Are you always at a loss while planning your finances? Are you aware of the investment options available in the market?
How best can you plan your finances?
What are the crieria for evaluating an investment option?
Are mutual funds profitable investment options? When and how should one buy mutual funds?
In an hour-long chat on rediff.com on Wednesday, financial planning expert Sailesh Multani offered some valuable tips. Here is the transcript:
Sailesh says, Goodafternoon everyone, lets start the chat sessioncnu asked, is gold price will raise/down in future?
Sailesh answers, at 2009-06-10 12:39:19hi, in my view evey investor should have 10-15% allocation to gold. Gold is considered to be a hedge against inflation and does well in times of financial crisis as we have seen the recent past. Stock markets have been moving up indicating that investors are willing to take risk. Hence the demand for gold will reduce. But that is not the reason one should sell gold. I beleive that we will see inflation moving up in the next few quarters which means gold prices will move up
vm asked, Hi Sailesh, I have been investing in Franklin india prima fund on SIP basis...based on its results should I continue to invest or should I shift. I have been investing in this from last 4 years on Rs 2000/ per month
Sailesh answers, hi, Franklin India Prima Plus is a good fund. If your overall portfolio is balanced then you can continue with the same. If its too concentrated in one scheme then I would advise you consider another fund like HDFC Top 200
suryakanth asked, i want to invest 5 lacks for long term of 5 years plz sugeest
Sailesh answers, hi, from 5 years point of view equity is one of the best option. But you should be willing to live with volatility associated with stock markets. I would like you to divide your portfolio between equity debt and gold with equity having maximum allocation and gold the least.
kotesh asked, I am investing in hDfc too 200 growth fund and Dsp Block rock fundnerly 10000/-month .Shall I continue or drop advise.where I can invest? KOTESH
Sailesh answers, hi, both the funds are good and you can continue your SIPs in the same.
vivek asked, I want to start SIP in mutual fund .Pls guide me
Sailesh answers, hi, I am assuming you are looking at investiing in equity funds. I would recommend that you invest in large cap biased funds with well managed and diversified portfolios. You can consider funds like Franklin India Bleuchip and HDFC Top 200 among others to start with.
madhavi asked, I want to invest in gold, please suggest good gold ETF / Mutual Funds... it is good if i invest in SIP mode
Sailesh answers, hi, you can consider Quantum Gld Fund because of its low expense ratios and tracking error. Since you will be investing in an ETF there is no SIP availalbe but you can have a disciplined approach whereby you can commit to invest a fixed amount of money in gold etf every month.
Rohit asked, Hi Mr. Multani, I want to invest rs 5000 pm for over next 25 years. Is there any plan in which i can get 10-12% recurring retursn, I do not prefer the equity component in my invesment. Pls suggest !
Sailesh answers, hi, average annual return of 10-12% p.a. is possible only from a portfolio which has a mix equity and debt. Equity over 15 to 20 years can give retruns in the range of 12-15% and debt can be 6-7%. Since your investment horizon is 25 years I would recommmend that you invest in equity. You should consider investing via the mutual fund route
Alok asked, Hi Sailesh..I wanna invest 70000/- per annum for 20 years..I am looking for minimum of 12% per annum return..can u suggest me any fund/investment to get my expectations fulfilled ?
Sailesh answers, hi, the best opption can be equity funds. Since your investment horizon is 20 years, historically the avearge returns form equity over 20 years have been in the range of 15-17%. I would recommend that you also have small allocation (20-25%)to debt as well.
chittaranjan asked, i am N.R.I, I WANT TI INVEST FOR MY RETIREMENT PORTFOLIO, WHERE SHOULD I INVEST(I AM 32 YRS OLD,SINGLE)
Sailesh answers, hi, the answer to your question lies in preparing a retirement plan for yourself. The retirement plan will give you an idea about how much corpus you will need to have at the time of retirement, the amount of monthly/ annual investment you should make to reach your goal. It will also suggest you the asset allocation you need to have for each year of investment
Shantanu asked, Hi, I am investing SIP 1000/- pm in ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Growth Fund from past 6 months for the period of 3 years. Is this investment worth for such period. How to choose good stock for long term investment in stock market.
