I have been tracking Indian Stock markets since 2003, from my MBA days. I still remember about my first stock investment (in 2004) and how I lost my hard-earned money. My first investment was in Ashok Leyland scrip and sold it for a loss. I had invested in this stock without doing any research.
I lost money by doing day-trading (short-term trading) also. I have lost money trying to make a quick buck. I have burnt my figures and later realized that this is not the right way to invest in stocks. (I realized that Making your money work for you is not a Make Money Fast in Four Weeks crash course. It takes time.) (Read: ’10 reasons to avoid Short-Term Trading in Stock Markets’)
All this happened during 2004 to 2007. Fortunately, I was not fully invested in stocks during 2008 stock market crash. I did not predict the crash 🙂 . It was just coincidental.
During this period, I realized that the best way to create long-term wealth is by investing in Equity Mutual Funds. Initially invested in whole lot of schemes, panicked when NAVs fell, sold few schemes at knee-jerk reactions, made short-term capital losses….what not!
Since 2009, I have been following a more refined and balanced approach. Instead of analyzing ‘where to invest’, I started analyzing ‘why should I invest?’. Started giving more importance to identifying and setting realistic financial goals and then mapping right financial products (like mutual funds) to achieve the set goals.
Below is the investment planning process that I follow judiciously.
My Mutual Fund Portfolio
In this post, I would like to share the list of mutual funds that I have currently invested in.
I divide my goals into short, medium & long-term goals. My definition of investment horizon for my financial goals is, short term (less than 3 years), medium term (less than 3 -7 years) and long term (> 7 years).
Short-Term Financial Goals
I am holding Birla Sunlife MIP II Wealth 25 Plan (Growth) for the last one year. I have allocated this fund to one of my short-term goals. I had invested lump sum amount and have not created SIP. I prefer investing in this fund to fixed deposits. This fund has given returns of around 20% in the last one year, which is way beyond the returns that I would have got by investing in bank fixed deposits.
Medium-Term Financial Goals
For medium-term goals, I have invested in HDFC Balanced Fund and Birla Sunlife MIP II Wealth 25 fund. Holding these funds since 3 years. (Read my article on Top Balanced Funds)
Long-Term Financial Goals
For the goals which are after 7 years from now, I have allocated monies to TATA Balanced Fund (Plan A), Axis Long Term Equity Fund (ELSS fund for tax-saving) and UTI Mid-cap Fund. I have been holding TATA & UTI funds for the last 6 years or so. The percentage of allocation among these funds is 40:40:20 (UTI : Axis : TATA funds respectively).
SIPs are active for TATA Balanced fund & UTI Mid-cap fund. One of the thumb rules that I follow is, I buy additional units when broad indices (Sensex / Nifty) are below the 200 DMA (Day Moving Average). I am currently investing in ELSS fund manually (no SIP). (For Ex- Click here to view Simple Moving Averages of Nifty 50 Index.)
I have invested in the above list of mutual funds based on my financial goals. Also, you might have observed that I invest heavily in balanced funds. As of today, I am happy with my investment style and decisions.
Depending on your financial goals try to identify and invest in the best mutual funds. After all, we are talking about PERSONAL Finances, so customize and build your own mutual fund portfolio. You may read my article on ‘Top Equity Funds‘ to know about some of the top performing funds.
I have recently added (May-2016) ‘Franklin India Smaller Companies Fund – Monthly SIP‘ to my Long-Term MF Portfolio.
I have started making additional lump sum investments in Franklin Smaller Companies fund – (Updated on 14-Oct-2016)
What are your picks? How do you select mutual funds? Do you invest in mutual funds when market falls (or) do you prefer SIPs only? Share your views 🙂
Continue reading :
- What is Portfolio Tracking and Why Should I do it?
- Why your Best Mutual Fund Schemes may not remain as ‘the best’? | Categorization & Rationalization of MFs
- Mutual Fund Portfolio Overlap Comparison Tools
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Dear Srikanth,Kindly update on performance of funds in your portfolio.
have you partially booked or enter new funds after correction.
Reply.
Dear Mr Bansal,
I am making additional lump sum investments in funds like HDFC Hybrid Equity (balanced), Franklin Smaller Cos fund and Axis LTE fund.
And in Birla Tax relief ’96 fund – for my spouse’s tax planning and accumulation goal.
Thanks for your reply.In your view of instead of switching from Franklin smaller cos,it is better to invest lumpsump.
Dear Mr Bansal,
May I know, what do you mean by switching from..??
Dear sreekanth,
I have ongoing following sip started from June2017
1, ABSL Frontline equity fund Rs 10000
2,ICICI pru value discovery fund Rs 5000
3, HDFC Balance fund Rs 5000
4, HDFC midcap opportunity fund Rs 5000
5, ABSL small cap fund Rs 5000
My investment horizon is 10 to 15 years which is for my retirement corpus. My age is 40. I am also planning to add 20000 in SIP.
Can you please suggest and review my present portfolio.
