Hi, I am a regular follower of this column. I am working in a MNC. Currently my month salary:100000 My Investment: Mutual Fund SIP:20000 p.m(all in equity) Children Fund:1 lakh p.a (UTI CCF) PPF:1.50 lakh p.a P.F:14000 p.m NPS:6000 p.m Avg monthly expenses:30000. I have a kid age 6..My age is 39.. Is my Investment plan ok? Please let me know. Keep my name confidential.

Ans: Given your age, income, and willingness to take risks, you have a decent mix of assets, but there are areas to focus on for a balanced retirement plan:

Assets:
Your assets are well-diversified with real estate, gold, fixed deposits, and various investment instruments like PF, Sukanya Samriddhi, PPF, direct equity, and mutual funds. However, your direct equity and derivatives trading can be volatile; ensure they align with your risk appetite.

Liabilities:
The car loan is a liability that can impact your monthly cash flow. Consider paying it off sooner to reduce interest costs and free up monthly income.

Suggestions:

Increase Equity Exposure: As you're willing to take risks, consider increasing exposure to equity mutual funds and direct equity investments.

Review Derivatives Trading: Be cautious with options trading due to its speculative nature. Ensure it doesn't dominate your portfolio.

Emergency Fund: Build a separate emergency fund to cover 6-12 months of expenses.

Health and Life Insurance: Ensure you have adequate health and life insurance coverage to protect your family's financial future.

Retirement Corpus: Calculate the required corpus for retirement based on your desired lifestyle post-retirement. Use a retirement calculator to estimate the monthly contributions needed to achieve this goal.

Diversify Investments: Explore other investment avenues like debt funds, international funds, to further diversify your portfolio and manage risks better.

Ans: You are very organised with your finances.
As a Certified Financial Planner, let me give you a full 360-degree review.

Family and Income Snapshot
You are 40 years old and working in software.

You have two children aged 8 and 3.

Monthly take-home salary is Rs 1.75 lakh.

Your spouse is also earning and focusing on physical assets.

You wish to build a focused education fund for children.

You are already investing with discipline and purpose.
Let’s now study everything in detail and correct where needed.

Existing Loan Commitments
You are currently paying for four types of loans:

Home Loan EMI: Rs 52,000

Personal Loan: Rs 22,000

Car Loan: Rs 21,444

Top-up Loan: Rs 8,500

That is Rs 1,03,944 towards loan EMIs.
This eats up nearly 60% of your salary.
This is high. It increases financial pressure.

Suggestions:

Try to repay the personal loan early.

Check if car loan can be closed faster.

Avoid fresh loans till current loans are cleared.

Do not use top-up loans for non-emergency needs.

Reducing EMI will free money for better investment.

Insurance Portfolio Review
You have:

LIC premiums: Rs 1 lakh per year

Term life insurance: Rs 52,000 per year

LIC premiums are usually part of endowment or money-back.
These are low-return products combining investment and insurance.
They are not good for wealth creation.

Suggestions:

If your LIC is investment-based, surrender it.

Use surrender value to invest in mutual funds.

Term insurance should be plain and high cover.

Coverage should be minimum 15–20 times annual income.

Don’t mix insurance with investment again in future.

NPS Contribution
You contribute Rs 5,700 monthly to NPS.

It is 4% of basic salary.

NPS is good for retirement, but it locks your money till 60.
Returns are decent but come with withdrawal restrictions.

Suggestions:

Continue NPS contribution for tax benefit.

Don’t increase allocation here.

Your main long-term growth must come from mutual funds.

Sukanya Samriddhi and PPF
Sukanya: Rs 6,000 monthly for daughter.

PPF: Rs 6,000 monthly.

These are safe, tax-free investments.
But they give 7–8% return, which is fixed-income category.
Long term, they can’t beat inflation fully.

Suggestions:

Continue Sukanya till age 15 of daughter.

Cap PPF at Rs 6,000/month.

Don’t increase traditional schemes further.

For long-term goals, use mutual funds more.

Mutual Fund Investments
You are investing via SIPs in 6 different funds.

Mirae Large & Midcap – Rs 2,000 (3 years)

Quant Small Cap – Rs 5,000 (3 years)

Nippon Multicap – Rs 5,000 (3 years)

ICICI Bluechip – Rs 5,000 (1 year)

Motilal Oswal Midcap – Rs 10,000 (1 year)

Monthly SIP total = Rs 27,000

This is a good practice, but there are few issues:

All are direct plans.

Small cap and midcap funds are high risk.

Direct plans offer no advisory support.

No proper rebalancing or goal tracking.

Disadvantages of Direct Plans:

You are alone in selecting and reviewing funds.

No expert helps you during market downturns.

You may miss better schemes or exit too late.

Emotional investing can harm results.

Direct plan TER is low, but mistakes cost more.

Better Approach:

Shift to regular plans via Certified Financial Planner.

He tracks, rebalances and aligns with your goals.

You get emotional support and expert monitoring.

Small advisory fee ensures professional help.

Fund Structure Suggestion:

40% in large and flexicap actively managed funds.

30% in hybrid aggressive and balanced funds.

20% in midcap (not small cap for now).

10% in short-term debt for liquidity.

This makes your portfolio stable and growth-oriented.

Your Current SIP Tenure
Three SIPs are running till 2027 (3-year SIPs).

Two SIPs end in October 2025.

Don't stop your SIPs when tenure ends.
Mutual funds don’t work like FD maturity.
Wealth grows if SIP continues for 10–15 years.

Suggestions:

Extend your SIPs for longer duration.

Increase SIP amount slowly as EMI reduces.

Align each SIP with a specific goal.

Kid’s Education Planning
Your daughter is 8. You have 8–10 years for higher education.
Son is 3. You have 12–14 years for him.

Your goal is to build strong education fund for both.
You want to do it alone, while spouse builds physical assets.

Action Plan:

Create two child education buckets.

Assign separate SIPs to each goal.

Use child-focused active equity funds.

Invest monthly through regular plans with a planner.

Review yearly progress of corpus.

Target corpus:

Rs 50–60 lakh per child in today’s value.

Will need Rs 1–1.25 crore combined for both.

With 10–12 years horizon, SIP is best route.

Budget Balance and Cash Flow
Monthly income: Rs 1.75 lakh
Loan EMIs: Rs 1.03 lakh
SIP: Rs 27,000
Sukanya + PPF: Rs 12,000
NPS: Rs 5,700
Insurance premium (annualised): Rs 12,500

You are left with little monthly surplus.
Any bonus or hike should go to reduce loans.

Action Plan:

First, clear personal and car loan.

Reinvest the freed EMI into SIP.

Avoid top-up loans or lifestyle loans.

Maintain an emergency fund of Rs 3–5 lakh.

Keep a health insurance floater for family.

Future Roadmap in Simple Steps
Shift from direct to regular mutual funds.

Engage a CFP to guide every step.

Keep SIPs long-term, goal-linked and diversified.

Reduce loan load over next 2 years.

Use bonuses or hikes to build kids' corpus.

Review portfolio every year.

Avoid any new insurance?cum?investment products.

Final Insights
You are doing a lot of right things already.

But some fine-tuning is needed now.

Direct funds and LIC policies may hold you back.

Loans are heavy, need early closure.

Kids' goals need structured planning and tracking.

Mutual funds must be managed actively by expert.

You have limited earning years ahead.
You can build strong wealth with right plan now.
Let your money grow with clarity and care.
And give your children the financial base they deserve.

Best Regards,

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