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Nikunj

Nikunj Saraf  | Answer  |Ask -

Mutual Funds Expert - Answered on Nov 10, 2022

Nikunj Saraf has more than five years of experience in financial markets and offers advice about mutual funds. He is vice president at Choice Wealth, a financial institution that offers broking, insurance, loans and government advisory services. Saraf, who is a member of the Institute Of Chartered Accountants of India, has a strong base in financial markets and wealth management.... more
Chandan Question by Chandan on Nov 10, 2022Hindi
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Hi sir, please give me your expert opinion to build corpus of 2-3 cr in next 15 year with 60K of monthly MF SIPs (or STPs) in all categories. Also lump sum of around 10Lakh, what are the options to invest in MF for long term up to 20 years to help my daughter for her education, marriage etc.

Ans: Hello Chandan. It looks like you're headed in the right direction with your 2CR corpus and SIP vision.

For your child's education and marriage, I recommend investing via STP rather than lump sum to take advantage of future market volatility. Consider flexi, mid, and small cap categories for STP/SIP.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this post by the expert is the personal view of the rediffGURU. Users are advised to pursue the information provided by the rediffGURU only as a source of information to be as a point of reference and to rely on their own judgement when making a decision.
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Omkeshwar

Omkeshwar Singh  | Answer  |Ask -

Head, Rank MF - Answered on Apr 05, 2022

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I hv just started my investment in MFs. I am 24yrs and want to make a corpus of Rs. 3 to 4 Cr by investing in MFs in 20 to 25 yrs. Pls guide me how can I achieve my target. DSP MID CAP Rs 5KCANARA ROBECO EMERGING (R) G Rs 5K AXIS MID CAP Rs 3K SBI FOCUSED EQUITY (R) G Rs 5K ICICI PRU FLEXICAP G Rs 5K AXIS ESG FUND Rs 10K I CAN ALSO INVEST IN LUMP SUM OF RS. 2.00LAC. Looking forward to your advice. Omkeshwar Singh Please continue and yes you may invest Rs. 2 lakh as lump sum proportionally in all the above funds. Abhsihek Sarin: This is in regards to your Ask MF Guru section on Rediff.com. Requesting your advice on and review of the following investments. I have recently started a mutual fund portfolio at age 25, with monthly SIPs totalling Rs 8500, and targeting a total monthly investment of Rs 10000. The mutual funds I have currently invested in are: Aditya Birla Sun Life Corporate Bond Fund Direct Growth - Rs 3000 monthly SIP Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund Direct Growth - Rs 1500 monthly SIP Axis Small Cap Find Direct Growth - Rs 1500 monthly SIP ICICI Prudential Technology Direct Plan Growth - Rs 2500 monthly SIP Risk appetite is very high; annual step up is targeted at 15% and the aim is to achieve Rs 1cr corpus in 15 years from today i.e. age 40. Please review the above investments, and also suggest a moderate risk mutual fund to invest the remaining Rs 1500.
Ans: Portfolio is fine and it's good that you have started investing early. For moderate risk you may look at hybrid funds in balanced advantage category.

..Read more

Ramalingam

Ramalingam Kalirajan  |10872 Answers  |Ask -

Mutual Funds, Financial Planning Expert - Answered on Oct 03, 2024

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Hi, I am 47 years old and have been investing in MF’s since age of 29. My current valuation of MF’s is 1.6 Cr. Below are my SIP’s details – I do step up of around 5000-8000 every year. My goal is to have a corpus of Rs. 5 Cr at age of 60. Kindly suggest if with current investments I can achieve the goal and also suggest if I need to change any MF schemes. Fund SIP Canararob Small Cap 4000 Dsp Small Cap 5000 Edelweisis Flexi 6000 Franklin Focussed 2000 Hdfc Mid Cap 2000 Mirae Multicap 5000 Mirae Midcap 13000 Mirae Large and Midcap 9000 Nippon Multicap 17500 Franklin India Opportunities 4000 Bank of India Flexicap 4000 Total 66500 Regards, Nitin M
Ans: Nitin, you've done a commendable job investing in mutual funds from the age of 29. You have built a substantial corpus of Rs 1.6 crore. Investing Rs 66,500 monthly, along with regular step-ups, shows your commitment to long-term wealth building. Your goal of Rs 5 crore by the age of 60 is achievable, but it requires a careful analysis of your current portfolio and projections.

