Should I invest all my money in mutual funds?
Given how high the risk is with these mutual funds, it is best to limit yourself to a limited number of small cap mutual funds. Also, avoid putting in a great percentage of your total mutual fund investment in small cap mutual funds. Debt Funds: Ideally 1, but 2 is also good.
Saving is generally seen as preferable for investors with short-term financial goals, a low risk tolerance, or those in need of an emergency fund. Investing may be the best option for people who already have a rainy day fund and are focused on longer-term financial goals or those who have a higher tolerance for risk.
The 50-30-20 formula
Experts say that a salaried person, or even one making a living from a business, should typically spend half of his or her income on personal needs, 30% on wants and 20% should be put away in an emergency fund.
Some experts recommend at least 15% of your income. Setting clear investment goals can help you determine if you're investing the right amount. If you're new to investing, you might be asking yourself how much you should invest, or if you even have enough money to invest.
Long-term consequences
By selling off mutual funds and not replacing them with other investments, you miss out on the power of compounding interest. Depending on how much of your mutual fund holdings you sell, you could lose the potential for significant growth over time.
Some of the advantages of lumpsum investment over SIP include: Higher returns: A lumpsum investment offers higher returns over the long term. This is because the entire amount is invested upfront, and the investor can take advantage of the market's fluctuations.
Warren Buffett once said, “The first rule of an investment is don't lose [money]. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are.”
You could be short on cash when you need it
If you have all your money invested, you may be forced to sell some of your stocks. If they've gone down in value, that will mean selling at a loss. You can put your entire investment portfolio in stocks if you want. The key is not to put literally all your money in stocks.
Imagine you wish to amass $3000 monthly from your investments, amounting to $36,000 annually. If you park your funds in a savings account offering a 2% annual interest rate, you'd need to inject roughly $1.8 million into the account.
The Pareto Principle or 80-20 rule helps identify the most efficient way of doing things that will bring the most returns. For example: In the investment world — it implies 80% of your returns are from 20% of your holdings.
What is the 4% rule for mutual funds?
The 4% rule is a popular retirement withdrawal strategy that suggests retirees can safely withdraw the amount equal to 4% of their savings during the year they retire and then adjust for inflation each subsequent year for 30 years.
Reinvest Your Payments
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
| Fund Name | 5 Years Return | 10 Years Return |
|---|---|---|
| Kotak Emerging Equity Scheme (G) | 21.8% | 22.4% |
| Motilal Oswal Midcap fund (G) | 25.6% | 22.1% |
| Kotak Small Cap fund (G) | 25.1% | 21.9% |
| HSBC Value fund (G) | 20.7% | 21.2% |
Some experts recommend withdrawing 4% each year from your retirement accounts. To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.
If you want to bring home an average of $100 per month ($1,200/year) in super safe dividend income, simply invest $13,800 (split equally, three ways) into the following ultra-high-yield stocks, which sport an average yield of 8.71%!
Approach to Mutual Fund Investment During a Crash
You need to stay invested and take advantage of rupee cost averaging. Markets have rewarded those who have not pulled out of their investments. For example, when markets fell 38% during the 2020 Covid crash, some funds compounded investors' wealth by 14% or even more.
Disadvantages include high fees, tax inefficiency, poor trade execution, and the potential for management abuses.
When it comes to equity, it is very important that, especially when you are thinking about long-term goals, you want to exit as soon as you have 2-3 years left approaching your goal and there are just 2-3 years to get there. That is number one.
According to experts, you should think about buying mutual funds when their NAV (Net Asset Value) is lower than their unit price. This will assist you to maximise your returns. Additionally, you should think about investing when the markets are at their lowest point.
Usually, their portfolio will contain 3-4 large-cap fund, another 3-4 mid-cap funds, few random debt funds, and perhaps a hybrid fund tucked in. This is a classic example of a messy, directionless, and a pointless portfolio. Ideally, you need to have non-overlapping mutual funds to avoid redundancy.
What investments never go down?
U.S. Treasury Bills, Notes and Bonds
Historically, the U.S. has always paid its debts, which helps to ensure that Treasurys are the lowest-risk investments you can own.
Technically, yes. You can lose all your money in stocks or any other investment that has some degree of risk. However, this is rare. Even if you only hold one stock that does very poorly, you'll usually retain some residual value.
In investing, the 80-20 rule generally holds that 20% of the holdings in a portfolio are responsible for 80% of the portfolio's growth. On the flip side, 20% of a portfolio's holdings could be responsible for 80% of its losses.
In general, you should save to preserve your money and invest to grow your money. Depending on your specific goals and when you plan to reach them, you may choose to do both. “When deciding whether to save or invest your money, it is essential to prioritize determining when you will need it,” says Maizes.
- High-yield savings accounts.
- Money market funds.
- Short-term certificates of deposit.
- Series I savings bonds.
- Treasury bills, notes, bonds and TIPS.
- Corporate bonds.
- Dividend-paying stocks.
- Preferred stocks.
