Month: January 2023

HOW TO INVEST IN A MUTUAL FUND One can invest in mutual funds by submitting a duly completed application form alongwith a cheque or bank draft at the branch office or designated Investor Service Centres (ISC) of mutual Funds or Registrar & Transfer Agents of the respective the mutual funds. One may also choose to invest online through the websites of the respective mutual funds. Further, one may invest with the help of / through a financial intermediary i.e., a Mutual Fund Distributor registered with AMFI OR choose to invest directly i.e., without involving or routing the investment through any

WHAT ARE MUTUAL FUNDS? A mutual fund is a pool of money managed by a professional Fund Manager. It is a trust that collects money from a number of investors who share a common investment objective and invests the same in equities, bonds, money market instruments and/or other securities. And the income / gains generated from this collective investment is distributed proportionately amongst the investors after deducting applicable expenses and levies, by calculating a scheme’s “Net Asset Value” or NAV. Simply put, the money pooled in by a large number of investors is what makes up a Mutual Fund.

GOLD ETF A Gold ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that aims to track the domestic physical gold price. They are passive investment instruments that are based on gold prices and invest in gold bullion. In short, Gold ETFs are units representing physical gold which may be in paper or dematerialised form. One Gold ETF unit is equal to 1 gram of gold and is backed by physical gold of very high purity. Gold ETFs combine the flexibility of stock investment and the simplicity of gold investments.

WHAT IS FUND OF FUNDS (FOF)? FUND OF FUNDS (FOF) A ‘Fund Of Funds’ (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. An FOF Scheme of a primarily invests in the units of another Mutual Fund scheme. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment

WHAT IS AN ETF? EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (ETFS) An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. In the simple terms, ETFs are funds that track indexes such as CNX Nifty or BSE Sensex, etc. When you buy shares/units of an ETF, you are buying shares/units of a portfolio that tracks the yield and return of its native index. The main difference between ETFs and other types of index funds is that ETFs don’t try to outperform their corresponding index, but simply replicate

WHAT IS A ‘BALANCED FUND’ A balanced fund combines equity stock component, a bond component and sometimes a money market component in a single portfolio. Generally, these hybrid funds stick to a relatively fixed mix of stocks and bonds that reflects either a moderate, or higher equity, component, or conservative, or higher fixed-income, component orientation These funds invest in a mix of equities and debt, giving the investor the best of both worlds. Balanced funds gain from a healthy dose of equities but the debt portion fortifies them against any downturn. Balanced funds are suitable for a medium-term horizon and

WHAT IS LIQUID FUNDS? Liquid Funds, as the name suggests, invest predominantly in highly liquid money market instruments and debt securities of very short tenure and hence provide high liquidity. They invest in very short-term instruments such as Treasury Bills (T-bills), Commercial Paper (CP), Certificates Of Deposit (CD) and Collateralized Lending & Borrowing Obligations (CBLO) that have residual maturities of up to 91 days to generate optimal returns while maintaining safety and high liquidity. Redemption requests in these Liquid funds are processed within one working (T+1) day.

WHAT IS DEBT FUND? DEBT FUNDSIF YOU WANT TO AVOID THE MARKET FLUCTUATIONS OF EQUITY STOCKS AND ARE RISK-AVERSE, CONSIDER INVESTING IN DEBT-ORIENTED MUTUAL FUND SCHEMES. A debt fund is a mutual fund scheme that invests in fixed income instruments, such as Corporate and Government Bonds, corporate debt securities, and money market instruments etc. that offer capital appreciation. Debt funds are also referred to as Income Funds or Bond Funds. WHO SHOULD INVEST IN A DEBT FUND? Debt funds are ideal for investors who want regular income, but are risk-averse. Debt funds are less volatile and, hence, are less risky

WHAT IS AN ‘EQUITY FUND’ EQUITY FUNDS An equity fund is a mutual fund scheme that invests predominantly in equity stocks. In the Indian context, as per current SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, an equity mutual fund scheme must invest at least 65% of the scheme’s assets in equities and equity related instruments. An Equity Fund can be actively managed or passively managed. Index funds and ETFs are passively managed.

UNDERSTANDING RETURNS FROM MUTUAL FUNDS MEASURING PERFORMANCE While looking at a mutual fund scheme’s performance, one must not be led by the scheme’s return in isolation. A scheme may have generated 10% annualised return in the last couple of years. But then, even the market indices would have gone up in similar way during the same period. Under-performance in a falling market, i.e. when the NAV of the scheme falls more than its benchmark (or the market), is the time when you must review your investment. One must compare the scheme’s return as against its benchmark return.