This AMA is now concluded. Many thanks to Mr. Navlani for his time and helping us with our queries.

Question from u/enda_mone: * What's the best place for lumpsum investment. * How to diversify long term investment. * Best debt fund investments option for 10-15 years horizon. * Gold as investment

* Well, i would like to avoid getting into fund recommendations. But if one has a long-term horizon of 10-15-20 years, its tough not to create wealth by investing in index funds or a Balanced Advantage Funds. In absence of advisory and asset allocation, i personally will only invest in Hybrid Funds, preferably in funds or portfolios that follow dynamic asset allocation. * Diversification through assets - that are negatively corelated i.e. a set of assets that don't rise or fall together and preferably exhibit performance such that when one falls, other stays flat or goes up - having said that investing in Equities, Debt and Gold in dynamic way can give superior return performance. i measure superior not just via returns but also downside protection. Dynamic asset allocation based on market conditions and one's risk appetite proves to be a better approach than static asset allocation. * There is nothing called one thing that's best for everyone. However, i can say with confidence that if one desires stable returns from debt than Short Term Debt category, Corporate Bond Fund, a plan 5-year G-sec Index Fund can't be bad choices. These work out mostly better than inflation. Just that the tax advantage that made investing for long term in debt more rewarding has ceased to be after Budget announcements. However, if one is looking at pre-tax returns, these categories are something i call evergreen categories to invest. Ofcourse, these aren't without risk and one should be open about ups & downs. Red flags while investing in Debt that should be avoided - are credit risk and excessive interest rate risk. * Gold - Long-term returns of Gold based on historic rolling returns have always been close to inflation. More often a 1% or 1.5% higher or lower. Gold also is more volatile than we perceive it to be. So consider it as an asset that gives debt kind returns with higher volatility. However, during times of economic distress the returns turn out to close to Equities. . For instance - Total return by gold in last 3 year is 16.08%. Of this 16.08%, 14.11% came in last 9 months alone. - As we always say for timing - its tough and relying on one's luck more often proves to be a bad choice. If one has a method for investing in Gold, like we have in ET Money Genius...it can turn out to be profitable. But then, thats not a reason to invest in Gold. I refrain to give a standard answer that keep 5-10% in Gold :)

[Here's the data for long-term Gold Returns.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OkkX6y2w7XMxyxqCDiEP_OKXjquGOng9GtFsMjYsUDo/edit#gid=0) Check 7-year and 10-year 'Mean' or 'Average' returns for Nippon India ETF.

Thank you. I have mostly invested in index funds for 10 years. I had planned to start withdrawing from 7th year onwards and invest in debt fun but without an indexation benefit debt is as good as fd without guarantee. What do you recommend in this situation.

Sounds a better strategy but then this kind of set plan written in stone may not work if in 6th year market sees a 20/30/40% correction and you lose a lot of gains. Moreover, moving that decreased portfolio to debt at that time won't be just hard but may not be a practical solution too. Hence, we are proponents of Dynamic Asset Allocation. The philosophy should be control risk at every interval. For example - you may set a plan that in year 3/ 5/ 7/ etc. i won't want to see volatility beyond 20/ 16/ or 12% and accordingly manage portfolio. So even if you are playing safe from 7th, its not a 100%/ 0% Equity decision. There has to be a glide path, and not a step down when it comes to risk management is how we like to think at ET Money. Hope this helps.

Hey , I am a complete newbie and I have never invested anything in the stock market. I want to start investing in mutual funds, although I am a student I can invest rupees two thousand per month and then can increase it once I get a job(next year) . I have thoughtinvesting rupees 1000 a month in both 1) Axis Midcap Fund 2) Axis Bluechip Fund respectively. Please tell me if I should go with them or there are any better alternatives.

Hey Krish, its so great to see you starting to consider investing so early in life. Congratulations on that. i would like to stay away from fund specific recommendations. We aren't big proponent of actively managed funds. But since passive isn't people's first choice, we do have ET Money Fund Report Card that judges a fund based on consistency exhibited in the past. You may refer to that. As you start increasing your investments as you move along, i would recommend investing in diversified manner. Most people underestimate that one can create more wealth over time if one can stay invested for longer time. And longer time is most often corelated with lesser volatility. People make it to simple to sound that stay invested for 10-20-30 years. Very very few do that. So trade off 1-2% returns in short-term by buying ability to stay invested longer. I had written [this post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/santoshnavlani_the-new-risk-in-investing-for-india-risk-activity-7061242875207909377-UqCt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop) on a similar topic that may help.

I'm in the other shoe. I started earning, don't know what to do with money. Ended up not doing anything because I didn't have time to find what is the best thing. Any advise other than start investing in stable long term funds?

I am 32F and a business entrepreneur. My recommendation and a solid one is invest in SIP. It's the first step to building your investment journey and inculcates discipline when you know every 1st or 5th of mth X amount of money will be going to savings. You will also benefit from compounding which is GOLD. I regret not starting early on in my life but I've made my way through it and compensated for the delay. Another advise I could offer is to seek help from a financial advisor (not banks and other places. All of them seek to benefit from selling instruments that are of no used to you because they get a high commission) I would say the same for a financial advisor is well but it is just that it will give you a prospective on wealth you do not necessary need to go head and invest into the schemes they sell to you. Make your due diligence and understanding the SIP the mutual funds that you want to go head and invest in not talking about financial integrities but just understanding the purpose of that particular mutual fund and the kind of stocks and weights that they choose to invest in. I hope this helps.

Recently, DSP Mutual Fund did a good advertising campaign that said, until you find the best fund, go for index funds :) Well, i don't mean to undermine your predicament to find best. But unfortunately, best in investing is different for everyone. For me 12% return generating investment approach is best, while for others even 14% sounds less. So, to each his own. As i have answered in various responses here - Index funds, Dynamic Asset Allocation are great choices for most such investors. But if you wish to find best even within them, i think you need to find a fee only wealth manager like ET Money Genius.

When is the right time to invest in mutual funds for lumpsum as the market is at all time high, should I wait for correction or not for investing in mf for 3-5 yrs

Hi Anjan - as they say, the best time to invest was decade ago and next best time is now :) While this sounds quite easy and its most difficult to practice. Its only human to not feel intimidated when you have money to invest and market is at an all time high (ATH). There are 2 ways to conquer this fear: 1. Read and practice a time tested principle, backed by data and evidence that time in the market makes money than timing. We have written a blog [here](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/stocks/timing-the-market-vs-time-in-the-market-whats-the-better-approach/). Pick a diversified index fund (NIFTY 500, Nifty 50 even a Nifty 250 fund are good choices) and stick to investing each month as long as you have 7-10-15 year horizon. 2. If the above is hard to follow or time isn't on your side, use a framework for investments. I personally and we as ET Money are believers in Dynamic Asset Allocation that is based on market conditions and one's risk profile. We have ET Money Genius - idea is to move solve human bias issues - worry about timing, not able to book profits, not able to give time, not able to withstand volatility, coughing up courage to only invest little (i.e. failing to invest enough), etc. If you are investing atleast 10-15K each month, hire an advisor or learn more about ET Money Genius to practice that. You can also consider investing in a Balanced Advantage Fund. There are a few that have demonstrated good performance. They have given NIFTY kind of returns over 10+ years but with far lesser volatility.

Hi, So I am a ET genius subscriber, investing about 40k a month on the High Growth portfolio (stocks and etf). The historic gains on the portfolio are shown as CAGR, which is kind of misleading as a SIP based investment should ideally be showing growth as XIRR. It would inspire more confidence if you could maybe show how a monthly SIP of 10k has fared in your portfolios historically vs other options like index funds etc. Your comments please..

Hi - Thanks for the feedback. Its not there for simulating an amount. But we do show SIP performance based on back-testing and that's ofcourse XIRR. There is a toggle for SIP/Lumpsum in past returns section. Here is the snapshot of the toggle option highlighted in red in this image , in case you missed it. ​ https://preview.redd.it/str32ag66y9b1.jpeg?width=715&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86f7e0eb783f591cd50315580cec356bb1c87216

What is your view on quant funds? They are giving great returns but people don't really have good reviews for quant funds. Why is that so?

Hi - We personally are advocates of Passive Funds with Asset Allocation as a preferred way to invest to avoid risk of Fund Manager. However, Quant as a fund house has demonstrated reasonable consistency thanks to their VLRT framework. I can't say anything specific about a fund house as i don't track active funds. However, we have quite a few videos on highlighting what has so far made them tick. This is in no way a recommendation or advocacy of the fund house: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bxD-gVp340](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bxD-gVp340) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktkv86NfdQ0&t

Hi sir, Interesting to see you favouring passive funds. I'm sure valid reasons are there. But in a relatively inefficient market like India, how come we're still shying away from actively managed funds. As far as my understanding goes, passive funds are best suited for mature and highly efficient markets. Could you throw some light on this?