Sailesh answers, hi, for infrastructure funds you should have an investment horizon of atleast 5 years. Ideally you should invest in diversified equity funds as against infrastucture fund which is a thematic fund and will do well as long as the underlying sectors do well
Neha asked, Hello Sailesh! I have often heard experts telling two things at the same time and I am confused. I am new in the world of shares and Mutual funds and have invested 1 lac in only MF at this stage. The first thing i hear in common is always make investment for long period (atleast 5 years). At the same time people say BOOK YOUR PROFITS. My query is to when to book profits and when to stay invested. I am confused. Please help!
Sailesh answers, hi, if your returns from equity investments are in excess of the expected returns then you should book profits. Say for example your expectation from equity funds is 15% and the actual return is 30%, in my view you should consider booking profit to the extent of excess 15% (30%-15%.
shashi30 asked, hi, i want to exit from current market and re-enter , is it ok ?
Sailesh answers, hi, you are taliking about market timing which no investor has ever got it right. First your call regarding the exit has to be corrrect and then your call regarding the re-entry has to be right. You may get it right once but not always. In my view you should not exit and re-enter to gain from any small correction that may happen. If its on account of asset allocation rebalancing,then you may exit irrespective of the index level
urnasshole asked, Sailesh, which class of MF will be most suitable for investment for a period of 3 years
Sailesh answers, hi, in my view you should have a mix of balanced funds and MIPs in your portfolio for investment horizon of 3 years.
GOPAL asked, Dear sir , i have purchased lots of mutual fund with growth option . now i want to change all these funds into dividend reinvestment.whether i will get more unit compared to my current growth unit.whether it will be fruitful in long run
Sailesh answers, hi, I would not recommend that you shift from growth to dividend reinvestment. There will be no impact on the returns. Exiting from growth option to dividend reinvestment will involve paying an exit load, STT and may be tax implications.
Raaaaa asked, I want to invest in Reliance Infrastructure Fund by SIP. Is is good ?
Sailesh answers, hi, in my view stick to diversified equity funds rather than a thematic fund. Thematic funds are not very well diversified and their performance depends on the performance of the sectors that make the theme.
nayakamaal asked, Hi I have very high risk appetite & so I invested my all saving close to 6L in stock directly.The reason is obviously to make very high return.Is this correct allocation & for how long shall I keep invested in the same. Thanks
Sailesh answers, hi, it is always prudent to have your investments spread across various asset classes like equity, debt, gold and property. You have invested all your savings into equities which is certainly not the best strategy. Your aim should be to optiimise your returns as against maximise the same. Equity investment requires minimum time horizon of 5 years
vk asked, hi shailesh what should be best SIP for childrens.
Sailesh answers, hi, for building an investment corpus for your children to take care of their future expenditure on education/marriage etc. you can build a portfolio of equity and debt funds.
subrahmanya asked, Hi, I have invested Rs 1500000 in mutual funds, what is the equity/debt mix I should have. I am 31 years old
Sailesh answers, hi, the thumb rule is 100 minus your age should be in equity. Going by the same rule your exposure to equity should be 70% and 30% in debt. However, this is just a starting point and the actual mix will depend upon various factors like your family back ground, job security, overall financial condition among others,
Hemansu asked, Hi,Could you please suggest top MFs to invest in, for longer returns? Thanks
Sailesh answers, hi, you can consider funds like HDFC Equity, Franklin India Flexicap, Sundaram Select Focus and HSBC Equity among others
rockysays asked, Hi Sailesh, Currently I am paying 55000Rs per annum for my lic endowment plan and rest I am saving in elss/nsc. Should I close my endowment and go for term plan ? I am 28 years old
Sailesh answers, hi, ideally term plan is the best type of insurance. You get more sum assured for significantly lower premium. I would recommend that you consider surrendering your endowmment plan and opt for term plan.
GARY asked, HI I HAVE INVESTED IN REL GROWTH, DSPML TOP 100, HDFC TOP200, SBI MAGNUM TAX GAIN FOR LAST 2 YEARS. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I NEED TO CHANGE STRATEGY
Sailesh answers, hi, except for SBI Magnum Taxgain, hold on to the existing schemes.
Sailesh says, thank you all for participating in the chat session. If you have any query please mail them to: info@personalfn.com
