Skip to main content

Portfolio Building – Thumb Rules

Now that we know about your portfolio, here are a few pointers about what you should be doing...


  • Small allocations would not add any value to the overall portfolio. If a fund outperforms but has a meager allocation, the portfolio would not benefit from it. Make sure you allocate a significant part of the portfolio to a stock or a fund.

  • Avoid speculating and stick to funds that have proved their mettle. Invest in well rated funds. Look at a 3-5 years performance history and ratings before investing.

  • Quality is more important than quantity. Investing and managing so many funds can become a tedious task.

  • Invest in fewer funds and do not get lured to the new fund offerings. Add a new fund to your portfolio only if it adds a unique diversification.

  • Some significant component of debt is always helpful to a portfolio. Debt plays a major role in a bearish stock market and provides the cushion when markets tank.

  • Ensure that the portfolio has a healthy debt component irrespective of the risk that you can handle. You can also invest in government debt instruments like bonds, fixed deposits or NSCs, but they are not tax efficient.

  • Once you are done with the equity debt allocation, make sure you re-check the allocation and re-balance the portfolio (if required) at least once a year. This should also be done when stock markets crash or rise rapidly in a small interval.

  • Being regular is the key. It is not possible to time the markets, nor should one try to do so. Be regular and systematic. Even if you prefer doing one time investment at times, you should also have SIPs to complement those.

  • The SIP approach can also be adopted in stocks (of course it is not as simple as a mutual fund SIP). If you consistently buy a stock on a regular basis, it would help you average the cost over time. Make sure you do enough research before choosing a stock or consult an expert.

  • Set a ceiling on exposure to a particular sector or stock/fund. High exposure would make the portfolio largely dependent on its performance.

  • Do not track your mutual fund portfolio every day. Tracking funds' portfolio once in six months should suffice.

  • Do not worry about short term fluctuations. Market sentiments can change overnight. If you are a long term investor you should not worry about the market gyrations

Popular posts from this blog

Mutual Fund Review: Taurus Tax Shield

    Taurus Tax Shield has seen a turnaround in performance since 2007, but still remains a volatile offering… The fund has seen a turnaround in its performance since 2007 and has delivered impressively during market rallies since then. The portfolio is also more diversified. It contained its downfall to an average level in 2008 but is still one of the most volatile offerings in this category. Bold investors can look at this fund.   Strategy The fund manager invests across the market capitalisation and sectors. The selection of stocks is made on the basis of long-term business prospects and value creation. Fund Insight Launched in March 1996, the fund was a laggard with just two annual outperformances. Concentrated stock bets and high exposure to mid and small caps led to it being hit harder during market downturns. The number of stocks in the portfolio never exceeded 20 and it was not rare to see the top 5 holdings account for around 60 per cent of the portfolio. After b...

AXIS Long Term Equity Fund - The Best Tax Saver Fund for 2016

  AXIS Long Term Equity Fund - Invest Online   History:   The open ended mutual fund was launched on December 21 in the year 2009. It is benchmarked against BSE 200 and managed by the fund manager JINESH GOPANI. Initially the scheme was called as Axis tax saver fund but later it was renamed as Axis long term equity fund with effect from September 2, 2011. Nature of investment: As far as asset allocation is concerned, 97.52% of the stocks are equity and 0.02% is debt based. The primary focus of the fund is to invest in diversified equity stocks that have higher growth potential. Total asset size of the fund is in the tune of 4,996 CRORE as of June 30, 2015. Performance: The performance of the fund for one year, 3 years and 5 years are 23.6%, 29.9% and 19.1 respectively which are far greater than 6.4%, 14% and 5.6% benchmark figures. It has also preformed fairly well against SBI magnum Tax Gain (G) and HDFC tax saver (G). The growth comparison is enumerated below;                        ...

Health insurance guide - Part I

Insurance, by definition, is morbid. What if I die suddenly? What if my home caught fire? What if I had to undergo expensive medical treatment? What if something that I thought happened only to others befell me? Insurers, who work with large samples, calculate the probability of such an event and, hence, the possibility of them having to pay out a sum of money to mitigate, to the extent possible, the effects of that disaster. However, the possibility of you undergoing some kind of expensive medical treatment during your lifetime is far more likely than you dying suddenly or your house burning down. Given that costs at private healthcare facilities, where you are most likely to land up, is high, and, doubling every four years 10 months or so, the rest of your money life could easily go out of whack if you had to incur such expenses. Just 12 per cent of India's population is covered with some sort of health insurance. Pared to the bone, for a comparatively small price, health insu...

IDFC Classic Equity Fund

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Buy Gold Mutual Funds Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)   IDFC Classic Equity Fund IDFC Classic Equity is a large-cap equity fund which currently has assets under management worth Rs. 158.52 crore. It was launched in August 2005. The fund is benchmarked against the BSE-200 Index. Performance YTD 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year Since Inception IDFC Classic Equity 0.93 26.61 6.30 1.01 11.65 BSE 200 1.52 17.31 6.00 1.99 12.98 All figures in % as on January 31, 2013; Returns above one-year in CAGR terms ...

10 year NSC launched, all set to give 8.7 per cent

Invest in Mutual Funds Online Download Mutual Fund Application Forms THE government introduced a 10-year National Savings Certificate ( NSC ), which will earn an interest rate of 8.7 per cent per annum. The notification for the launch of the new savings instrument, 10-year National Savings Certificate (IX-Issue), 2011, has been issued, an official statement said. The scheme will come into effect from December 1, it added. Investments in NSC will earn interest at the rate of 8.7 per cent compounded semi-annually, it said, adding that on an investment of Rs 100, the depositor will get Rs 234.35 on maturity of the NSC. There is no upper limit for investment in the certificate, it added. The new scheme will give better returns along with tax benefit to savers. At present, the maturity period of NSC is six years and it qualifies for tax relief for investment up to Rs 1,00,000 under Section 80C. The decision to raise the maturity period of NSC has been taken on the b...
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