To embark on a financial journey, one needs to understand many basic principles to ensure that the experience is rewarding. Being involved and understanding your decisions and their implications is crucial. In this blog, an attempt to made to assist you in starting your investment journey with a brief overview of the relevant factors that influence key decisions.
The first question as we begin the investment journey is: Where should I invest?
There are numerous investment avenues to choose from, depending on the investment tenure, risk appetite, potential returns, capital safety, and need for liquidity and regular returns. Gaining a deeper understanding of these aspects and how they can translate into an investment portfolio for you will help you organize your learning and equip yourself to take control of your investment journey. For long-term growth, it is generally recommended to invest in the stock market—either by purchasing shares of various companies, investing in Mutual Funds (MFs), or through NPS and other investment avenues that invest directly or indirectly in the stock markets.
The stock market is one of the few investment avenues that has historically provided good inflation-adjusted returns in the long term. For perspective, the Sensex has delivered returns of over 13% in the last 20 years and 15% in the last 5 years. Using the Rule of 72, with a return rate of 13% (72/13 ≈ 5.54), this means your investment could double approximately every 5-6 years!
The next question is: Which stock or Mutual Fund should I invest in?
While there are numerous public and private companies to invest in, public companies are easier to invest in due to their liquidity and ease of buying and selling on the stock market. Investing in individual companies requires a thorough understanding of the company’s fundamentals, financials, sector, economic performance, peer performance, and economic cycles. This requires significant time and effort. However, you don’t have to start with individual stocks; investing in Mutual Funds can be a wise choice. Mutual Funds come in various types—equity, debt, and others. Within Equity MFs based on the companies and industries they invest in, there are many classifications. Additionally, MFs are managed by professionals at a nominal cost, known as the expense ratio, and offer diversified investments across companies, which helps mitigate investment risk.
A few additional considerations include:
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- Investment Tenure and Risk Appetite: Choose a Mutual Fund that matches your investment goals and risk tolerance.
- Long-Term Investment: Equity investments generally require a long-term perspective (>5-7 years) and a high risk appetite.
- Sectoral Investment Knowledge: Investing in specific sectors requires understanding the economic phase and industry performance. Sectoral investments need careful timing to benefit from growth cycles. Relying on Fund Managers from specific MF houses can help manage your investments effectively at a low cost.
- Market Capitalization Focus: Investing in Mutual Funds based on market capitalization is another approach. Large-cap companies offer steady growth and stability through various economic cycles but tend to grow more slowly. Medium and small-cap companies, which are often in their early stages, have significant growth potential but are also more susceptible to economic fluctuations.
- Fund Manager Philosophy: Fund Managers typically use growth, value, or a combination of both strategies. Ensure that the investment philosophy of the fund house and manager aligns with your own investment goals and philosophy.
Considering all these factors can be overwhelming for a beginner.
A good starting point for beginners might be a Flexi-cap Fund. Flexi-cap mutual funds offer flexibility, allowing the fund manager to invest across various market capitalizations, sectors, and companies, letting the Fund Manager do what they do best while you enjoy diversification as also benefit from the growing sectors and companies.
The reasons why it makes sense to get started with a Flexi-cap fund are discussed below:
- Investment Flexibility: Flexi-cap funds have the flexibility to invest across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks based on market conditions and the fund manager’s outlook. This flexibility allows the fund manager to capitalize on opportunities across different segments of the market without being restricted to investing a minimum amount in particular cap companies.
- Risk and Return: These funds typically aim to balance risk and return by diversifying across various market capitalizations. They are suitable for investors seeking exposure to different segments of the equity market without being restricted to any specific cap size. This investment style automatically provides the diversification needed for a balanced portfolio.
- Investor Profile: Flexi-cap funds are suitable for investors with a moderate to high-risk appetite who are looking for potentially higher returns than large-cap funds and are also willing to accept higher volatility.
- Diversification Benefits: Investing in a flexi cap fund provides inherent diversification across market capitalizations and sectors, which can reduce overall portfolio risk compared to investing in individual stocks.
- Fund Management: The performance of flexi-cap funds heavily depends on the expertise and strategy of the fund manager. Investors should consider the track record and investment philosophy of both the fund house and the fund manager before investing.
- Investment Horizon: Ideally, investors in flexi cap funds should have a medium to long-term investment horizon to ride out market cycles and benefit from potential growth across different sectors and market segments.
Finally, let us consider some basic statistics about flexi cap MFs performance. Historical returns show that flexi-cap funds have delivered higher returns compared to large-cap funds—the average return has been 16% over the last 10 years, according to data from Moneycontrol.com. The benchmark index for comparison of performance of the flexi-cap MFs is the Nifty 500 TRI that has returned 12.73% over 23 years (from April 2000 to March 2024) and 14.51% over the last 10 years (from April 2014 to March 2024).
To conclude, investing in flexi-cap mutual funds can be an excellent way to start your investing journey. However, it is equally important to assess your financial goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon. These factors will help you make informed decisions regarding portfolio allocation and fund selection based on your individual investment goals and risk tolerance.
While this blog provides guidance on getting started with your first investment, you also need to expand your knowledge on evaluating which mutual funds (MF) or MF houses to invest in.
Continue to build your investment knowledge at every step. Explore more @ TBGFL.