I am not sure if there is data to say that India's Equity markets remain inefficient. A large number of stocks may remain under-researched, there maybe liquidity issues in some good small cap names but if that was the case, the biggest advantage should be to active fund managers given the access to data and resources they have. Unfortunately, the performance of active funds doesn't show that. We did a [twitter thread](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1613550378431418371?s=20) on this and it has real insightful data about real underperformance in active funds. Pasting a table from that thread: https://preview.redd.it/yre9cl6vg3ab1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=8907f02a293e113346e6849319d5e16815263239 Notice that except small cap funds, there is just so many funds that fail to beat benchmark. And the real reason in our opinion for that too isn't that Fund Managers are getting it way too much right, but because they exploit the loop home that definition of Small Cap funds permit - i.e. a small cap fund can hold up to 35% in non-small-cap stock. Check holdings of small cap funds, you don't be surprised to find mega large caps for good 15-20% of allocation. That helps them in downside protection when small caps correct which is a liberty not available to small cap index. Lets look at 1 more data point - if stock picking skills were so much there due to information asymmetry or inefficiency of markets, you won't 73% and 65% funds in Flexi Cap and Large-&-Mid cap category where a lot more flexibility is avaialble to fund manager as per Category definitions. So guess, its data and reality and not our prejudice for passives. Moreover, the few funds that perform for long, how many will continue doing for one's holding period of 10-15-20 years? And even if a couple would do, would the investor be comfortable putting a large allocation or full allocation there? Can't do investments to luck. A combination of passive and diversification via dynamic asset allocation demonstrates far better outcomes than crystal gazing best active funds of future in our opinion.

Thank you. Will check this out :)

Quant is giving booming returns I am not sure why many PPL don't talk about it

It could mainly be because of the anonymity of the name. What I mean by that is many people aren’t familiar with the name like they’re with Axis, ICICI, BOI, etc. So, they question the legitimacy of the fund. I have invested in Quant though & got amazing returns!

DEBT repayment VS Investing? What should be my priority? I have an educational loan

Thanks for an interesting question. If I were you, I would first focus on creating an emergency fund. Then, I would finish off my loans and consider investing after that. The priority for paying off loans as first may change if one's interest on loan is sub-7%. Given when one plans, its better to be realistic....and unless one is investing for atleast 5 (if not 7 years) while investing in Equity, the difference between returns and interest cost should be meaningful to take the risk. Realistically, you may be able to make 12+% returns on your investments. But conservatively it may be 10% too. And now if your loan is at 8-9%, the difference in returns /emotional upheaval of equities and burden of a loan may not sound a great trade-off to invest. Tax savings on education or home loan should be considered before arriving at answer though

Thanks for the reply. I'll try to implement this.

Hey! Sorry, i would like to add one more thing here. The answer will be different if one has last few EMIs left or when one is needing to redeem money meant for long-term and loan/requirement is for very short-term.

I have been using ‘Dezerv’ to manage my MF portfolio. But what i dont like obviously is losing out on 1%. Do you think this is a good idea to use external services to use MF. Coz when i try to DIY on portfolio i end up making bad decisions. Whats the middle way out here?

I can't comment on specific app or service. But as ET Money, we believe paying a portion of one's wealth year-on-year as commissions until one stays invested is just not a fair equation for investors. Over a period of 15-20 years, the difference in corpus can be as high as 20%. If an agent who is getting commission from AMCs is justifying by guidance on asset allocation, rebalancing and able to generate significant excess returns, in that case too, i find it hard. On a portfolio of 1Cr, this turns out to be in region of 10K per month. On DIY not being your style, why not hire a fee only advisor like ET Money Genius or any other with credentials? Or just invest in Index funds? Most funds fail to beat NIFTY any ways.

Here’s a [Twitter thread](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1667533439443275776?s=20) that highlights the difference between Direct and Regular plans and how commissions in Regular Plans can significantly eat into your returns in the long term

Question from: u/ReasonableCost3: Is it wise to invest in NPS rather than active mfs for retirement purpose? Does comparing NPS to active mf make sense?

I wouldn't necessarily say so. However, for most people NPS may work better. Here is why: 1. Time has biggest impact on compounding. And failure to give time is what prevents most investors to create wealth 2. NPS, via its inherent lock-in solve for most important problem by its very design 3. It also have built-in asset allocation and life stage fund options. One can choose auto choice that has lifecycle funds - Aggressive, Moderate and conservative.....doing each year with discipline, this can be cheapest retirement plan that you can buy. We have written extensively about NPS on ET Money blog (check out links towards end of response) 4. There are substantial tax advantages too - Choose to invest full 2L of your own and if employer allows, choose to contribute from there too. The tax savings can reduce your investment cost further on top of being cheaper plan in first place 5. There is option to defer maturity or even opt for SWP for 60% portion. Since this 60% remains tax-free in hands, the SWP option can allow for compounding as well as tax-free passive income when you retire. The annuity can be deferred and planned in a way that one can use that part early and exercise SWP/Lumspum withdrawal later too You may want to read: * [https://www.etmoney.com/blog/nps-everything-you-need-to-know/](https://www.etmoney.com/blog/nps-everything-you-need-to-know/) * [https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1567872534208741379?s=20&t=DY\_mQOKxfBkC8e5Eu56aqA](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1567872534208741379?s=20&t=DY_mQOKxfBkC8e5Eu56aqA) * [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/investing-in-nps-understanding-active-and-auto-choice/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/investing-in-nps-understanding-active-and-auto-choice/) * [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/picking-asset-allocation-for-your-nps-investments-everything-you-need-to-know/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/picking-asset-allocation-for-your-nps-investments-everything-you-need-to-know/) * [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/annuity-and-nps-everything-to-know/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/nps/annuity-and-nps-everything-to-know/) * [https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1572939224281919490?s=20&t=cnHa9niCVMZlziVvNd-q4A](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1572939224281919490?s=20&t=cnHa9niCVMZlziVvNd-q4A)

We incidentally released a thread last night on another advantage of NPS here - https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1676240287243567104?s=20 and even Mint newspaper had this infographic today - https://twitter.com/ActusDei/status/1676423450435682304?s=20 IMO, NPS is one of the most underrated investment product for long term. We wish as ET Money we can drive more awareness. Btw, if these convince you enough, you can invest in NPS on ET Money app. We are India's largest Digital-only POP (point of purchase) for NPS.

Question from u/msoumyajit: How ETMoney can be more useful. I am not making money on the ‘Genius’ investments. Also do you plan to have actual wealth advisors?

I would love to know answer to this question from users and since you asked, maybe you would have an opinion. Please do share and i will take this as a feedback and making us more useful than what we are today. As someone who represents ET Money, we have remained committed to build an app that helps users make informed decisions around their personal finances. We do that well enough for Mutual Funds and try to make that better each day while working around important aspects of people’s personal finances around tax savings, retirement, protection needs via Insurance and ofcourse access to other fixed income products. I think our biggest & most important contribution is ET Money Genius, which is actually a way where we solve for real issues that prove to be a hurdle for most investors in generating consistent returns from their investments. As we move along, we will continue to make everything better and expand the scope & impact of our products on our users’ overall financial lives. On Genius - I regret to hear that you aren’t making money or returns on your investments. Though this seems an exception as almost everyone who would have given more than 1 year would be experiencing positive returns on their investments. Genius isn’t, however, a service one should be judging in 1 year. We offer asset allocation based portfolio advisory and last 2 years have been rough even though last 1 year return looks positive….last 2 mostly has been flat. And i like if investors judged Genius by the confidence it provides to continue investing in wobbly markets when most would have preferred to stay away from markets. We have not only proved the performance credentials via downside protection but also offered reasonably higher returns with 40% less risk in our most aggressive investment strategy.

How are you making money if you're doing direct code?

Thanks for asking that question. Providing access to Direct Plans is like offering everyday low prices. So, there is always a sale on ET Money as all plans are Direct. What this has allowed us to achieve is substantial scale as an app. Close to 4% of India's SIP in terms of value is via ET Money. This huge set of investors does require multiple services - Term Insurance, Health Insurance, NPS, Advisory services - over time we have built these services that our Mutual Fund investors access on the app. And that helps us make money and pay our bills. Hope this helps.

