Skip to main content

How to choose a mutual fund ?

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

Step One

Begin by selecting the best asset class allocation for your personal situation. Then decide which investments fit into your allocation strategy.

Step Two

Place each fund into an asset class category. You may need to do some research. Fund prospectuses and proprietary websites are a good place to start.

Major categories include:

(1) International funds,

 (2) large-cap funds,

(3) small- and mid-cap funds,

(4) Bond funds,

(5) cash-equivalent funds, and possibly

(6) Real estate funds.

Step Three Assess fund quality. You're not just looking at returns (historical or recent). Here are four criteria for determining quality:

 

  1. Relative performance: Be sure you're comparing apples with apples and not with oranges. Compare a fund's historical and recent performance with those of similar funds from the same asset class. Make comparisons from different time periods, and also note the performance of indexes tracking the asset class during the same timeframe.
  2. Performance consistency: Looking at a fund's average yearly return. Look at how a fund did during bull markets and bear markets. For retirement investing, it's preferable to select mutual funds with good performance year after year rather than short bursts of superior performance combined with periods of sub-par returns.
  3. Manager tenure: Performance and returns are more important if they're associated with a fund manager or management team. A new fund manager at an existing mutual fund might enable continued consistency--or maybe not. Have you ever been to a restaurant under new management? Sometimes it's the same. Sometimes it's different but still good. Sometimes it's improved . . . and sometimes it's worse.
  4. Manager tenure: Performance and returns are more important if they're associated with a fund manager or management team. A new fund manager at an existing mutual fund might enable continued consistency--or maybe not. Have you ever been to a restaurant under new management? Sometimes it's the same. Sometimes it's different but still good. Sometimes it's improved . . . and sometimes it's worse.

4) Risk measures: Risk-based criteria help evaluate how funds perform, given the risks each fund takes. For example, assume fund A has historically produced greater performance during periods of market gains compared with fund B, but the performance has been at the expense of big risks. You can find risk-related statistics on many financial websites--or you can call the fund company

Next Step Research fund fees.

If you're examining net returns, fees are already factored into the research you've done. However, everything you're researching is in the past. Since you want to choose the best fund for the future, lower fees are preferable when other fund characteristics are relatively equal.

Step Four Determine asset size

When mutual funds grow past a certain point, in terms of assets under management, it generally becomes more difficult for fund managers to stay true to the funds' investing philosophies. Where is that "certain point"? There isn't one answer, but many funds close to new investors when managers believe they've reached it. But some funds don't ever close. They're industry behemoths that may be very successful but lack the agility to manoeuvre quickly in a changing market; and fund managers find it more difficult to purchase some investments that may be integral to a fund's philosophy. The effect of asset size depends heavily on asset class, so judge size relative to other funds in the same category, with a preference for funds that have more manageable levels.

Once you've selected the best funds from each asset class, you can follow your allocation strategy to decide what percentage of your investable dollars should go toward each fund. It takes some work to create a good portfolio just for your needs. Don't get discouraged. If you need help, look for a fee-only adviser to guide you toward the best investments for you

------------------------------------------

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Transact Mutual Fund Online

 

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

 

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds:
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap Funds
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    3. Mid and SmallCap Funds
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    4. Small and MicroCap Funds
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    5. Sector Funds
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    6. Gold Mutual Funds
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

 

Popular posts from this blog

Jeevan Labh

 The Life Insurance Corporation of India has announced Jeevan Labh , its limited-premium, with-profits endowment plan .   It comes with a premium paying terms of 10, 15 and 16 years for corresponding policy tenures of 16, 21, and 25 years respectively. ----------------------------------------------- Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds Top 10 Tax Saving Mutual Funds to invest in India for 2016 Best 10 ELSS Mutual Funds in india for 2016 1. BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund 2. Axis Tax Saver Fund 3. Franklin India TaxShield 4. ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund 5. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund 6. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 7. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 8. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund 9. Religare Tax Plan 10. Birla Sun Life Tax Plan Invest in Best Performing 2016 Tax Saver Mutual Funds Online Invest Online Download Application Forms For further information contact Prajna Capital on 94 83...
Read more

Liquidity Adjustment Facility

Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) is a money market tool used by the central bank of a country (in India it is the Reserve Bank of India ), to infuse funds into the country's banking system when liquidity dries up. Again, in case there is excess liquidity, the central bank uses some tools to help banks manage their surplus liquidity. Usually the RBI uses the repurchase facility (called Repo ) to give short-term loans to banks to meet their temporary liquidity shortage. On the other, hand RBI uses reverse repo facility to help banks park their excess liquidity with it. Banks usually use various securities, which are approved by the RBI, as collateral when they take money from the RBI to meet their short term liquidity requirement     Best Tax Saver Mutual Funds or ELSS Mutual Funds for 2015 1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan 2. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund 3. HDFC TaxSaver 4. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 5. Religare Tax Plan 6. Franklin India TaxShield 7. Canara...
Read more

Tata Dynamic Bond Fund exit load

Tata Mutual Fund has revised the exit load of Tata Dynamic Bond Fund to 0.50 per cent if redeemed on or before 180 days. Currently, there is no exit load. The effective date is March 25, 2015. Best Tax Saver Mutual Funds or ELSS Mutual Funds for 2015 1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan 2. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund 3. HDFC TaxSaver 4. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 5. Religare Tax Plan 6. Franklin India TaxShield 7. Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver 8. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund 9. Axis Tax Saver Fund 10. BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund You can invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C by investing in Mutual Funds Invest in Tax Saver Mutual Funds Online - Invest Online Download Application Forms For further information contact Prajna Capital on 94 8300 8300 by leaving a missed call --------------------------------------------- Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them OR You can write to us at PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com OR Leave a missed...
Read more

Mutual Fund Review: Tata Balanced

  It underperformed severely at first, but Tata Balanced has shown its mettle in the past five years… After five years of severe underperformance, the fund began to pull up its socks in 2002 and delivered a brilliant performance in 2003. Such a top quartile performance was repeated only in 2007 and 2009. By and large, this fund is not known for its outstanding returns, but over a long-period of time, its investors won't be unhappy. Over the past five years ended May 31, 2011 it has delivered an annualized return of 14 per cent (category average: 11%).   In 2008, it was the high exposure to Metals and Capital Goods that hit the fund hard. Towards the end of that year, exposure to both the sectors was reduced significantly while that to FMCG was increased. Once the market began to rally in 2009, the fund manager immediately reduced allocation to FMCG from 16 per cent (March 2009) to 4 per cent (May 2009) and exposure to Technology began to increase. These moves helped the fund...
Read more

Home Loans that Save Time and Money

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Buy Gold Mutual Funds Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300   Home Loans that Save Time and Money  You can deposit surplus money in these special home loan schemes and reduce your loan tenure significantly in the process   IF YOU are thinking of taking a home loan and are confident of generating a surplus every month after paying the regular EMI, you can opt for loan schemes with an overdraft facility that not only cut interest payments significantly, but also reduce the loan tenure. State Bank of India, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Central Bank of India offer such home loan products. Under the scheme, as a home loan borrower, you can deposit any surplus that you have into the home loan account, though you retain the option of withdrawing the sum, if required. By depositing an amount higher than your EMI , you save on interest outgo. The principal amoun...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now