Investing: Your MF queries answered

Are you investing in mutual funds for the short-term or long-term?
Whatever your time horizon, do you know which are the best MFs to invest in?

Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries:

Anant Joshi: I have Rs. 10 Lakhs right now. I want to invest it for 10 + years time horizon. STP route favourable. Kindly advise me the fund which may be selected. I am aggressive investor. 

Omkeshwar Singh:

Mahantesh Gogi: I have invested in below mutual funds via SIP from 3 years and will continue the investment another 7 years. I have not attached any goals as of now to any mutual funds and will soon attach some goals like education and travel etc. Need to know whether the selected mutual funds are good and can be continued for another 7 years from now? 

My risk profile is moderate.

My funds are as follows: 

1) Franklin India Focused Equity Fund(G) - 3000 per month 

2) HDFC Hybrid Equity Fund(G) - 3000 per month 

3) ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund(G) - 3000 per month 

4) Kotak Standard Multicap Fund(G) - 4000 per month 

5) Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) - 4000 per month.

Omkeshwar Singh:

Alban: I would appreciate your advise/strategy with regard to the following mutual fund units currently held in my portfolio.

1. Sundaram Services Funds Regular Plan.

2. L&T Hybrid Equity Fund Growth

3. Kotak Equity Hybrid Fund Regular Plan Growth

4. Kotak Standard Multicap Fund Regular Plan Growth

5. Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund Regular Plan Growth

6. Kotak Credit Risk Fund Regular Plan Growth

Omkeshwar Singh:

Lakshmikant Patwari: If SIP investment in leading small caps gives about 15% return for more than 15 yr., can I invest Rs. 1,000/- for only 1 yr. & stop thereafter? What would be my total accumulated corpus at the end of 15th yr.? Can I do so, ie invest & forget for 15 years & then encash?

Omkeshwar Singh: Scheme Name missing; Small Caps not recommended for regular Retail Investors; instead diversified Equity Funds should be considered.

Shubham Bisht: Need advice for long term portfolio building. 

I am 26 (single) and earn roughly 2.35 Lacs per month (take home). I don't have any pending loan/EMI. 

As of now, I have 10 Lakh investment in Equity Mutual fund. Current portfolio is distributed as: 

1. Large cap: 60%

2. Mid Cap: 28%

3. Small Cap: 8% (Rest is Debt and others) 

My updated SIP amount is 1 lakh per month. Increased the SIP amount in the last 5 months. Few mutual funds where I am heavily invested: 

- Mirae asset bluechip: 25k SIP

- Axis Bluechip: 28k SIP

- Axis long term: 11k SIP

- SBI focussed equity - 10k SIP

- Edelweiss greater China equity - 10k SIP

- Motilal Oswal Nasdaq 100 fof - 5k SIP

- Then ELSS funds (DSP BlackRock, ABSL) - 6k SIP

- SBI small cap - 5k SIP

Also, I have 9 lakh in my FFD bank account where I get roughly 6% interest rate. 

Am I on the right track or should I change my portfolio allocation? Please suggest.

Omkeshwar Singh:

Ashok Sunar: DOB: Dec 21 1983; Profession: Service - Middle Management; Gross Monthly Income: Rs 1,14,000. Any general rule for investing?

Omkeshwar Singh: Follow 5:15:50 rule, that is, Invest in short Term Debt 5% of monthly salary for emergency fund,  15% of the monthly salary to be invested in Equity / Hybrid for Retirement corpus, not more than 50% should be living expense.

Remaining 30% of Monthly Salary can be used for creating corpus for Children Career and marriage, House, Vehicle, Holidays, Early Retirement ..

Shankha Sen: Age-37. I am investing in mutual funds since Nov 2018. I am investing Rs 20000 per month in SIPs. I will increase my SIPs by 10-15% every year. Kindly suggest regarding how is my portfolio.

Goals:

I want Rs. 40 lakhs after 10 years in 2030 for my son’s education who is now 7 years old.

I want to accumulate Rs 3.5 to Rs 4 crores for my retirement corpus by March 2043 after 23 years & can I expect 12-13% returns from my these funds till 2043?

My portfolio:

• Parag parikh LTE–Multicap – 5000
• Kotak standard multicap- 5000
• SBI Small cap – 5000
• Mirae asset Midcap – 5000 (Total Rs 20000/month -SIP)

Also doing topups of Rs 1000-1500 during nifty50 falls

Kindly suggest which focused multicap is the best among these two (axis focused 25 or sbi focused equity)? I will increase my SIPs by 10-15% every year. At present my net loss is around -19% after 1 year 4 months of mutual fund investing. I am also willing to take risk to beat the rising inflation especially after my retirement in year 2043 march month.

Omkeshwar Singh:  

With 10% to 15% increase annually, both goals are mostly achievable with a possibility of decent surplus over these goals.

Goal – 40 lakh after 10 years– Achievable

Goal – 3.5 to 4 Crs after 23 years – Achievable

Saurabh Nandanwar: I am investing in MF via fund advisor. They have proposed me all below regular MF plan. Can you please suggest what should I do in this situation? Shall I SmartSwitch all my MF to direct plan?. Currently I have below MF in my portfolio.