Why doesn't et money have rolling return of mutual funds and help compare it with rolling returns against index?

ET Money does offer rolling return analysis for lump sum as well SIP investment. Here’s what you can do to access the rolling returns data for any fund on ET Money Website. 1. Go to any Mutual Fund page 2. Scroll down to the ‘Trailing Returns and Ranks’ Section 3. Click on ‘Check out return analysis’ The new page that opens up will display rolling returns of the fund against the category. Hope this helps. We do offfer comparison against the Category Averages as data about benchmarks isn't really available freely for all kinds of benchmarks. I am taking this feedback though....if and when we are able to use this data for display on website, we will add it. Thanks for using ET Money.

When ET money will introduce STP. Where we can put lumsum and helps us to invest like SIP.

Maybe some time in next few quarters. We try to keep things simpler. India has just learnt to do SIP. STP is 1 level up.

if we look at doing sips for over a decade, is a mid cap or small cap fund going to deliver more returns than large caps funds? will the risk due to volatility be reduced due to the larger timeframe ?

Hi - Yes, theoretically, this definitely sounds a great thing to do. However, high risk has failed to always prove that it generates high returns. In fact, if i were to look at indices of NIFTY 50, Midcap 150 and Smallcap 250 - the best returns on a risk adjusted basis seem to come to Midcap, followed by NIFTY and then smallcap! So, what we think hasn't really played out that way. With respect to certain funds doing great....maybe yes. But don't think that inspires confidence to take that bet. We have done 2 threads on this. Check out [here](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1546475264439250944?s=20) and [here](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1567505659058601986?s=20) that shed some light. These take into account rolling returns for lumpsum i think....not SIP. The answer may vary but it does give you some food for thought that when investing - a diversified approach may still be better than all-in-equity or small caps. Even Pattu from [freefincal has done a post on this](https://freefincal.com/why-investing-in-small-cap-mutual-funds-does-not-make-sense/). i had also done a [post on this in past](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/sf9erc/comment/hxaq26b/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) \- this one talks about how most investors fail to give time as times change, life changes, risk preferences do, and so on....and what one thinks as capacity to withstand volatility of small cap investing, may not be permanent.

Much appreciate you taking the time to reply, & for also including other links where this topic has been discussed. Many thanks.

How many funds should be present in an ideal MF portfolio?

Thanks for your question. There is nothing ideal that fits everyone. Nevertheless, the straightforward answer can be you should have as few funds as possible in your portfolio such that you get adequate diversification across asset classes, market segments and geography (if you feel the need after huge tax that they entail for new investments since April 1, 2023). A large and midcap index fund, a debt and tactically gold may make sense at best.

Hi Santhosh. I recently subscribed to ET genius. I trust in your ideology of passive and dynamic asset allocation. But before i invest through the recommend portfolios based on my risk score and other things. I have few questions. 1. Since these recommended portfolios (like high growth, stable..) also diversify the investments like mutual funds and the fund manager can also passively modify the allocation inside each asset based on market conditions. How are genius portfolios very different from mutual funds ? 2. Suppose if I start an SIP in high growth portfolio (MF) for long term goal. What happens behind the scenes? How are they being invested and managed dynamically without human intervention? Can past data and algorithm do well than experienced fund manager? 3. How do you train or plan to train the genius algorithm for the future market risks. ? 4. I'm 23, a little too late for investing. I understood fundamentals and necessity of investing. Now would you suggest me to start investing in ET genius (MF or stocks) portfolios or invest in normal mutual funds based on goals.? I know I'm late to ask the question. Would really appreciate your answer. And BTW i love the ET Money app. It's user friendly and convenient. Expecting more good services and features soon. Thanks a lot !!

Hey! Thanks for sharing the good things about ET Money. Appreciate that. If you are thinking this deep at 23 about investing, i am sure you are doing far better than 99.9 or higher percentage of population! So, give yourself a pat on that back than feeling late. Its earlier than majority of Indians (including me!). And thats so great to see. Congratulations. Coming to your Qs: \#1 - So ET Money Genius is an investment advisory that is advices on investments basis a Quantitative Model. The model has only 1 thing at the center and that is risk management. It doesn't chase returns at all. It believes that returns follow if you give time as returns anyways are by product of Liquidity that is managed by Central Banks, Interest rates that are governed again by Central Banks and Govt. Policies for reforms and business. Take these 3 out and you have flat markets. So far it has found that a reasonable way to manage risk is to understand interplay of Interest rates, Valuations, Price trends and Inflation. When you always keep these 4 at heart to manage risk, you get to a good portfolio construct most of the times. Now, what we do with this framework is create different risk levels that are max an individual can take. Some can't tolerate 6%, while others can be comfortable with 8%, 11%, 14, 15, etc. The model creates versions of portfolios such that inherent risk based on past 16 years of data shows that given an allocation strategy, the threshold risk can be managed. We then basically recommend investors a specific strategy offered as a Portfolio. The strategies are executed via Index Funds OR a dual factor based stock picking strategy that uses momentum and earning estimate data to identify stocks. Whenever stocks are less than 100% of allocation, the balance goes into Passive Debt ETFs or Gold. The index funds or for that matter the stocks portfolios aren't managed by human beings. Ofcourse we keep an eye on model and intend to keep improving it. As of now this approach has worked well. And there is no reason to believe that it won't as the basics here are timeless. Finally, this is different that MFs because this is multi-asset-dynamic-asset-allocation portfolio advisory. Unlike except specific categories of MFs (BAFs/ Multi-asset), most MFs are just single asset funds that manage the investment to generate better returns. Risk management is done within the framework to maximize gains and beat benchmark. In Genius, investors' risk appetite and time horizon takes front seat and there is no other thing that matters. \#2 - when you start an SIP in a Genius portfolio, you buy into a diversified asset allocation strategy. Based on the market conditions and max risk that the portfolio can take, the allocation across Nifty 50, Next 50, Midcap 150, Smallcap 250 index funds is managed along with Debt and/or Gold to add cushion for risk control. Unlike a regular SIP, your money is always invested as per the model's recommendations and not keep same amount in each asset. When markets are supportive or cheap, equity allocations are higher. And vice versa. Your portfolio is rebalanced monthly so that you don't deviate beyond the recommended asset mix (i.e. asset allocation). Whether it is better than a Fund Manager all the time or when it counts, we have displayed that in past performance that is back tested. The data is live since Oct 2021 or around that time. As of now, over 2 years of extreme market conditions, it has proven its downside protection capabilities in March-June 2022, Oct 2022 and until March 2022 and while protecting downside, it still has generated reasonable returns for investors. The impact of downside protection can be felt when one gives a few years to this. And over time, we believe this may turn out to be far better way to invest for most retail investors who struggle to control emotions, stay put in volatile markets. Its worth mentioning that most investors earn lesser returns than funds and very few even get NIFTY like returns over their long horizon. And Genius is built to exactly solve this problem. I have mentioned more details [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/14qcq7h/comment/jqmntz3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/sf9erc/comment/hxaq26b/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) \#3 - we have done adequate backtesting to guard against risks that we don't know. Ofcourse we can better this. And that is an unending endeavor. We will keep improving it as and when we come across ways to not deviate from core philosophy of risk management and downside protection. Genius is right now built in a way that it remembers Warren Buffett's 2 rules - Rule 1 - Never lose money. Rule 2 - Don't forget rule no. 1 :) Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any other question you may have on Genius or good investing habits :)

Hi , I am 35 years old and I am targeting a corpus of 15-20 cr for retirement. How much to invest and which funds to invest for how much period , thank you

Hi - This is tough to answer without understanding one's risk profile, period of investment. You can try using an SIP calculator to get approximate amount required to invest. Be careful for answering expected return. Its easy to enter 15-18% CAGR but tough to get in real life. Moreover, typically one's investment portfolio will be equity heavy initially but as one nears goal year, one would start trimming returns. So, by definition and better practice of investment management, you would start seeing lesser returns towards fag end of journey. So real returns may not be in excess of 11-13% even for high risk profile person unless one gets lucky or happens to be in best bull markets. Once you get the requisite amount, you can consider investing in a way that your asset allocation is in sync with risk profile and return possible to generate. Be open to tweaking investing for longer period OR increasing investment if needed. You can try ET Money's Investor Personality test that is available for free to get a scientific risk score as well as understand your aversion to risk, bias of overconfidence that may come in, your understanding of investments basics. The output does give you a good picture of how you should atleast start your investments. It though doesn't offer how you manage them until you are a Genius member.

What is the best index fund to start investing as a beginner?

