Once an investor has decided to invest in Mutual Funds, he has to make a decision of which scheme to invest in– Fixed Income Fund, Equity Fund or Balanced and which Asset Management Company (AMC) to invest with?
First, discuss freely with a mutual fund distributor/investment advisor what your objective is, what time period you’re comfortable with, and what your risk appetite is.
Decisions on which fund to invest in would be made based on this information.
- If you have a long term objective – say, retirement planning, and are willing to assume some risk, then an Equity or Balanced Fund would be ideal.
- If you have a very short term objective – say, money to be kept aside for a couple of months; a Liquid Fund would be ideal.
- If the idea is to generate regular income, then a Monthly Income Plan or an Income Fund would be recommended.
After deciding on the type of fund to invest in, a decision on the specific scheme from an AMC would have to be made. These decisions are usually made after ascertaining the AMC’s track record, suitability of scheme, portfolio details, etc.
Scheme Factsheets and Key Information Memorandum are two documents that every investor needs to peruse before investing. If one needs detailed information then one should look at Scheme Information Document. All of these are easily accessible at every Mutual Fund’s website.