1) HDFC top 100

2) L&T emerging business fund

3) Nippon India growth fund - Large Cap

4) Nippon Small Cap fund

5) Franklin India Equity Fund

All above MF are in regular plan. I am looking for long term investment. Please suggest.

Also suggest if all above MFs are good or need to make any changes to it.

Omkeshwar Singh:

Vipul Choudhari: I had invested in below mentioned mutual fund through monthly SIP mode.

1. Franklin India Smaller Companies Fund GROWTH - Rs. 3000 (-16.5%)
2. HDFC MID-CAP OPPORTUNITIES FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH - Rs. 30000 (-9.1%)
3. SBI BLUE CHIP FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH - Rs. 40000 (-9.8%)

It has been 20 months now and returns are down by (-11.6%).

Please guide should i change the Mutual fund or Hold. Investment horizon is 10 Years.

For any additional information please revert.

Omkeshwar Singh:

Arpit Garg: I had started two SIPs of 2k each in HDFC MID-CAP OPPORTUNITIES FUND AND HDFC TOP 100 FUND in August 2017, both of which didn't perform well and I stopped the SIP in March 2020. I had also invested a Lumpsum of 1 lakh in HDFC CORPORATE BOND FUND in December 2017.

I have also started a SIP of 10k for 10 month in SBI small cap fund in March 2020.

I would like to ask which funds should I prefer for long term investment. When shall I withdraw money from HDFC MID-CAP and Top 100 funds? Also for long shall I continue HDFC CORPORATE BOND FUND as now the NAV has started falling?

Omkeshwar Singh:

Vangapandu Haranathbabu: I AM INVESTING MONTHLY RS.2000 EACH IN THE FOLLOWING MUTUAL FUNDS

1) KOTAK STANDARD MULTICAP FUND  GROWTH

2) KOTAK CORPORATE BOND FUND REGULAR 

SHALL I CONTINUE OR EXIT. KINDLY ADVISE.

Omkeshwar Singh:

Anil Kumar Joshi: I will be 60 soon. Can you suggest me good MF with decent returns? I can stay with the funds for 5 years plus and will be single payment (lumpsum).

Omkeshwar Singh: Divide the corpus in 4 parts and invest equally into the below schemes

a)    Sbi Magnum Gilt Fund Regular Growth

b)   Hdfc Banking And Psu Debt Fund -Growth

c)    Icici Prudential Corporate Bond Fund - Growth

d)   ICICI Balanced Advantage Fund Regular Plan - Growth

Varun Chopra: I have following MFs (Growth) in my portfolio for some of them SIP is executed currently per month and for others SIP duration has expired. Am a long term investor with preference to SIP, kindly guide if I need to withdraw from one fund for investment in other fund and if the funds for which am paying SIP amount is to be continued or stopped.

1. Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity advantage Fund

2. BNP Paribas Midcap

3. DSP Equity Opportunities Fund

4. DSP Midcap Fund

5. DSP US Flexible Equity Fund

6. Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund

7. HDFC Equity Fund

8. HDFC Hybrid Equity Fund

9. HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund

10. HDFC Small Cap Fund

11. ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund

12. ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Fund

13. Invesco India Contra Fund

14. Kotak Emerging Equity Fund

15. Kotak Standard Multicap Fund

16. L&T Emerging Business Fund

17. L&T India Value Fund

18. L&T Midcap Fund

19. Mirae Asset Focused Fund

20. Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund

21. Motilal Oswal Multicap 35 Fund

22. Nippon India Growth

23. Nippon India Liquid Fund

24. Nippon India Power & Infra Fund

25. Principal Emerging Bluechip Fund

26. SBI Bluechip Fund

27. Tata Digital India Fund

28. Tata Equity PE Fund

29. Axis Blue-chip Fund

Monthly SIP amounting 27000 is going for below funds (they are included in above details):

1. DSP US Flexible Equity Fund - 1500

2. Mirae Asset Focused Fund - 2000

3. Tata Digital India Fund - 1500

4. ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Fund - 1500

5. DSP US Flexible Equity Fund - 1500

6. BNP Paribas Midcap - 4000

7. HDFC Small Cap Fund - 4000

8. Kotak Emerging Equity Fund - 4000

9. L&T Midcap Fund - 4000

10. Nippon India Growth – 4000

Omkeshwar Singh: TOO MANY FUNDS – not more than 4-6 schemes should be consolidated into.

Meenugu Anil: I am investing RS.3200 in the following Mutual Funds.

• SBI magnum multicap fund direct growth -- 500 RS
• Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund DG - 1000 RS
• SBI small-cap DG - 500
• ICICI Prudential Nifty Next 50 Index DG 200Rs
• Nippon India Small-Cap -- 500RS
• HDFC Small Cap - 500 RS

Can I continue the above investment for the next 15 years, I am expecting a corpus. Amount of 50 Lakh. Risk: moderate 

Q: Can I continue above MF for the Next 15Years or Need any changes in MF Kindly Suggest

Q: Currently above MF is giving -20 Returns is it right time to pause or Continue with current mutual Fund still it gives +ve Return

Omkeshwar Singh:

If you want Mr Singh's advice on your mutual fund investments, please mail your questions to getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject line, Mutual Fund Query, along with your name, and he will offer his unbiased views.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com