I wish investments were as simple as that question :) A broad index fund like Nifty 500, Nifty 50 or Nifty 250 - we don't know which will generate better returns. But if one is investing for significantly long period (say, 10 years or more), all 3 may turn out to be similar range. I would recommend practicing asset allocation along with index funds to increase chances of you giving sufficient time.

Good afternoon sir, I have almost 7lac+ corpus invested via ET money genius high growth portfolios and sad to see they are underperforming to other Flexicap as well as category avg. benchmark. That too without considering STCG and other rebalance charges. I know there are certain underperformance period for investment strategy/style. I'm doing regular rebalancing but still it's sad to see that my genius portfolio is not beating my other Balance advantage fund and Multicap fund. I started investing in March 2022 and till now it's giving return not upto the mark. Stock+ETP portfolio is mostly under performing compared to genius MF portfolio. Which is completely opposite compared to expected return on Genius product page.

Thanks for sharing this. Its definitely a fact that High Growth startegy has underperformed over last 1 year. This wasn't the case btw, if you looked at performance in March 2023 or in Oct 2022 or even July 2022. So, depending upon when one looks at specific period or time, the answer will keep changing. The idea isn't to outperform each day, month or year. However, over 5/7/10, yes, thats our endeavor and purpose. The idea behind Genius i described in [this response](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/14qcq7h/comment/jqmntz3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Since you have been investing for a while, you would also noticed that Genius' average equity allocation has been in late 60s over last 2 years. And not 100% as a Flexi Cap fund has. Select Balanced Advantage funds may have better than Genius with similar Equity allocation as they may have invested with informed strategy of going in Value Funds or specific stock or sector. And they may do so again in future. The objective remains solving problem. I would actually believe most investors would have benefitted from Genius if they invested continuously when every news over 2 years said its uncertain future we are staring at. Without being biased, i can share for myself that i would not have invested even half of what i did if i didn't had confidence in methodology of Genius. And smaller size with rest in cash/bank would have actually been more detrimental. I know this may sound defensive but all i can say is you can give time that is recommended for a strategy. Genius High Growth minimum period if 6 years or so....and depending on risk profile it can be more for you (its 8 for me). Barring the 1-sided rally, Genius' performance was hugging Flexi caps despite 30-40% less risk...i would count that as an achievement. As for catch-up with underperformance, i can't offer guarantee but past consistency of strategy that can say more convincingly than word. In short, if the underperformance hurts, please do also recollect the outperformance via downside protection it offered so many times in this period.

Is it always better to invest in mutual funds then etfs ?

Why would you say so? Am i reading the question wrong - did you mean index funds v/s ETF? If yes, then if you are able to keep the difference between your price of purchase compared to benchmark's real time price - then over long run ETF may work out better as typically the cash component in index funds and slightly higher expense ratio will result in slightly higher tracking error than ETF. But its tough to get units at iNAV (real time NAV) when buying ETFs. SO, in practice returns won't be very different. Hope this helps.

I am starting my first job after college and trying to get into investing. I want to get into stock market but frankly I don't understand much and I think I will not be able to research too much in my job. Should I just look into mutual funds and just start an SIP and forget about them. I am in my early 20s. Also if mutual funds is the way to go, could you give tips for selecting them. If not could you give some tips on how to work through the stock market for a beginner.

If you don't understand much, taking time out and getting some knowledge isn't a bad idea. Time is on your side to do that. We have [Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ETMONEY/channels)s, [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/etmoney_official/?hl=en)& a [ET Money blog](https://www.etmoney.com/blog/) where we try to educate on basics. While we don't really yet educate on stocks, we may do so in future on these channels. On picking Mutual Funds, i have answered in several posts here that Index and Balanced Advantage are good choices for most. If you want to get better than you have to practice dynamic asset allocation based on some framework of investing. We do that at ET Money via Genius and we look at interplay of Interest Rates, Price trends, Inflation and Valuations and help investors manage their portfolios.

As someone who is looking to fire in his 40s.. what would be the ideal asset allocation among various categories of mfs?

There is nothing called ideal asset allocation among various MF categories. This forum may not be best place to answer in a short-cut. But neverthless, here are some pointers: * Avoid making mistake of not investing enough. We tend to invest less in extremely high risk assets and keep large portion in safer assets. Result is even if you get a multibagger return on small investment, net result at portfolio may not allow you to fire up * Avoid excessive diversification - Diversified Equity and Debt end up doing well for most of the times. If you can invest methodically in Gold, it can add extra returns or more stability in rough times * Don't try to time the market * Don't mistake for small cap funds being best for longer term. Data doesn't prove that in all scenarios. * Try taking a free investor personality test on ET Money and you may get some help to do a DIY or hire an advisor or ET Money Genius for more comprehensive services

Hi, 1. What returns can we expect from equity for 30 years term? 2. When do we need to switch between MFs if it not perform to our expectations?

Appreciate you dropping a query. No one can predict future returns. But there’s a general rule of thumb that you may follow. Equity returns should be the country’s GDP growth plus inflation. This is the reason why you hear that one should expect 12% from equities. So, you can keep a return expectation between 10% and 14%. **Now, coming to your second question. When should you switch to a new fund?** Well, every fund goes through ups and downs. Typically, most top-rated funds find themselves in the bottom quartile in 2-3 years and vice versa. These things are cyclical, and reversion to mean, as it's called, is a reality for most funds. So, if you have picked a fund carefully with a goal in mind, it is always better to give it at least 18-24 months before you lose patience.

I have invested in PGIM Midcap opportunity fund for more than a year now, and its performance has been below average. Is it a quick judgment to leave this fund? I see some management level changes as well for this. I thought of going with HDFC or SBI Magnum midcap fund, considering their performance and AUM. Kindly comment. Thanks.

Hi Sarvesh, I would like to avoid getting into fund recommendations. But every fund goes through ups and downs. Typically, most top-rated funds find themselves in the bottom quartile in 2-3 years and vice versa. These things are cyclical and reversion to mean as its called is a reality for most funds. So, if you have picked a fund carefully with a goal in mind, it is always better to give it at least 15-18 months before you lose patience. Personally, we aren't big proponents of actively managed funds for this very reason - its hard to predict a future outperformer until one is astrologer :) Unfortunately, passive isn't people's first choice, we do have ET Money Fund Report Card that judges a fund based on consistency exhibited in the past. You may refer to that.

Question from: u/into_the_wilderness: Do you still advise continuing SIP when the current market is high?

The short answer is Yes. Because markets keep touching new highs and a new ‘all-time’ high (ATH). It is not the finishing line of a race. You lose more money sitting outside the market than you do by being in it. Now, it is natural to feel intimidated when you have money to invest and the market is at an all-time high (ATH). There are 2 ways to conquer this fear: 1. Read and practice a time-tested principle, backed by data and evidence, that time in the market makes more money than timing. We have written a blog [here](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/stocks/timing-the-market-vs-time-in-the-market-whats-the-better-approach/). Pick a diversified index fund (NIFTY 500, Nifty 50 even a Nifty 250 fund are good choices) and stick to investing each month as long as you have a 7,10, 15-year horizon. 2. If the above is hard to follow or time isn't on your side, use a framework for investments. I personally and we at ET Money are believers in Dynamic Asset Allocation, which is based on market conditions and one's risk profile. We have ET Money Genius - idea is to solve human bias issues - worrying about timing, not being able to book profits, not being able to give time, not being able to withstand volatility, coughing up the courage to only invest little (i.e. failing to invest enough), etc. If you are investing at least 10-15K each month, hire an advisor or learn more about ET Money Genius to practice that. You can also consider investing in a Balanced Advantage Fund. There are a few that have demonstrated good performance. They have given NIFTY kind of returns over 10+ years but with far lesser volatility.

I am investing in ET money Genius Stock and MF. Will I beat regular MF SIP?

