Long-term investments aim to finance distant future goals, like college education, home, retirement, etc. Hence, choose a fund suitable for wealth creation. Long-term goals have a horizon beyond 10 years and equity-oriented schemes(>=65% equity allocation) are the one of the best long-term investment option. Equities have a higher potential for growth even though more volatile in the short-term as compared to hybrid and debt funds.A well-diversified equity fund is more likely to offer stable growth over the long-term.
Look for funds with higher risk-adjusted returns (Sharpe ratio) i.e. funds offering higher returns for same level of risk.Expense ratios impact fund returns over long-term due to compounding effect. Choose a fund with lower expense ratio, meaning more funds are available for investment that can boost the fund’s return over long-term. Check the fund manager’s track record to see if he has been delivering good results. Look at the kind of funds he has managed and if his funds have consistently outperformed peers.You can also look at funds with higher beta for long-term investments as they tend to gain/lose more than the market, but markets usually move up. Hence a higher beta would mean your fund will gain more than the market in the long-run.
