'Trading without strict position sizing, stop-loss discipline, or a clear exit plan almost guarantees losses.' 'Chasing tips, reacting to intraday noise, or assuming frequent trading improves outcomes are equally damaging habits.'
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'To ensure you remain with the better performers, you need to consistently monitor your MF portfolios and weed out the non-performers, even if they are from a star fund manager or a fund house with a sound record.'
Start SIPs early, increase investments steadily, and let compounding beat inflation to secure retirement wealth, says Ramalingam Kalirajan
Always keep your portfolio simple, says mutual fund expert Rahul Goel.
Amidst a sharp run-up in gold and silver prices, investors are advised to rebalance their portfolios by booking partial profits in precious metals and reallocating to domestic equities and debt, according to financial experts.
New investors or those with lower-than-planned exposure should add US-oriented funds through SIPs.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
ELSS investments require a long-term commitment of at least seven years.
After Bandhan MF's US Treasury Bond 0-1 year Fund of Fund (FoF), Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) MF has come out with US Treasury 1-3 Year Bond ETFs FoF and 3-10 Year Bond ETFs FoF. US bonds, which generally offer low yields, have turned attractive post the 525-basis point hike in US interest rates. According to Bloomberg data, the 1-year and 2-year US treasury yields now stand at 5.4 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively. Although the yields remain lower than what Indian government bonds offer, the differential has come down steeply.
Rising income feels like success but unchecked lifestyle inflation traps urban professionals into financing a more expensive version of living paycheck-to-paycheck -- buying material upgrades instead of true future financial freedom.
Analysts are increasingly optimistic about India's capital markets, with HDFC AMC, CAMS, and KFin Technologies identified as top investment picks. This optimism stems from a structural shift in household savings towards financial instruments and an expected multi-year earnings expansion for market infrastructure providers and asset management companies.
'We operate in an economy that is structurally positioned for long-term growth. As market levels rise over time, our AUM grows in line.'
Investors who issued units in liquid and overnight funds, as well as those with a short-term holding of less than 30 days, are likely to be impacted the most, say experts.
'Having a separate healthcare corpus is extremely important even for those already covered by health insurance.'
The post-Covid euphoria surrounding direct equity investing has ebbed in 2025. Individual investors have turned net sellers in the domestic equity market, pulling out about 8,461 crore so far this year - a sharp reversal from the record purchases seen in 2024, according to a report by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
Conservative investors seeking equity-like tax benefits with low risk may go for them.
Investors must account for currency depreciation in their financial plans and use instruments that can cushion the erosion in purchasing power.
Importantly, is there hope going forward?
Multi-asset allocation funds (MAAFs) have emerged as strong performers among mutual funds (MFs), rivalling medium-term returns from traditional equity categories while maintaining a lower risk profile. Over the past three years, average returns for this segment have surpassed those of flexicap and largecap funds, for both lump sum and systematic investment plan (SIP) investments.
"With the leverage available, I believe the scheme remains reasonably attractive," said P D Singh, India and South Asia Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, regarding the Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) or FCNR (B) deposits.
At a time when investors are preferring higher-risk investment products like thematic and small-cap mutual fund (MF) schemes, some fund houses are exploring the possibility of going further down the market-capitalisation (m-cap) ladder to unearth newer investment opportunities. HDFC MF had filed papers with the capital markets regulator - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - earlier this year for an active micro-cap scheme. Some more fund houses are keen on launching such schemes, say industry observers.
Ask rediffGURU Reetika Sharma your insurance, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Equity-focused schemes may perform better in a bull market, while debt-oriented ones may offer greater stability during volatile periods.
Investors who constantly hop between 'top-performing' funds often end up earning far lower returns than the very funds they invest in -- simply because they enter late and exit early. Best investors don't chase returns, they chase discipline, says Ramalingam Kalirajan.
Ask rediffGURU Reetika Sharma your insurance mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Flexicap fund performance depends heavily on the fund manager's decisions.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) poured in Rs 94,829 crore of fresh money into Indian equities in August, the second-highest monthly inflow after record Rs 1.07 trillion influx in October 2024.
Returns of liquid funds are meant only for the short term and don't help investors create wealth over the long term, as equity funds do.
High networth individuals have multiple investment avenues. A look at some of them.
'A staggered investment approach (using SIP or STP) can help investors benefit from this opportunity while reducing timing risk.'
Gwadar is viewed as a critical pearl in China's maritime strategy as it would give a permanent logistical footprint near an important choke point - the Strait of Hormuz and the oil rich Persian Gulf, explains Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has rejected a proposal by Tata Investment Corporation (TIC) to issue zero coupon convertible bonds (ZCCBs) with detachable warrants to its shareholders.
In 5 years, the AMC has clocked a growth rate of 40% with its AUM up nearly 4 times.
Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey announced intensified surveillance and technology-driven enforcement to combat pre-investment scams targeting retail investors, who are increasingly being lured by fake trading apps and promises of high returns.
After a short-term blip, mutual funds (MFs) are back to adding new systematic investment plan (SIP) investors at a record high pace, which was seen during the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). During the first six months (H1) of this financial year (FY24), MFs have added a net 77 million SIP accounts compared to 56 million during the same period of FY23. The net additions this year are a tad higher than the 76.5 million additions in H1 of FY22.
The strong domestic flow offset selling by foreign portfolio investors who pulled out $23.3 billion (Rs 2.03 trillion) from domestic equity markets in CY25.
A retirement fund can be helpful for all age groups, but ideally one should start investing early to beat market swings and gain from compounding.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