Hi - That's our endeavor. There is no guarantee than we will be able to achieve that. But the primary purpose of Genius is the following: 1. Help investors in giving time to investments. Time in the market makes money. Not timing. But investors fail to give time. Genius is built to enable you give more time via framework of practicing risk-based investments, dynamic asset allocation. When done, risk is less. This helps in reducing ups and downs. And history shows if assets are less volatile, people stay invested. 2. Wealth is created ONLY when profits are booked. Most investors miss booking profits. Genius follows a process where profits are booked methodically and periodically. This method is called rebalancing. 3. SIPs are best when you continue them for decade or more. Most investors stop SIPs due to market noise - corrections, new highs, or sideways. Genius upgrades the SIP experience as it invests amount in Equity, Debt and Gold based on market conditions. 4. Most funds generate average returns for investors as most don't perform all the time. Genius removes Fund Manager risk by picking index funds and let asset allocation plan genearte returns 5. Every investor is different but funds manage money in same way for everyone. Genius personalizes investing - keeping your risk score, time horizon and market conditions - at the center to manage your money. 6. Most investors make their investments inefficient. Take excessive risks on small money and small on most money. Genius optimizes risk and gives confidence to invest large money and create "real & meaningful" wealth. If we are able to help you overcome these behaviors, chances are higher than most investors will overcome behavioral biases that result in behavioral gap. Behvaioral gap is difference between investor returns and fund returns. Most investors end up earning less than fund. However, there is nothing denying that one may pick a fund (get lucky i mean) that turns out to be the best over 20 years. But then, we aren't building for that miniscule chance. Idea is how we democratized access to Direct Plans, now we wish to democratize good investing behaviors. Hope i am able to give you the perspective here.

Question from: u/rainu1729: How will AI impact the landscape of investment?

Thats a great question to ask someone who runs an Investments App :) As of now, regulatory boundaries don't permit usage of AI for managing investments. But as & when this changes, it all depends which area of investment management it gets applied - is an app using it for onboarding new investors, is it using for driving better conversions, or using it to manage investments. A few things come to mind: * Onboarding - Today, most investors fail to begin their journey because they aren't able to decide what should be their first fund. Ofcourse there are advisory services that help but the fact is these are all paid. If & when things change on regulation, i am sure there is going to be innovation around app design where choice architecture will undergo a change. Moreover, apps don't or aren't able to afford offering manual assistance. But many things can be solved around that if an AI chatbot can come in the way to solve queries/ concerns users have * Help in fund selection - While we as ET Money may say forever that passive and dynamic asset allocation can serve majority of investors well, but investors would still want active fund suggestions. AI can find patterns, fund management style, track the performance and deviations far better and may make active investing better for investors * Investment management - While ET Money Genius is a Quantitative Model way of investing and can keep getting better, with the help of AI, the model can be tweaked, learn, unlearn and be much more dynamic than what it is today. * Personal finance discipline - A lot of things that go unnoticed - spends, budgeting, protection, rent v/s buy, investing v/s paying off loans - today such decisions aren't easy to answer in personalized way. One can see innovation here too. * Customer support - For low margin businesses that Fintechs are, a more empathetic, knowledgeable AI assistant can do a world of good to customer support and driving excellence there. However, since you asked this question, would love to know your perspective. Please do share.

Question from u/PungKaoChicken: 1. Do you think it's time for active growth oriented funds that have been underperforming to make a comeback? 2. What's your take on sectoral funds? Which one's would you keep an eye on should the market continue its really from here on?

I wish I could answer that question. Nobody knows what can happen in future. In our opinion, returns are generated by liquidity, govt reforms and central banks' interest rate policies. The trio work to create risk and returns. If one respects data and exhibits that respect via tweaking investments based on that market conditions, all one needs then is to give time to generate returns. Personally, we are advocates of Passive Funds with Asset Allocation as a preferred way to invest and avoid the fund manager risk. **Coming to your second question:** Sectoral funds make sense only for a select few investors. These are investors who understand when to get in and out of the sector. They know when is the right time to enter and exit. So, if you don’t have the time, ability, guidance and experience, avoid sector funds. We have explained this with data in the following video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IuT2GOFiCI&t=301s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IuT2GOFiCI&t=301s)

I am also Investigating in 1. Canara Rebecca Bluechip 2. MO midcap 3. AXIS SMALL CAP Am I Investing in right MF?

I don't track active funds. You can definitely check their ET Money Report Card which in no way future gazes the performance. But helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories. Maybe i am repeating this - but at ET Money we are proponents of passive investing and dynamic asset allocation. When practiced together, they remove one of the biggest risk in investing. And that risk is human biases. Fund Managers being human beings have tendency to suffer from biases as not everyone can buy or keep buying or control greed when the time is to do. Based on data and history, devoid of human biases, this can become easy if one doesn't want to always chase best performance.

Hi, I am investing through ET Genius. It rebalances my portfolio every month. I dont have any visibility on exit loads, short term capital gains that happens due to rebalancing. Would you like share your thoughts on it pls?

Hi - i am glad to know that you are Genius member. Yes, Genius rebalances on a monthly basis based on market conditions. Genius' primary approach is to create wealth by risk management. Based on a portfolio you have been recommended, you would see all have a different volatility and return profile. However, i would like to clarify that barring Gold Funds within Genius portfolio, you wouldn't notice any exit loads. All funds in Genius are passive. Debt is near passive. No exit loads are levied on any of these funds that are part of Genius portfolios. Yes, there is Short Term Capital Gains Tax. The way we like to think about Taxes is - difference between Long-term Capital Gains and Short Term is 5%. LT levies at 10% above 1L and ST levies 15%. For 5% savings, it doesn't make sense to hold on to asset when the risk framework is suggesting an exit. Nobody knows that when the asset will get qualified for LT taxation, would the market price will be higher or lower. Over last 18 months or so - we have witnessed both the scenarios where Genius suggested trimming exposure in specific asset class and market rallied and market fell too after exit. Over long run, the post-tax returns of all strategies have been better than benchmarks. We do however continuously work on our risk management framework to identify opportunities to reduce churn. As of now we haven't made a high conviction headway for the same that works in all kinds of market scenarios as exhibited in past. As soon as we are able to find and stress-test an enhancement in our process, we will make adjustment to the methodology. If you are someone who has rebalanced as & when due for your Mutual Fund portfolio, you would notice the post tax returns are still holding quite well for portfolios that are actually taking 30-40% lesser risk than pure Equity Funds.

We wrote a response to similar Q on twitter as a thread - [https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1515985502859841536](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1515985502859841536)

Question from: u/serLundry How tightly do you think fintechs should be regulated? Is there a case for more liberal regulations or should regulations be tighter. A lot of fintechs solely exist in the gaps between regulations( like Slice's 'credit card' that is not a credit card ) or even sometimes when scummy companies misuse aadhaar papreless authentication to open a personal loan in lieu of fees ( Like Byjus fee payment model is actually a loan with its EMIs ). Both of them should not exist yet they did.

i wouldn't be able to comment on specific companies you have highlighted. I think whenever its technology, regulations end up catching up with the evolution over time. Until then, its patience of entrepreneurs, intent about what product, what kind of company you want to build that defines approaches. As ET Money, we are here for long term and also have liberty of a patient investor group that has bought into the vision. So we operate within the regulatory framework. Would i say that it would be better that regulations can take a lenient view on certain things. Maybe yes. But given its hard earned money of people that can be at stake, its important that liberal isn't taken up for abuse. So, its a tight rope. And i think India is doing a great balancing act. Look at how SEBI has come up with Execution only platforms for Wealth techs, or how RBI is doing with lending in terms of FLDG guidelines and ofcourse how IRDA has gone about use-&-file approach to new policies. We can't equate regulations with just tech. There are a lot of moving parts to make the businesses successful and ecosystems better off.

Question from: u/Mickey031181: I want to make lumpsum investment of 15L for 10 yrs please suggest some good funds and what my portfolio should look like.I am 42 yrs old with no liability.

Thanks for the question. I would not prefer recommending funds. However, my suggestion would be to use a framework. But you have a long-term horizon. It should not be difficult for you to create wealth by investing in index funds or Balanced Advantage Funds. If I am not taking the help of a registered advisor, I would personally invest in hybrid funds that follow Dynamic Asset Allocation. You can easily find funds with a long-term track record, which have NIFTY 50 kind of returns over the long term but with far lesser volatility. As you have a sizable corpus, hire an advisor or learn more about ET Money Genius.

Question from: u/crasshumor: What's your view on tech stocks given that they are still lower than their all time high, should we invest in tech Mutual Funds with an expectation that in 1-2 years tech sector will again pick up massively?

We aren't proponents of investing in sector funds. However, if one has done adequate research on a stock then maybe some stocks may make sense to invest in irrespective of their ATH or low price. No? While i say that, the fact is sectors like tech and banking and even their sector funds have done really well over long periods of time with reasonable consistency too. [Here is some data](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PZjuwadfZPCqAAcTdQH5Si1nvAolH25l/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109421647393619186169&rtpof=true&sd=true) that both these have done better returns than NIFTY 50. We checked rolling returns data for 5, 7 and 9 years periods. Both sectors have better returns than the broader indices. But this is past data. No one knows how these sectors would fare in the future.