Let’s break down the strategy and see if adjustments are needed.

Current SIPs Overview
Here are your SIP details:

Canara Robeco Small Cap: Rs 4,000
DSP Small Cap: Rs 5,000
Edelweiss Flexicap: Rs 6,000
Franklin Focused: Rs 2,000
HDFC Midcap: Rs 2,000
Mirae Multicap: Rs 5,000
Mirae Midcap: Rs 13,000
Mirae Large and Midcap: Rs 9,000
Nippon Multicap: Rs 17,500
Franklin India Opportunities: Rs 4,000
Bank of India Flexicap: Rs 4,000
Total monthly investment: Rs 66,500.

Let's first check if your current portfolio aligns with your Rs 5 crore goal.

Goal Achievement: Will You Reach Rs 5 Crore by 60?
You have 13 years left to achieve your goal, from age 47 to 60. You’re currently investing Rs 66,500 per month, and you also increase your SIPs by Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 annually.

Considering an average return of 10-12% per year from your mutual funds, and taking into account your step-up plan, you should comfortably achieve your Rs 5 crore target by age 60. But to ensure consistent growth, your portfolio should be well-diversified and structured.

Projections:

Your current SIPs, along with annual step-ups, should grow your corpus significantly over the next 13 years.
You’re likely on track for your Rs 5 crore goal, assuming stable market conditions and continued step-up.
Assessing Portfolio Diversification
1. Overlap in Funds

You hold several mid-cap and multicap funds, which could lead to overlap. For example, your Mirae Midcap and HDFC Midcap funds might hold similar stocks. It’s important to avoid too many funds in the same category to prevent redundancy and excessive risk exposure.

Suggested Action: Trim the number of overlapping funds. Keep one or two solid midcap funds instead of multiple, and the same for flexicap/multicap funds.

2. Excessive Exposure to Small Caps?

You have Rs 9,000 in small-cap funds (Canara Robeco Small Cap and DSP Small Cap). Small caps are more volatile and can swing widely based on market conditions. While small-cap funds have high growth potential, they also carry higher risk.

Suggested Action: Keep a balance between small, mid, and large caps. Limit small-cap exposure to no more than 10-15% of your total portfolio to reduce volatility risk.

Step-Up Strategy: Continue or Adjust?
Your current step-up of Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 per year is an excellent strategy. It ensures that your investments grow in line with your income and inflation. I suggest continuing this step-up approach as it will help you reach your Rs 5 crore goal faster.

Portfolio Simplification and Trim
With 11 funds in your portfolio, there is room to streamline for better management and performance tracking.

Suggested Action: Reduce your portfolio to around 6-8 funds. You don’t need to hold too many funds. Focus on the best performers across categories like large-cap, mid-cap, and flexi-cap.

Tax Efficiency and Fund Management
When selling mutual funds in the future, keep the tax implications in mind:

Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG): Above Rs 1.25 lakh is taxed at 12.5% for equity mutual funds.
Short-Term Capital Gains (STCG): Are taxed at 20%.
Given your long-term horizon, focus on funds that offer strong long-term growth potential and avoid frequent churn to minimize tax impact.

Active Management vs Passive Funds
Since you haven’t mentioned index or direct funds, let me briefly explain why actively managed funds are preferable in your case.

Active Funds: Offer potential for better returns as fund managers actively pick stocks.
Passive Funds: Like index funds, simply track the index and may underperform during market downturns.
Stick with actively managed funds, especially those overseen by experienced fund managers, to give your portfolio a better chance of outperforming the market.

