[srvm]

Originally Posted by OHCVtec

Which is the cheapest way to invest in mutual funds. I usually invest via ICICIdirect, however for I feel that the service charge etc is too high. For Eg I bought 1000/- worth units of few funds and was charged almost 114 for each of the funds. Thanks for your inputs.

You can try transacting through 'mycams' (https://www.camsonline.com/mycams.aspx).
I visited CAMS physically only once - to submit the first purchase form. Once folio number is allotted you can do all your subsequent transactions through 'mycams' portal/ mobile app. NO extra/hidden charges. I found it very convenient. They deal with most AMCs - ICICI, Birla Sunlife, SBI, HDFC, Kotak, DSP BlackRock, Tata MF, L&T MF etc. Basically, with one login you can purchase / sell from multiple AMCs. Direct option & Broker option both are possible in online transactions.

[inder]

I want to start investing in MF. Not for tax planning , I exhaust my limit in PPF. I want to know weather amount invested (profit earned) for 3 years is tax free in any MF or only plans which come under Tax saving MF are eligible. I am interested in plans where I do not have to pay tax on interest. I am looking to start off by investing lump sum in Axis Long Term equity Fund and my time horizon is 3 years.

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by inder

I want to start investing in MF. Not for tax planning , I exhaust my limit in PPF. I want to know weather amount invested (profit earned) for 3 years is tax free in any MF or only plans which come under Tax saving MF are eligible. I am interested in plans where I do not have to pay tax on interest. I am looking to start off by investing lump sum in Axis Long Term equity Fund and my time horizon is 3 years.

You can invest in any Equity Mutual funds and if you stay invested for 1 year, the profit will be tax free. This is as per current law. There were rumours that profits in equity funds will soon be taxed, but didnt happen in this budget.

Axis long term has a lock-in period of 3 year. Better to go for Axis Equity or similar fund if you dont need 80c exemptions.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by inder

I want to start investing in MF. Not for tax planning , I exhaust my limit in PPF. I want to know weather amount invested (profit earned) for 3 years is tax free in any MF or only plans which come under Tax saving MF are eligible. I am interested in plans where I do not have to pay tax on interest. I am looking to start off by investing lump sum in Axis Long Term equity Fund and my time horizon is 3 years.

As said, mutual funds if held for more than a year, then the appreciation in value or the profit is tax free as per current law.
You said that you have already exhausted your 80c by way of PF, hence I will NOT suggest you to invest in axis long term equity plan as it is a 3 year lock in plan and qualifies for 80c deduction, which you do not need. In this case why would you want to lock your funds? Also, there is no research which suggests that lock in plans generate more returns than open ended schemes.
In your case, I would suggest you schemes like franklin India opportunities, india prima, ICICI value discovery, SBI blue chip, BSL TOP 100 for investment horizon of at least 3 years.

Regards,
Saket.

[murillo]

Originally Posted by murillo

I have a question as I have not done this before.

Now, if I create an online account through the fund house's online portal and buy in direct scheme using my existing folio number, will those units reflect under the online broker account? Or will it be held separately with the fund house, although same folio number? If yes, it means that I will have two views in two accounts although they both have same folio number - is my understanding right?

I had recently started investing in mutual funds with Funds India and created this portfolio:

Birla Sunlife Frontline Equity Growth
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Growth
Franklin India Smaller Companies Growth

Later, I registered in the respective fund house's web site and started investing in the same above schemes but in Direct options.

To answer the question I asked which I quoted above, no - the Direct scheme units I bought in the AMC's web site does not appear in Funds India account. It appears only in the fund house's account. The regular units I bought through Funds India and then the direct units are listed as two separate entries in the AMC's web site.

I learn something everyday!

Going forward, I will keep investing into the above schemes through Direct route - won't buy any other scheme to add to this.

[Arvind6488]

Hi. I am completely new to Mutual Funds and currently going through online portals and discussing with few friends to understand how it works. Having said that, I have registered with FundsIndia and working out the KYC process with them.

I would like to understand what would be the best option to invest and maintain Mutual Funds. Is it buying them directly from the Fund House Website or is it safe doing it via channels like FundsIndia?

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by Arvind6488

Hi. I am completely new to Mutual Funds and currently going through online portals and discussing with few friends to understand how it works. Having said that, I have registered with FundsIndia and working out the KYC process with them.

I would like to understand what would be the best option to invest and maintain Mutual Funds. Is it buying them directly from the Fund House Website or is it safe doing it via channels like FundsIndia?

If you have the time and willingness to learn more, then go ahead with direct route. Else start off with FundsIndia for a year or two.

Edit: I am a FundsIndia user for several years now. It is safe.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

If you have the time and willingness to learn more, then go ahead with direct route. Else start off with FundsIndia for a year or two.

Edit: I am a FundsIndia user for several years now. It is safe.

Even if you go through FundsIndia or any other portal, you need to do your research don't you? Not able to understand how direct investing requires more learning.

[murillo]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Even if you go through FundsIndia or any other portal, you need to do your research don't you? Not able to understand how direct investing requires more learning.

By learning he means the work related to KYC norms, online account creations, creating a consolidated portfolio view, getting documentation done from multiple fund houses for capital gains tax, learning to use aggregator services such as mfutility, etc.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Even if you go through FundsIndia or any other portal, you need to do your research don't you?

Actually, No. Perhaps with Funds India, but not with Scrip Box (though I don't agree to their approach) and it is usually not the norm if you go through a physical MF distributor. Many MF distributors will spend an hour or two with you, understand your goals, assess your earning potential and recommend funds for you to invest, decide your fund allocation and do the initial paperwork-- All this in order to get the trail commission.