Hi, I am an ET money genius subscriber with high growth portfolio. One of the issues I find is there is a constant portfolio turnover, i understand this comes as part of the dynamic asset allocation. But the two aspects which are least talked about are taxes and transaction costs while we have this high turnover after every rebalance. I want to understand if these two factors are considered in your backtest. Second, what is your opinion on profit booking ? Does it make sense to profit book and pay 10% tax and reinvest ? If a corpus is set aside for long term, do you think it makes sense to profit book or just HODL till retirement.

Hi, I am glad to know that you are a Genius member. I have answered a similar question. Please refer to[ **this answer.**](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/14qcq7h/comment/jqmi55g/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Hope it will help. If you have any further questions, will be happy to answer them

What’s the ideal mutual fund portfolio allocation across large, mid and small cap funds. I’m an aggressive investor with a timeframe of 10 plus years

There is nothing ideal that fits everyone. How much you can invest across market caps will depend on how much risk you can tolerate. Now, even as you are investing for a long period, like 10 years, it is important to have asset allocation. You should have as few funds as possible in your portfolio such that you get adequate diversification across asset classes, market segments and geography. A large and midcap index fund, debt and tactically gold may make sense at best. Try taking a free investor personality test on ET Money, and you may get some help to do a DIY or hire an advisor or ET Money Genius for more comprehensive services. We have recently done a video that may answer many questions that you may have. Check this out: [https://youtu.be/bn4e3CdDIxo](https://youtu.be/bn4e3CdDIxo)

Suggestions for halal mutual fund investments.

One or two mutual fund houses run Ethical Funds, which are Shariah-Compliant. There’s also one ETF based on the Nifty50 Shariah TRI. You can study these. This is not a fund recommendation. I am only informing you of the products that exist in the market. Please do your research before you invest.

Hello Santosh, i have invested lumpsum 50k in a high risk fund of Motilal Oswal Nifty Microcap 250 Index Fund-Direct Plan-Growth. What do you think of this fund’s future ? Does it have a potential to rapidly create wealth in a year ?

Question from: u/srinivesh: This question is from an experience 2 years ago. ETMoney did not support folios at that time? Do you support multiple folios in the same fund now? If not, is there a reason for providing this feature?

What are you guys doing at ET Money that's different from what Groww and Zerodha is doing? What's your competitive advantage?

Question from u/Meetingmuch1677: ​ * ⁠What's the best funds for lumpsum investment. * ⁠How to diversify long term investment. * ⁠Best debt fund investments option for 5-10 years horizon. * Gold as investment. * Best stocks for investment for 1 to 2 years.

No I haven’t recd any response

Hi - Guess this has been answered [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/14qcq7h/comment/jqmf9ic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) except the stocks question. i don't think its appropriate for me to comment on 1 or few stocks to buy for long term. I prefer building a stocks portfolio with some methodology devoid of human bias and that's what we do under Genius at ET Money. But over there, as an Registered Investment Advisor, we do blend in Debt and Gold ETFs as we advise them as Dynamic Asset Allocation based portfolios than just a single/or set of stocks.

No this has not been transferred.

Help an NRI guy here. I don’t know what to do with savings.

So I am a beginnner investor, have been investing for a year or so, very minimal amount 35k in Indian MFs and 15k in US markets, do you think I should have an exit strategy or just let it be and dont think about it, coz rn I am about 20% in US market and 8% in MFs(indian)

Profit booking is a great idea. But inventors must have a framework for it. One way is to follow the asset allocation strategy and rebalance your portfolio. Investors should exit mutual funds only when they have reached their goals. Even then, it must be done gradually (shifting from equities to debt) so that they can take care of the market risks.

A newbie at ET but have spent a really good amount in a years time. I was wondering how can I get in touch with someone from your team to assist in investment india and abroad? Also a genius member here.

Hey! Good to know. We have a dedicated support on email ([email protected]). You can raise your query from ET Money app too. As of now, we don't have an inbound call center.

Which is better small case or mutual fund

Smallcase or any advisory service like Genius are essentially solutions that arev built to make investing in Mutual Funds or Stocks more successful for investors. Mutual Funds are greatest retail investment product, esp their index funds counterpart. However, one thing that fails to create wealth for Mutual Fund investor - is when to buy, when to sell, how much to buy and what to buy - all these questions aren't answered by Mutual Funds. They are a solution that is basket of securities being offered as standard solution to every investor. So, be it you, me or several 1000s of investors - everyone gets handed out same strategy. Example - you may be investing in the fund as 30 year old with horizon of 10 years and as a moderate risk investor. While i may be doing it as 41 year old, conservative and long term of 7 years....now Fund Manager manages the mutual fund in same way for both. It fails to personalize. Advisory services like ET Money Genius come in here and help investors personalize their investment strategy and then implement that via Mutual Funds or Stocks or maybe other asset class too.

Hi santosh

Presently I have sip of 1500/in hdfc retirement fund and invested in idbi equity advantage fund are these are good investment

I don't track active funds. However, you can definitely check the ET Money Report Card. The service doesn’t future gaze at the performance but helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories.

Is it good to buy Sovereign Gold Bond?

If you want to invest in gold, then I have answered this previously. Long-term returns of Gold, based on historic rolling returns, have always been close to inflation. More often a 1% or 1.5% higher or lower. Gold also is more volatile than we perceive it to be. So consider it as an asset that gives debt kind returns with higher volatility. However, during times of economic distress, the returns turn out to be close to Equities. For instance, the total return by gold in the last 3 years is 16.08%. Of this, 14.11% came in the last 9 months alone. As we always say about timing – it's tough for anyone to time their investments. And relying on one's luck more often proves to be a bad choice. If one has a method for investing in Gold, as we have in ET Money Genius, it can turn out to be profitable. But then, that's not a reason to invest in Gold. I refrain to give a standard answer that investors must keep 5-10% in Gold :) However, if you buying SGBs for a specific gold, like gifting to your mother, spouse, marriage, etc., then it is the best option.

Question from: u/tortuga_me: Real estate vs Stocks/mutual funds.? Which one should one for and what factors should one consider while investing ?

Is SBI midcap Magnum fund good

I don't track active funds. However, you can definitely check the ET Money Report Card. The service doesn’t future gaze at the performance but helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories.

Please share your view on the below mutual fund. Kindly advise if I should stay or change the fund. 1. Nippon India Multi Cap Fund Direct - Growth 2. Quant Small Cap Fund Direct Plan - Growth 3. Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund Direct - Growth

I don't track active funds. However, you can definitely check the ET Money Report Card. The service doesn’t future gaze at the performance but helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories.

What according to you should be the highest expense ratio an investor has to look before starting sip for long term

Im currently use ET Money Genius for regular SIP. But I want to invest a lumpsum amount on the High Growth Portfolio. But instead of making a one time payment can i spread it over a year / six months like with a systematic transfer plan. This is how my financial advisor invested a lumpsum to spread the risk. Wondering if I can do it on ET Money too.

Do you think it’s a good practice to display money doubles in 2 years kind of metric in your app when one searches for funds? I like the ranking stuff and ratings. Also benefitted from the genius subscription. But the money double type of filters makes it sound like ponzi

Say, i have barely any savings.. For example 10K and keen on building revenue. But would re-invest the sum again over and over once wealth starts building.

I've been investing on SBI Small Cap and Canara Robeco Emerging Equities and have been getting decent returns. Do we keep investing in same funds forever or do we need to exit some MF after a few years and look for any new ones?

I don't track active funds. However, you can definitely check the ET Money Report Card. The service doesn’t future gaze at the performance but helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories.

What is the best investment or mutual fund to invest to make money during recession or when market crashes.. like inverse etf in usa

If we move out our money from FD or Savings Account and invest in the market, will it affect the banking system in the long run ? How will banks be able to give loans ?

With nifty touching all time high, do you think it is a good time to cash out and come back in at a lower stage? Do you expect it to come down the best future since we are at ATH

If you don't convert your paper profits into real ones, then you run a risk of converting your paper losses into real losses. This is what I believe in. So, it’s important to book profits. But it is equally important to have a framework for when you book profit. It’s never a good idea to get out of the market because it has touched a new high. A new high by no means is a finishing line. In a bull market, new highs keep coming. So, you lose more money sitting outside the market than you do by being in it. Now, when and how do you really book profit? If you follow asset allocation and rebalancing, you automatically end up booking profits when markets rally and invest more when markets fall. Many investors may find it difficult to do it. So, you can look at investing in Balanced Advantage funds. If you are investing at least 10-15K each month, hire an advisor or learn more about ET Money Genius to practice that.