Thanks & Regards,
Prasad
Dear Prasad,
You may continue with your investment plan.
Kindly read : Retirement Planning in 3 Easy steps
Hello Sreekanth,
Good Day !
I have ongoing SIP’s (12 K) in DSPBR Micro Cap fund which is now DSPBR small cap Fund for the last 2 yrs.
With Blackrock ending their partnership with DSP and top management changes at DSP etc……..what is your sincere opinion and advice?
Thanks & Regards,
Roy
Dear Roy,
Suggest you to continue with this fund for next 1 year or so and then decide. Do you hold any other Small-cap fund?
Dear Sreekanth,
I follow a goal based portfolio .As far as DSP small cap goes i have allocated:
7k-towards retirement with a 15-20 yr horizon
3k-towards a pilgrimage with a 8 yr horizon
2k-towards a important family celebartion with a 12 yr horizon
All the above sips have been active for the last 2 yrs.
I do hold franklin smaller co’s fund too:
3k-towards elder daughters PG with a horizon of 10 yrs(active since 3 yrs)
6k-towards younger daughters PG with a horizon of 15 yrs (active since 2 1/2 yrs)
Pls advise
Thanks & Regards,
Roy
Dear Roy,
Its ok to invest in these two small cap funds for your long term goals. However, it is prudent to diversify your investments (SIPs) across other fund categories as well like – Multi-cap, Hybrid funds etc.,
Related article : Best Mutual Funds to invest in 2018-19
Dear Sreekanth,
I do diversify my investments.Current split is 43:57 in favour of mid/small caps & Large/multi/hybrid/elss respectively.
Wanted to have a sense check on the mid/small caps which i have sips of 30 k per month for long term goals:
Hdfc midcap:9k
Franklin Smaller Co’s:9k
DSP small cap:12 k
Do you suggest i wait for a yr in the case of DSP small cap or allocate the same towards HDFC midcap and Franklin Smaller co’s or another fund category .
Thank you for the much awaited 2018/19 best mutual funds update.Neat and simplified explanation on the changes too.
Thanks & Regards,
Roy
Dear Roy,
I dint get your point – ‘Do you suggest i wait for a yr in the case of DSP small cap or allocate the same towards HDFC midcap and Franklin Smaller co’s or another fund category .’???
Dear Sreekanth,
Good morning!
What i meant was should i wait for a year or should i exit DSP small cap right away and allocate the ongoing DSP small cap SIP amount towards HDFC midcap and Franklin Smaller co’s or another mutual fund category altogether , keeping in mind a long term view.
Thank you and have nice day.
Thanks & Regards,
Roy
Dear roy,
You may allocate the funds to HDFC mid-cap, Franklin Smaller and any multi-cap fund that you have in your portfolio.
Thank you Sreekanth.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks & Regards,
Roy
Hi ,
There are several ways to invest in MF via online. They are
1) Through MF web sites like UTIMF, HDFCMF, Franklin websites.
2) Through Sharekhan
3) through Funds online, MF utility
4) camskra, karvy
All are very much confusing for a general investers like me.
Can you suggest which one is simple and easy to work – without fees
Work means –
1) Start SIP – (lumpsum+monthly + time to time purchase + Step SIP for the same sip)
2)Stop SIP
3)Switch SIP
I am looking/exploring – Sharekhan – is this good to solve these issues.
Thank you,
/shankha
Dear shankha,
You may open your account with MF Utility and just create a normal SIP (monthly).
Hi Sreekanth,
I closely follow your concept of investing.
Since market in the last 7 month have gone down and then up by 20% do you still make addition lumpsum to franklin smaller or do you suggest to switch for balance/multi cap?
If you have change anything in your portfolio then kindly let us know so follower like us can better understand about it. Do you still make lumpsum in franklin smaller?
I am having SIP in HDFC balance, franklin smaller, DSP BR micro, HDFC mid cap, Axis ELSS, ICICI pru value discovery and I would like to have some additional lumpsum investment, I am waiting from last 1.5 month but market keep on going up and up, making me more nervous with my lumpsum investment
Dear Prem,
I have currently active SIP for Mid & Small Cap funds.
And, I am making lump sum (additional) investments only in Balanced fund, as of now (last few months).
I am following your blog for quite sometime..Been helpful alot..I would like you to review my mutual funds portfolio..
1) Reliance small cap fund (g) -5k
2)birla SL dynamic bond fund(g)-3k
3)icici Pru value discovery fund (g)-3k
4)kotak select focus fund (g)-2k
5)mirae asset emerging blue chip fund (g) -2k
Thnks ..
Dear Albert .. Looks fine, may I know your time-frame??
Thanks so much..May be 6-7 years..
Hi sreekanth,
I have invested in the following for my goals:
1. short term (2014) 1 – 3 years: birla sunlife mip II wealth 25
2. Medium term(2013) 3-7 years: hdfc balanced fund
Now 4 years have passed, now my medium term goal has become short term goal, should i sell by hdfc balanced fund and shift the money to birla sunlife mip?
