Are SIPs a good way to start investing in mutual funds?
1 min read . Updated: 23 Dec 2021, 06:39 AM IST
Premium- In terms of where to invest, an equity hybrid fund is a good place to start, especially since you are investing for five years
I am a 31-year-old officer working for the Government of India, earning ₹60,000 per month. I have read about mutual funds and would like to start investing through monthly SIPs. I have just started with an aggressive hybrid fund - Canara Robeco Equity Hybrid (SIP of ₹2,000 per month, with a plan to continue it for five years). My aim is to invest about 25% of my salary. Kindly suggest if the approach is right and if so, MF schemes that would be appropriate for me to invest in. I already have an outgo of ₹12,000 per month in PPF and NPS.
—Name withheld on request
It is good that you are planning to invest a healthy percentage of your monthly income in SIPs. Please make sure that you can sustain this level of investments on a continuing basis. In terms of where to invest, an equity hybrid fund is a good place to start, especially since you are investing for five years. For the remaining ₹13,000, you can continue along similar lines for equity-debt proportion.
I am a 40-year-old with a monthly salary of ₹70,000. I have two daughters of ages 7 and 2. Please suggest some best mutual funds for investment for education and marriage and for SIP.
—Surender
Let’s take your elder daughter and assume you have 10 more years to save and invest for her education. If we further assume that education costs ₹10 lakh in today’s money, you would need to save and invest ₹9,000 per month to reach this goal in 10 years. For your younger daughter’s education, you would similarly need to save and invest ₹6,000 per month (given that there are 15 more years for her higher education). So, you are looking at doing a SIP for ₹15,000 for both your daughters’ education goals, put together.
In terms of investments, you can split ₹12,000 equally between HDFC Index Fund, Parag Parikh Flexi-cap Fund, and Axis Midcap Fund, and invest the remaining ₹3,000 in IDFC Corporate Bond Fund.
Srikanth Meenakshi is founder, Primeinvestor.in.