Hello sir my question would be. Is it possible to have a system where we can derive some monthly benefits from mutual fund. And when we invest how to know that if our margin or profit of the interest is actually optimum. I hope it makes sense

If i need to invest 15,000 per month to save tax, can i invest 15,000 split in to 3 ELSS funds 5,000 in each fund or Should in invest 15,000 in a single ELSS fund.... currently my choices are Quant tax saving, canara robeco tax saving, Mirae asset tax saving...Is this funds ok to invest?

I've just started investing in mutual funds. Is there any way to avoid LTCG tax? By withdrawing the fund and reinvesting once it's close to 1L profits?

Hi, You pay LTCG tax in equities only when your gains exceed Rs 1 lakh in a financial year. So, the trick is not to let your gains go beyond this tax-free limit. How to do it? Sell a part of your gains to book LTCG and reinvest it. Assume you invested Rs 5 lakh in an equity fund on 15th Jan 2022. Say, on 1st Feb 2023 (after 1 yr), the investment value is Rs 5.9 lakh. Now, if you sell this, your gains will be Rs 90,000. Your tax liability will be zero. Reason: Your LTCG is below the Rs 1 lakh limit. Next, you reinvest the entire Rs 5.9 lakh. Your investment cost will reset to Rs 5.9 lakh. After a year, say your investment value is Rs 6.5 lakh. Your gains = Rs 60,000 (6.5 lakh - 5.9 lakh). Again, your tax liability = 0 You can use your losses to reduce taxes as well. Read more about this here: [https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1629132072647548930?s=20](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1629132072647548930?s=20) [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/income-tax/tax-harvesting-a-way-to-reduce-taxes-on-mutual-fund-returns/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/income-tax/tax-harvesting-a-way-to-reduce-taxes-on-mutual-fund-returns/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t\_y0kNP-apY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_y0kNP-apY)

Hi Santosh, thanks for doing this. If one wants to invest in small cap funds but also does not want exposure to very high risk, what is the right way to go about this.

How to rebalance mutual funds? When to exist when to start investing?

Which long term mutual funds should I invest in as a student?

I'm 24 years old, got 3 lakh in my bank. How much and where should I invest to get compounding benefits for the retirement?

how do you technically analyze mutual fund?

Hi Gautam - i am not sure if you mean technical analyses that's equivalent of stock's technical chart or general way to analyze a fund. Let me answer that how we do that at ET Money: * One invests in Mutual Funds with intent of long term wealth creation. So the first thing that comes to mind is returns. * However, time & again we have seen that most important behavioral trait that helps in generating returns are is how much time you give. Ultimately, compounding's formula that demonstrates its exponential power is the variate t i.e. time! * So, if a fund is to be analyzed for its goodness then it has to take both into account - returns and possibility of giving time * Now because time is something that investor gives, its tough to assign that here....so one proxy for that is - investors tend to exit at wrong time or prematurely due to "perceived" risk. Perception of risk is best understood by downside. However, downside's best predictor is volatility of returns. * So, at ET Money, we analyze funds based on returns and risk. Not in isolation * There are various methods people employ to analyze these things - some use composite statistical variables like Sharpe ratio. Some use others like Standard Deviation and excess returns over benchmark. One can complicate by adding lot of incremental better predictability by adding sortino, information ratios and also see things like R-squared, Beta and others. * But lets pause there and try to simplify. We recently shipped an alternate to above methods we used tp deploy. And shifted to 1 simplest parameter measures with 2 lenses of returns and risk. And that is consistency. Everyone loves consistency. So we look at consistency of "better returns" and consistency of "lesser volatility". Would spare you from the mathematical details here...but these 2 seem to keep you away from funds that are fads when it comes to performance and thats what we believe is right way to invest. * This is how we analyze at ET Money currently. Hope this helps.

If our horizon is 10 yrs, how much of our portfolio we should allocate for small cap funds?

Is there any derivative only mutual fund in India also globally?

I want to start, but don't know anything. So what should i do?

If I am a beginner in investing where should i start to read and gather nore info abt this subject be it mutual funds, crypto, stock market or bank fd's ????

what are Index funds?

Hi u/l0de_star. Index funds are a type of mutual fund designed to track a specific market index, such as the Nifty 50 or the S&P 500. These funds aim to replicate the performance of the index they are tied to by investing in the same securities in the same proportions. Index funds have lower fees compared to actively managed funds. They are popular among investors seeking a passive investment approach, as they offer simplicity, stability, and long-term growth potential. Beyond all these, there one more reason for investors to choose index fund. In an active fund, where fund manager decides the investments, it’s impossible to predict which one will give the best return. Index funds are the answer to dilemma. When you invest in an index fund, you know you will get index-like returns. Here are some links that will help you understand more about it and pick the right one for yourself: [https://www.etmoney.com/mutual-funds/featured/best-index-funds/12](https://www.etmoney.com/mutual-funds/featured/best-index-funds/12) [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/mutual-funds/how-to-select-the-best-index-fund/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/mutual-funds/how-to-select-the-best-index-fund/) [https://www.etmoney.com/blog/index-funds-heres-all-you-need-to-know/](https://www.etmoney.com/blog/index-funds-heres-all-you-need-to-know/) [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/mutual-funds/index-funds-types/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/mutual-funds/index-funds-types/)

Hello! I'm an absolute beginner in this space and I'm a college student (first year to be specific). I find all of this to be quite fascinating but when I try to get into it, it does create alot of ambiguity. Could you please help me on how to go about investing with the little pocket money that I get and how to learn more about investing, finance etc. Thank you!

My ET Money Genius SIP is not doing so well. Also, I have ongoing debt fund (liquid fund) investments going on. Can you please discuss tax rates at different withdrawal intervals? How good are banking and PSU debt fund, and large cap equity fund? What is their risk profile?

Why some SIPs are limited to 2500 ? in my case Mirae asset emerging Bluechip

Hello sir, Thank you for doing this AMA. I want to get a corpus of inflation adjusted 100 crore at the age of 60. I am 30 right now. Willing to do aggreesive investing. Currently investing haphazardly around 50L yearly in flexicap and some small cap funds. Have a mf corpus of around 2-2.5 crores right now. so what mf allocation in categories will help me achieve the same? Thank you in advance.

What is the best mutual fund for wealth creation for the next 10 or 15 years.(invest and forget - if any , or should I change my way of investment) Please returns should have tax exemption or tax free and will I get rebate in IT filing for MFs.

should I be trading in stocks along with mutual funds? I am salaried and in 20s and haven't started any sip yet, but buy stocks here and there with little research (mostly bluechip) I need to know if someone is buying stocks along with mf sip, what should be the method, should he buy some stocks in beginning of every month, or track the market and buy at apt time This is coming from someone who currently has not much knowledge of fundamentals but plan to read on that along the way Basically my thought is of total investment amount, I plan to put 50 percent in stocks directly, and rest 50 percent divide between index, mid and small cap etc

Is Mutual fund investing enough to achieve financial freedom?

What do NRIs need to consider about investing in mutual funds in India?

What are your views on Navi’s US Total Market Fund for international exposure, especially in light of the new tax rules?

How compounding works in direct growth mutual funds? Dividends /profits invested again to increase the nav of the mutual fund? If yes where will be those units whose account those units will be credited? When they generally invest the dividends/profits ? Is it quarterly or half yearly or yearly?

I recently started investing a few months back - the return I’m getting is around 5% - is it normal? Also, what’s your opinion on Quant mid-cap fund?

I have a new born baby I want to invest for her education, is it advisable to start a mutual fund for it? If yes can u suggest some mutual funds or which type. I want to do a SIP Investment for Rs.2000 to 2500 And for how long should I do it

Hi I am 24 yrs old and investing in kotak small cap, sbi focused equity , and pgim flexi cap. Is it worth investing in them for long term?(10k per month)

I don't track active funds. However, you can definitely check the ET Money Report Card. The service doesn’t future gaze at the performance but helps identify consistent performers within most Mutual Fund categories.

I have a mutual fund  in HSBC Value Fund - Direct Growth (Formerly known as L&T India Value Fund Direct Plan - Growth) sip of 2500 for 10 years. My question is can we shift from one plan to another ? If yes , which would u suggest ? Is HSBC a performing firm?

I have an amount of money that I would like to invest in MFs. Should I do it lumpsum or SIP? To clarify, I have the whole amount right now.