Term Insurance and Other Investments
While it wasn’t mentioned, if you don’t have a term insurance plan, consider getting one. Term insurance provides financial protection for your family in case of any unfortunate event and is cost-effective.

Suggested Action: Secure a term insurance plan if you don’t already have one. Avoid mixing insurance with investments like ULIPs, as they don’t offer optimal returns.

Additional Recommendations
Diversify Across Asset Classes: Consider adding some debt or hybrid mutual funds to your portfolio. These will act as a cushion during market downturns and provide stability.

Emergency Fund: Keep at least 6-12 months of living expenses in a liquid or short-term debt fund as an emergency fund. This ensures you won’t need to redeem your equity investments during market corrections.

Final Insights
Your current portfolio is on the right track to achieve the Rs 5 crore target by age 60. However, simplifying the number of funds, balancing risk with diversification, and continuing your step-up strategy will help you stay on track. Focus on strong-performing funds, limit small-cap exposure, and ensure you have a balanced mix of large, mid, and multi-cap funds.

Lastly, keep an eye on market performance and review your portfolio annually to make adjustments if needed.

Best Regards,

K. Ramalingam, MBA, CFP,
Chief Financial Planner,
www.holisticinvestment.in
https://www.youtube.com/@HolisticInvestment

..Read more

Latest Questions
Ramalingam

Ramalingam Kalirajan  |10872 Answers  |Ask -

Mutual Funds, Financial Planning Expert - Answered on Dec 06, 2025

Asked by Anonymous - Dec 06, 2025Hindi
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Dear Sir/Ma'am, I need some guidance and advice for continuing my mutual fund investments. I am a 36 year old male, married, no kids yet and no debts/liabilities as such. I have couple of savings in PPF, NPS, Emergency funds and long term investing in direct stocks. I recently started below mentioned SIPs for long term to grow wealth. Request you to review the same and let me know if I should continue with the SIPs or need to rationalize. Kindly also advice on how to invest a lumpsum amount of around 6lacs. invesco small cap 2000 motilal oswal midcap 2700 parag parikh flexicap 3000 HDFC flexicap 3100 ICICI prudential largecap 3100 HDFC large and midcap 3100 HDFC gold etf FOF 2000 ICICI Pru equity and debt fund 3000 HDFC balanced advantage fund 3000 nippon india silver etf FOF 2000
Ans: You already built a solid foundation. Many investors delay planning. But you started early at 36. That gives you a strong advantage. You have no liabilities. You have long term thinking. You also have diversified savings like PPF, NPS, Emergency funds and direct stocks. That shows clarity and discipline. This approach builds wealth with less stress over time.

You also started systematic investments in equity funds. That is a positive step. Your selection covers multiple categories like large cap, mid cap, small cap, flexi cap, hybrid and precious metals. So the intent is right. You are trying to create a broad portfolio. That gives balance.

» Your Portfolio Composition Understanding
Your current SIP list includes:

Small cap

Mid cap

Flexi cap

Large cap

Large and mid cap

Hybrid category

Gold and Silver FoF

Equity and Debt allocation fund

Dynamic hybrid fund

This shows you are trying to cover many segments. But too many categories can create overlap. When there is overlap, you get confusion during review. It also makes portfolio discipline difficult. You may think you are diversified. But the holdings inside may repeat. That reduces efficiency.

Your portfolio now looks like:

Equity dominant

Hybrid for stability

Metals for hedge

So the broad direction is fine. But simplifying helps in long-term habit building.

» Fund Category Duplication
You hold:

Two flexi cap funds

One large and mid cap fund

One pure large cap fund

One mid cap fund

One small cap fund

Flexi cap funds already invest across large, mid, small. Then large and mid also overlaps. So the large cap exposure gets repeated. That may not add extra benefit. But it increases monitoring complexity.