I would like to know how do you rebalance your portfolio?
Dear Rajesh ..Are you planning to withdraw the accumulated amount? (by when ??)
Hi Sreekanth,
Your blogs have always been very informative. Indebted to you for them.
Sreekanth, can you kindly please suggest me investment tools for my investment time horizon of 2-3 years for the following cases:
1. I want to invest monthly for 2-3 years regularly.
2. Make a lumpsum investment now, which I would use after maturity in 2-3 years.
Thanks…
Actually Sreekanth I want the money to plan my marriage in 2-3 years. So i want the money in one lot.
Dear Bishwadeep,
1 – You may consider Short term debt fund and one Conservative MIP Fund.
2 – You may consider Aggressive MIP fund, and remain invested for 2 years, then in 3rd year you may switch to Short term debt fund or Ultra short term debt fund, depending on the fund’s performance and your requirements.
Kindly read:
Types of Debt funds.
Best Debt funds.
Best Arbitrage funds.
Best MF MIP funds.
Thanks a lot Sreekanth…
Hi Vipin,
Great article! Kudos for such informative articles.
I just want to check whether I am going right or is there scope for recalibration in my holdings?
Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund – Growth 2K/month
DSP Black Rock Micro Cap Fund – Regular Plan – Growth 2K/month
Franklin India Smaller Companies Fund – Growth 2K/month
Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund – Growth 2K/month
ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund – Growth 2K/month
Total – 10K/month
Investing horizon – 5-6 years
Risk appetite- High
Age 26
Plus I hold lumpsum in Canara Robeco Emerging Equities – Regular Plan – Growth & L&T India Value Fund – Regular Plan – Growth of about Rs. 20K.
Is there change required due to demonetization? Or should I continue like this?
Thanks
Dear Faisal,
Good ones. Kindly remain invested.
Read:
Best Equity funds to invest in 2017-18.
MF portfolio overlap analysis tools.
How to select right mutual fund scheme?
Hi Sree,
Season’s Greetings!
I am an avid reader of your blogs. I have started investing in equity mutual funds from this financial year. My horizon is 10-15 years from now.
For debt, I depend on PPF , EPF and NPS.
My portfolio allocation is as follows:
ELSS : 15% (Franklin India Tax Shield )
Large Cap : 20% (SBI Blue Chip and Quantum LTE)
Diversified : 25% (ICICI Pru Value Discovery and Franklin India High Growth Companies)
Mid and Small Cap : 35% (Mirae AEB, BSL Pure Value,Franklin India Smaller Cos and DSP Blackrock Mirco Cap)
Balanced : 5% (ICICI Pru Balanced Fund).
All the funds are in direct – growth option. My SIP : Lumpsum ratio is 70:30 . I invest in Lumpsum whenever some black swan incident happens (e.g. surgical strike by India against PAK) or when the indices run near or below 200 DMA (e.g. now).
I had initially opted for many funds without prudence(Total list was 15), but finally I have trimmed down to these 10 active funds. However, I am persisting with the holdings in those discontinued funds for the time being without any fresh investments.
Regarding the overlap , Franklin India Tax Shield has around 35% with SBI Bluechip but all other funds have around 10-20% overlap with other funds in the same category.
But in spite of my efforts, I have around 2% loss (CAGR of 4.3% as of 20.12.16) in my portfolio 🙁 Can you please provide your valuable opinion ?
Thanks in Advance,
Sayak
Please read the CAGR as -4.3% in my original post.
Dear Sayak,
As you have been in the market for less than a year, kindly dont worry too much about the negative returns, as your investment horizon is 10+ years.
If you are holding Duds in your portfolio, identify them and switch to your active funds.
I somehow feel that even 10 funds are on the higher side (number of funds). But if you have conviction, kindly stick to your analysis.
Hello Sir/Mam,
I am 32 yrs old business person, hence I do lumpsum investment rather than SIP, whenever possible in these funds as suggested below with mentioned portfolio and divide the lumpsum investment in the following Funds as per the mentioned %age . I prefer PPF instead of ELSS fund , hence I haven’t included ELSS Fund in my portfolio .
Is my portfolio good ???
Please advise me so that I can improve my portfolio…
My goals are long term, 10-15 yrs
% Allocation Class FUND
===================================================
35 % Large Cap
====================================================
————- A) 18 % SBI Bluechip Fund
————–B) 17 % Birla Sunlife Frontline Equity Fund
=====================================================
20 % Mid Cap Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Equity Fund
=====================================================
20 % Small Cap
====================================================
————-A) 10 % DSP Black Rock Microcap Fund
————-B)10 % Frankline India Smaller Companies Fund
====================================================
10 % Multi cap ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund
====================================================
15 % Balanced HDFC or ICICI Pru Balanced Fund
====================================================
Dear Jeshal ..All the funds are good ones. You may check portfolio overlap among these funds.