Personal FinCal recommends fee-only Financial Planners who will do all this for you for an annual flat fee that IIRC is usually less than Rs. 10,000. I too recommend this approach for those who are new to MF investing. Investments here are done via Direct Plans. They have a list of fee-only SEBI-registered Financial Planners for most major cities on their website

What exactly are you paying Funds India for then? To simply do the initial paperwork? Does this one-time activity warrant paying them commission for every unit you own for the entire duration you hold it?

KYC, Folio Registration, and other such initial paperwork simply does not warrant the trail commissions one pays. As your corpus gets large, trail commissions add up quickly. I have saved over one lakh rupees by crossing over to Direct Plans from January 1, 2013.

Originally Posted by murillo

By learning he means the work related to KYC norms, online account creations, creating a consolidated portfolio view, getting documentation done from multiple fund houses for capital gains tax, learning to use aggregator services such as mfutility, etc.

For a new investor, KYC, submitting the application, setting up a SIP is all one needs to do. MFUtil is not required, neither is a consolidated account view that important as account statements usually suffice. Online account is usually created along with the folio. How hard can it be to manage three funds?

[inder]

Ok After a lot of internet hours I have zeroed on the following three funds (not in any particular order)
1) Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip
2)DSP Blackrock Microcap
3) Franklin India Smaller companies.
I intend to invest in them lumsum. Approx 50k each to start with. These are supposed to be my high risk investments, I intend to keep them for 3-5 yrs.
Also I have a demat account with motilal oswal, but I want to invest directly in the MF's. Is it possible to do so without opening a demat for MF's. Shall Karvy etc also charge me commission for direct plans. Mirae does not have an office in my city. Their toll free is a waste.( no one answers) Which makes me skeptical of Mirae. I dont have net banking so cant purchase the funds online. Please advice

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Even if you go through FundsIndia or any other portal, you need to do your research don't you? Not able to understand how direct investing requires more learning.

For someone who is just starting with mutual funds, getting 'on board' is where the buck stops. Service providers like FundsIndia take care of the paper work and that is an important milestone.

But, such service providers also have an advisory team (who based on my interactions so far, do not have any heavy bias on a particular fund house/ fund manager.)

Plus they also provide pre-packaged portfolio for your goals. The interface is simple yet powerful. This goes a long way in helping a beginner.

Note: There might be similar platforms as well, but I have no experience in using them.
----

Meanwhile, I noticed that in the last 1 year, DSP BlackRock Technology.com Fund has surged ahead by 14%. That is quite an achievement in my view considering the volatile stock market.
I think they did well thanks to Infosys which forms around 35% of the allocation.
But overall, the portfolio contains good IT companies with 70% large +giant cap.

[manowar]

Originally Posted by inder

Ok After a lot of internet hours I have zeroed on the following three funds (not in any particular order)
1) Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip
2)DSP Blackrock Microcap
3) Franklin India Smaller companies.
I intend to invest in them lumsum. Approx 50k each to start with. These are supposed to be my high risk investments, I intend to keep them for 3-5 yrs.
Also I have a demat account with motilal oswal, but I want to invest directly in the MF's. Is it possible to do so without opening a demat for MF's. Shall Karvy etc also charge me commission for direct plans. Mirae does not have an office in my city. Their toll free is a waste.( no one answers) Which makes me skeptical of Mirae. I dont have net banking so cant purchase the funds online. Please advice

The funds you have chosen are small cap/mid cap funds. So the investment horizon of 3-5 yrs is justified.

However, it would not be a wise decision to make a lump sum investment in the said funds (considering the level at which the market is). Simple SIPs are the way to go.

There is no need to open a separate demat account for MFs.

No commission would be charged on direct plans.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by inder

Ok After a lot of internet hours I have zeroed on the following three funds (not in any particular order)
1) Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip
2)DSP Blackrock Microcap
3) Franklin India Smaller companies.

All mid and small caps above. Too risky for a beginner. Suggest you initially allocate most of your funds in a balanced, diversified or large cap fund.

Originally Posted by inder

I intend to invest in them lumsum. Approx 50k each to start with. These are supposed to be my high risk investments, I intend to keep them for 3-5 yrs.

Again for a beginner, investing 50K lump sum when you don't have a corpus is a big No. Please invest only via SIP over say 5-6 months minimum. 3-5 years is not exactly a long time for these investments to work that well.

Originally Posted by inder

Also I have a demat account with motilal oswal, but I want to invest directly in the MF's. Is it possible to do so without opening a demat for MF's.

Demat account is neither necessary nor preferred. Please do not hold your MF units in demat form as it is difficult to redeem units that way.

Originally Posted by inder

Shall Karvy etc also charge me commission for direct plans.

Karvy is a registrar, they will not charge you commission. Same with CAMS. No one can charge commission on Direct Plans unless you choose to pay extra.

Originally Posted by inder

Mirae does not have an office in my city. Their toll free is a waste.( no one answers) Which makes me skeptical of Mirae.

Mirae is legit, nothing to worry about. They are the biggest fund in South Korea.

Originally Posted by inder

I dont have net banking so cant purchase the funds online. Please advice

My advice to you is to get net banking through your current bank or if not through some other bank. Some MFs support NEFT, you will have to look at their websites to find out more.

[inder]

As stated earlier these are my high risk investments. Still should it be avoided?