Stagger your investments to take advantage of the market volatility

My portfolio is giving negative returns. Can you please review it? I invest in systematic investment plans (SIPs) of the following funds: ₹5,000 each in L&T Emerging Business (started in August 2017) and Axis Bluechip (July 2019); ₹3,000 each in IDFC Focused Equity (September 2017) and Mirae Asset Large Cap (July 2019); ₹2,000 each in Axis Long Term Equity (August 2017), HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities (August 2017) and ICICI Prudential Bluechip (July 2019); as well as ₹1,500 each in Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 (August 2017) and DSP Tax Saver (August 2017). I have a total lump sum investment of ₹2 lakh (done between October 2019 and May 2020) in Axis Focused 25, Mirae Asset Healthcare, Nippon India Pharma, IDFC Government Securities and DSP World Gold fund.

—Tapan

You are investing ₹25,000 a month in a mixture of funds across fund houses and categories. As much as 40% of the investments are going into large-cap funds, 30% into mid-cap, and the remaining into diversified funds, including equity-linked savings schemes. There is nothing wrong about your fund selection. It is simply a matter of being patient and disciplined about investments. The markets are topsy-turvy and you need to continue investing through the volatility.

One thing you may want to do to take advantage of the ups and downs is to spread investments through the month—as in, invest in some of the funds in the first week, some in the second week, and so on.

This would help you maximize your opportunity to invest in market falls in these times. Regarding lump sum investments, you have tried to ride the trend of current crisis by investing in healthcare and gold funds. You may have seen some gains from this part of your portfolio. Nevertheless, you should make sure that you exit these investments at the right time since these are cyclical areas in the market that will be prone to downturns as and when the tide turns.

Srikanth Meenakshi is co-founder, PrimeInvestor.in. Queries and views at mintmoney@livemint.com