So I suggest rationalising. Keep one fund per category in core. Keep satellite space for only high conviction.

» Core and Satellite Strategy
A structured portfolio follows core and satellite method.

Core portfolio should be:

Simple

Long term

Stable

Satellite portfolio can be:

High growth

Concentrated

Based on your thinking level, you can structure like this:

Core funds:

One large cap

One flexi cap

One hybrid equity and debt fund

One balanced advantage type fund

Satellite funds:

One mid cap

One small cap

One metal allocation if needed

This division gives clarity. You can continue SIPs with review every year. No need to stop and restart often. That reduces behavioural mistakes.

» Your Current SIP List Review with Suggested Streamlining

You can consider continuing:

One flexi cap

One large cap

One mid cap

One small cap

One balanced advantage

One equity and debt hybrid

You may reconsider keeping both flexi caps and both gold silver funds. One of each category is enough. Because too many funds do not increase returns. It complicates tracking.

Precious metal funds should not be more than 5 to 7 percent in your portfolio. This is because metals are hedge assets. They do not create compounding like equity. They act as protection during cycles. So keep them small.

» How to Use the Rs 6 Lakh Lump Sum
You asked about lump sum investing. This is important. Lump sum should not go fully into equity at one time. Markets move in cycles. So use a staggered method. You can invest the lump sum through STP (Systematic Transfer Plan). You can keep the amount in a liquid fund and set STP toward your chosen growth funds over 6 to 12 months.

This reduces timing risk. It also creates discipline. So your Rs 6 lakh can be deployed gradually. You may use 50% towards core equity funds and 30% toward satellite growth category. The remaining 20% can go into hybrid category. This gives balance and comfort.

» Regular Funds Over Direct Funds
One important point many investors miss. Direct funds look cheaper. But they demand deep knowledge, discipline, and behaviour control. Most investors lose more through emotional selling and wrong timing than they save on expense ratio.

With regular funds through a Mutual Fund Distributor with Certified Financial Planner qualification, you get guidance, structure and correction. The advisory discipline protects you during market extremes. That is more valuable than a small saving in expense ratio.

A personalised planner also tracks portfolio drift, rebalancing need and category shifts. So regular fund investing gives long-term benefit and behaviour coaching.

» Actively Managed Funds over Index or ETF
Some investors choose index funds or ETF thinking they are simple and cheap. But they ignore drawbacks.

Index funds or ETF will not avoid weak companies in the index. They will invest whether the company grows or struggles. There is no fund manager decision making. So when markets are at peak, index funds continue aggressive exposure. In downturns also they fall fully. There is no cushion.

Actively managed funds work with research teams. They can avoid bad sectors. They can shift allocation based on market and economy. Over long term, this gives better alpha and stability. So continuing with actively managed funds creates better wealth compounding.

» SIP Continuation Strategy
Once the rationalisation is done, continue SIPs every month without interruption. Pause and restart behaviour damages compounding power. SIP works best when you go through all market cycles. You benefit more during corrections because cost averaging works.

So continue SIP amount. You can also review SIP increase every year based on income. Increasing SIP by 10 to 15 percent every year helps you reach large corpus faster.

» Asset Allocation Based Approach
One key point in wealth creation is having the right asset mix. Equity gives growth. Hybrid gives balance. Metals give hedge. Debt gives safety. Your asset allocation should stay aligned to your risk profile and time horizon.

Since you are young and have long term horizon, higher equity allocation is fine. But as time moves, rebalancing is important. Rebalancing protects gains and restores allocation.

So review your asset allocation every year or during major life events like child birth, home buying or retirement planning.

» Behaviour Management
Many portfolios fail not due to bad funds. They fail due to bad decisions. Selling during correction. Stopping SIP when market falls. Chasing past return performance. These mistakes reduce wealth.

Your discipline so far is good. Continue to stay patient during volatility. Equity rewards patience and time.