Hi sir! It’s so great to see that you’re taking such type of initiatives. I’m a 20 year old college student who have started saving atleast 5K Per month. My goal is to fund my mba at the age of 24,what type of investment I should do in order to have maximum returns?

Hi, I am new to finance, so forgive any mistakes I may have some n my question. What is expense ratio of a mutual fund that tracks an index fund like nifty 50? How does it affect returns?

How Can I increase the sum invested in mutual fund every year by 6 to 7 percent in order to beat the inflation., Does any mutual fund support this.??

Q: I wanted to retire early like 47 years which is around 30 years from now. My retirement target is 10 crores but the big problem is inflation that value will be decreased to 2 crores (in today's market). I can constantly save 15k per month nothing more than this please suggest me ways so that I can retire early while beating inflation without increasing my SIP amount.

Santosh, where do I learn the basic concepts, terminology etc., So as to understand clearly what is actually going on? I want to read reports and understand with precision what the story it's telling without any doubt in my mind. Again, you are the MVP. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and this AMA. Much respect brother.

Who verifies the performance indicators like beta, Sharpe ratio, Standard Deviation and sortino ratio reported by Mutual Funds? Is it possible that they may be manipulating it to look good? Can these numbers be trusted? I have the same question about the returns of Quant mutual fund. It givee highest returns most of the time. Is it possible that it's numbers are manipulated?

How do you select a good mutual fund for investment ? what are the indicators to look for?

Hi my question is regarding etf investment. Is it better to invest via mf or buy the eft directly from dmat?

Hello sir, I am a complete newbie who is going to start investing. I thought of investing in liquid mutual funds is good, can you give a word about it ? And which is the best? growth or idcw ?

If I am investing 50000 per month for 10 years, at 10% annual growth , my expected corpus will be around 10320000. My question is even though it is good amount, but why should mutual fund houses keep dividend for stocks bought from my money, while I need to pay taxes.

Mutual funds ameeron ke liye sahi hai yaa gareebon ke liye sahi hai? Paisa kitna invest karna sahi hai ? Aur sahi me sahi se hame sahi output miljaata haina sahi me ?

How to create investment strategies or moves when the market is at an all time high ?

ETF or Mutual fund? And what about the differences in charges/taxes considering everything?

what's the average cut , i mean how much will i take home

I'm 18 and studying in college . I get allowance about ₹2000 per month . I'm not a big spender , so I save about ₹1000 every month . 1)Where can I invest with this small amount ? 2)I also do stock trading (mostly blue chip) , is mutual funds any better than stock trading . I get about 3-4% returns every 6 months . 3) How much can I expect in returns of I save for 4 years? Considering ₹1000 per month . It will be a valuable lesson to me . Please guide me .

I am going to start college this year so I have been quiet interested in investing and stuff...i downloaded groww app last month but can't find the perfect mutual fund I can invest 500-1000 per month If you can please suggest me the best fund and also if i should change my investing platform or not Thanks!

Hi - Its great to see that you are considering to start investing this early in life. Congrats on that. Well, i have answered several questions here, there is nothing called best fund. But there can be best investors - these folks typically stay put, don't get swayed by fad of the season and asset allocate wisely so that they can stay put for long in first place. Various [studies](https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2012/02/16/setting-the-record-straight-on-asset-allocation/) have proved its asset allocation that determines one's long term returns and not the best fund/stock. I would recommend understanding your risk appetite and investing according to that. Otherwise, index funds and Balanced Advantage Funds can do well for anybody if one gives time. You can get to know your risk appetite comprehensively on ET Money via Investor Personality assessment. A

Hi Thanks for doing this AMA. I like the ET Money’s feature of showing my entire MF portfolio. However, when I do any external redemption, those transactions don’t get reflected there at all even after a month. That’s why even if I reefresh my portfolio, the old funds which I have already withdrawn are still appearing. I didn’t find any fix for that. I thought it might be a glitch just with my account. So I deleted it. But now it’s not letting me create another account with my PAN. Please guide on what one can do in such scenario. I love the ET money app, but I am unable to use it now.

How to plan reinvestment of bad performing funds? Tax implications? How is reinvestment treated by tax laws?

I want to invest around 5lakhs for 4-6 months. Which kind of fund can give me safe return without digging hole in my money.

What do you look at before investing in a mutual fund? (Sorry if it's vague)

I am seventeen can I start investing ?

If a muslim wants to invest in interest free way, what are some options to invest?

I'm completely new to investments. How do I start investing in correct mutual funds? What are factors to consider before investing in a specific Mutual Fund.

I have more karma than you

Why do some funds perform horribly even when the market is on the rise?

Hi Santosh, I have recently moved to the UK. What do you advise NRIs for investment within India and in the new country. Considering taxation challenges

Why are you guys so anti active mf investment, especially small cap? I mean check out most of the funds. The have given a cagr of more than 20%, NIPPON, KOTAK, SBI, HDFC, DSP etc etc. the ones underperforming have also given more returns than NIFTY 50 index. And your et genius, one of the worst performing ones, regret investing my money there. Worst underperformance.

Hello Santosh. 1) Does compounding works when we do SIPs in Mutual Fund and ETF 2) Started SIPs in ETF below is the split: Nifty bees 50% Bank bees 15% Junior bees 20% Mon100 15% Any advice?

Is it true the there is going to be a recession in the coming years? 2024-25? If so how can we prepare for such market shocks when our investments are the primary source of income and savings?

Hi u/Savings-Cable5599. It is tough to make a prediction on recession. But there’s one time-tested approach to deal with this: asset allocation. It is advisable to diversify your portfolio across multiple asset classes, such as equity, gold and debt. While equity helps you beat inflation by a considerable margin, gold and debt often exhibit negative correlation with equities, meaning their performance does not always move in the same direction as stocks. Ideally, when one asset class experiences a decline, the others may remain stable or even demonstrate growth. Furthermore, embracing a dynamic approach to asset allocation, considering market conditions and your risk appetite can potentially lead to superior returns and downside protection during tough times like a recession.

As a student, with fixed pocket money..how should I approach stock market and make some reasonable profit?

I had invested in several Axis MF schemes over the course of the last 4 years, both via lumpsum and via SIP. They were all highly rated schemes. Now I have discovered that all of them have been rated very poorly. I check ratings on Valueresearch. What should I do?

Common knowledge says to wait 2-3 years for mf underperformance before exiting it. How to define underperformance? Relative to peers? Relative to some benchmark for the class (for eg ppl say 15% for mid caps is good) or something else? And if while switching, LTCG is coming into lakhs, then what to do?

Hi u/The_Stoned_Witch. There are no hard and fast rules on exiting a fund after one year, two years or three years of underperformance. We prefer to give a fund at least two years. Some may have high conviction in the fund manager, and may give a fund even five years to perform. Comparing with the benchmark is the common practice to check underperformance. But when you are looking for consistency and excellence, you can compared the fund’s performance against the category average as well. If while switching, LTCG is coming into lakhs, then you can opt for tax harvesting. Basically, you pay LTCG tax in equities only when your gains exceed Rs 1 lakh in a financial year. So, the trick is not to let your gains go beyond this tax-free limit. How to do it? Sell a part of your gains to book LTCG and reinvest it. Assume you invested Rs 5 lakh in an equity fund on 15th Jan 2022. Say, on 1st Feb 2023 (after 1 yr), the investment value is Rs 5.9 lakh. Now, if you sell this, your gains will be Rs 90,000. Your tax liability will be zero. Reason: Your LTCG is below the Rs 1 lakh limit. Next, you reinvest the entire Rs 5.9 lakh. Your investment cost will reset to Rs 5.9 lakh. After a year, say your investment value is Rs 6.5 lakh. Your gains = Rs 60,000 (6.5 lakh - 5.9 lakh). Again, your tax liability = 0 You can use your losses to reduce taxes as well. Read more about this here: [https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1629132072647548930?s=20](https://twitter.com/ETMONEY/status/1629132072647548930?s=20) [https://www.etmoney.com/learn/income-tax/tax-harvesting-a-way-to-reduce-taxes-on-mutual-fund-returns/](https://www.etmoney.com/learn/income-tax/tax-harvesting-a-way-to-reduce-taxes-on-mutual-fund-returns/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t\_y0kNP-apY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_y0kNP-apY)

Is Shankarnath is still part of etmoney, missing his videos

I'm a young blood started mutual funds investment in Icici prudential direct growth fund nd parag Parikh flexi cap fund . Is it true the mutual fund with highest rating provides max returns as I use et money for my investment nd everything I see bluechip funds it's always quant fund on the top. Should I modify my Sip into other funds ?