happening in the stock market.

[S_U_N]

Franklin Templeton Services sent an email today showing the calculations behind the new DDT.

As per Finance (no. 2) Act 2014 (effective date Oct 1st 2014), a change in Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) has been made.

Effective DDT rate is up from 22.0728% to 28.3250% (for individuals).

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Which among tax saving (ELSS) funds would anyone suggest now ? I had HDFC Tax Saver and redeemed it.

I am into FI Taxshield and ICICI Pru Tax Plan this year. Pulling out of L&T Tax Advantage as they have matured. In fact I am switching to their Equity.

[yosbert]

I have some funds which I need to park for a period of 6 months to 1 year. Are short term debt funds the most preferred way of doing this? Any specific recommendations on these funds?
Note that the duration for which the funds need to be parked is not known and I should be able to withdraw the fund in tranches when required.

[sgiitk]

What is the opinion about Franklin Prima Plus. I have two investments of 1L each. I am thinking bout switching them to either Blue Chip or Equity Income.

[adimicra]

Looking for a good quality mid/small cap fund. I already have Franklin Smaller companies and Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip. Should I just add to these funds as both are performing very well or look for a 3rd one?
I was looking at Reliance Small Cap - seems high risk/ high reward one. Worth investing?

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by adimicra

Looking for a good quality mid/small cap fund. I already have Franklin Smaller companies and Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip. Should I just add to these funds as both are performing very well or look for a 3rd one?
I was looking at Reliance Small Cap - seems high risk/ high reward one. Worth investing?

Mirae Emerging Bluechip is a great mid cap fund and I would definitely add to it. Don't know much about the Franklin one.

Reliance Small Cap and also DSP Blackrock Micro Cap are small cap funds and should be a small part of your allocation.

As one gets towards small caps, the returns are huge but the risk is also very high. SIP is better with mid and small caps. Not sure if you have a large cap fund, but that is a must to anchor your holding.

[sindabad.sailor]

After a long gap got to sit down and review all the MF investments.

A lot of my SIPs are still through agent codes. Guess have filled enough in pockets of agents and time to move on to direct plans.

I do not wish to change the plans / fund houses. So I have two options

1. Stop all current SIPs, start new SIP with new form submitted in CAMS ensuring ARN code is DIRECT. The invested corpus to remain there as selling expenses have been recovered upfront and hence no additional costs are involved managing the corpus thereafter.

2. Go for switch. This would incurr some charges.

What do you suggest.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by sindabad.sailor

1. Stop all current SIPs, start new SIP with new form submitted in CAMS ensuring ARN code is DIRECT. The invested corpus to remain there as selling expenses have been recovered upfront and hence no additional costs are involved managing the corpus thereafter.

2. Go for switch. This would incurr some charges.

Remember that with a normal plan, all distributor's fees are paid on an ongoing basis and reflected by an increased expense ratio. Early last year, I stopped all my SIPs and restarted them on direct plans. I then spent most of last year periodically transferring my corpus to direct plans. Doing so, I have made over 10K in just 1 year and the savings are bound to be more in the future.

Last year I debated whether to set up an STP for the switch but decided to do it manually once every few months. Of course it required some calculation to ensure that I do not get hit by an exit fee.

Instead of going to CAMS, you may be able to call up some of the smaller mutual funds and request them to collect the form. They are usually more customer friendly than the bigger ones. Of course first you have to check whether you want to invest in their fund.

[g.nox]

I have a small question with respect to ELSS.
When we invest in a tax saving Mutual Fund SIP through ELSS, our fund is locked for a period of 3 years. After completion of 3 years from the start date of SIP, if one opt to stop the SIP then is it possible to withdraw complete fund at that time or we need to stay for 3 more year to withdraw the last month SIP? Please suggest.

[rishab.k]

Originally Posted by g.nox

.... or we need to stay for 3 more year to withdraw the last month SIP? Please suggest.

Each SIP's 3 year lock in period is calculated from the day it was invested. So every SIP's three year lock in period would end on a different date & you can withdraw them accordingly.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

Mirae Emerging Bluechip is a great mid cap fund and I would definitely add to it. Don't know much about the Franklin one.

Reliance Small Cap and also DSP Blackrock Micro Cap are small cap funds and should be a small part of your allocation.

As one gets towards small caps, the returns are huge but the risk is also very high. SIP is better with mid and small caps. Not sure if you have a large cap fund, but that is a must to anchor your holding.

Thanks for your reply.
I invest mainly through SIPs. Currently, I have SIP in BNP Paribas Equity fund and Mirae Emerging bluechip fund. Plus I have holdings in Quantum long term equity. Wanted to add one more SIP.
I want to go for a fund which invests both in Large and MId-caps rather than only Mid and small caps to maintain some balance in my portfolio.

I am considering Birla Sunlife equity, ICIC Dynamic, L&T value india fund etc.

Please suggest!

[archat68]

I'd like park my funds in a debt fund and do a STP to 4-5 MFs of different companies. At present I have a ICICIDirect account.

I transferred my funds to ICICI liquid debt fund but ICICIDirect only allows to do STP only to ICICI mutual funds.

So, is it the norm or it is enforced by ICICIdirect?

Any other way to invest a lumpsum amount through SIP/STP?