» Financial Goals Clarity
Since you have no children now, you can decide your long-term goals. Typical goals may include:

Retirement

Future child education

Dream lifestyle purchase

Health care reserves

When goals are clear, investment purpose becomes stronger. So you can map each fund category to goal horizon. Short-term goals should not use equity. Long-term goals should use equity with hybrid support.

» Role of Review and Monitoring
Review once in a year is enough. Frequent review can create anxiety. Annual review helps check:

Fund performance

Expense drift

Category relevance

Allocation balance

Then adjust only if needed. This progress helps you stay confident and aligned.

» Taxation Awareness
Equity mutual funds taxation rules are:

Short term (below one year holding) taxable at 20 percent

Long term (above one year holding) gains above Rs 1.25 lakh taxable at 12.5 percent

Debt mutual funds are taxed as per your income slab.

So always hold equity funds for long term. That reduces tax impact and gives better growth.

» SIP Increase Plan
You can create a simple plan to increase SIP over time. For example:

Increase SIP at every salary increment

Increase SIP during bonus time

Use rewards or extra income for investing

This habit accelerates wealth. So by the time you reach 45 to 50 years, your investments could reach a strong level.

» Insurance and Protection
Before investing large, ensure you have term insurance and health insurance. If not already done, it is important. Insurance protects wealth. Without insurance, even a small medical event can impact investment plan. So review this part also. Since you are married, cover both.

» Wealth Behaviour Mindset
You are already disciplined. Just keep these simple principles:

Invest without stopping

Review once a year

Avoid funds overlap

Follow asset allocation

Avoid reacting to media noise

This helps you reach long term milestones.

» Finally
You are on the right track. Only fine tuning and simplification is needed. Your discipline is visible. Your portfolio will grow well with structure, patience and periodic review. Use the Rs 6 lakh with STP approach. And continue SIP with rationalised categories.

With time and consistency, wealth creation becomes effortless and peaceful. You just need to stay committed and avoid overthinking during market movements.

Best Regards,
K. Ramalingam, MBA, CFP,

Chief Financial Planner,

www.holisticinvestment.in

https://www.youtube.com/@HolisticInvestment

...Read more

Dr Dipankar

Dr Dipankar Dutta  |1837 Answers  |Ask -

Tech Careers and Skill Development Expert - Answered on Dec 05, 2025

Career
Dear Sir, I did my BTech from a normal engineering college not very famous. The teaching was not great and hence i did not study well. I tried my best to learn coding including all the technologies like html,css,javascript,react js,dba,php because i wanted to be a web developer But nothing seem to enter my head except html and css. I don't understand a language which has more complexities. Is it because of my lack of experience or not devoting enough time. I am not sure. I did many courses online and tried to do diplomas also abroad which i passed somehow. I recently joined android development course because i like apps but the teaching was so fast that i could not memorize anything. There was no time to even take notes down. During the course i did assignments and understood the code because i have to pass but after the course is over i tend to forget everything. I attempted a lot of interviews. Some of them i even got but could not perform well so they let me go. Now due to the AI booming and job markets in a bad shape i am re-thinking whether to keep studying or whether its just time waste. Since 3 years i am doing labour type of jobs which does not yield anything to me for survival and to pay my expenses. I have the quest to learn everything but as soon as i sit in front of the computer i listen to music or read something else. What should i do to stay more focused? What should i do to make myself believe confident. Is there still scope of IT in todays world? Kindly advise.
Ans: Your story does not show failure.
It shows persistence, effort, and desire to improve.

Most people give up.
You didn’t.
That means you will succeed — but with the right method, not the old one.

...Read more

DISCLAIMER: The content of this post by the expert is the personal view of the rediffGURU. Investment in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related document carefully before investing. The securities quoted are for illustration only and are not recommendatory. Users are advised to pursue the information provided by the rediffGURU only as a source of information and as a point of reference and to rely on their own judgement when making a decision. RediffGURUS is an intermediary as per India's Information Technology Act.

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