A mutual funds is a kind of monetary vehicle comprised of a pool of cash gathered from numerous financial backers to put resources into protections like stocks, securities, currency market instruments, and different resources. Shared assets are worked by proficient cash supervisors, who distribute the asset's resources and endeavor to deliver capital additions or pay for the asset's financial backers. A common asset's portfolio is organized and kept up to coordinate with the speculation targets expressed in its outline.
Mutual funds give little or individual financial backers admittance to expertly oversaw arrangement of values, bonds, and different protections. Every investor, subsequently, takes part relatively in the increases or misfortunes of the asset. Common assets put resources into an immense number of protections, and execution is normally followed as the adjustment of the absolute market cap of the asset—determined by the totaling execution of the fundamental speculations.
When it comes to investing, investors face a dilemma as they have a plethora of option to select from and of course since it’s a question of ploughing their hard-earned money, they have to make the right decision. There are many investment channels like stocks, bonds, shares, money market securities and quite often, could be a combination of two or more. However, there is a certain edge by investing in Mutual Funds.
1. Expertise from the experienced
Mutual Funds are backed by a team of professional research analysts who analyse the current and potential holdings of the fund. Investment decisions are made by fund managers who gauge the performance of the fund(s) and analyse the prospects in the market that would lead to achieving the objective of the Mutual Fund scheme. Fund managers and research analysts are professionals with layers of rich experience and specialization in the field of Mutual Fund investments and asset management.
2. Superfluity of schemes
Investors or an investor who would prefer to invest in Mutual Funds, they are presented with a variety of option to select out of. Every Mutual Fund scheme has its own characteristic, scheme objective and targets the interest of an investor with similar investment interests. For instance, equity Mutual Funds are for a class of investors who prefer to create wealth over a longer period of time, by staying invested. While Debt/Bond funds are for investors who wish to achieve short-term financial goals. Apart from these, there are Balanced/Dynamic funds that switch the asset allocation as per market trends. For investors who prefer to purchase a certain segment sans professional involvement can go on to invest in passive funds or index funds. This advantage enables the investor to build a diversified portfolio at a lower cost.
3. Invest with small amounts
An important and riveting component of Mutual Fund schemes are the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) and Equity-Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS). The former feature of SIP facilitates for investors to invest in small and regular intervals. One can start investing with Rs. 1000; this not only helps new investors to develop a habit of discipline investing, but also has little or no effect on other financial commitments. Talking about ELSS, this route enables the investor to attain the maximum benefit under 80c of the income tax act, allowing the investor to benefit a tax exemption of up to 1.50 lacs. However for ELSS, there is a lock-in period of minimum 3 years. To invest in ELSS, one can start with an amount as small as Rs. 500.
4. Ease of convenience
Since the advent of internet, online services have also penetrated into the space of Mutual Fund investments, wherein investors have the choice to make online transactions which adds up to their convenience. This attribute offered by many Mutual Fund houses, is basically a hassle-free, paperless portal. Further, features like SIP calculator, Goal calculator; amongst other tools enable the investor to understand their investment requirements.
5. Defeats the invasion of inflation
By investing in Mutual Funds, an investor shields his investments from the monster of inflation. Mutual Funds provide an ideal investment option to place your savings for a long-term inflation adjusted growth. This prevents devaluation of the purchasing power of your hard-earned money over the years. By investing in Mutual Funds via Systematic Investment Plan, one can tackle inflation with the power of compounding.
Everyone who has a particular financial goal, be it short-term or long-term, should consider investing in mutual funds. Investing in mutual funds is an excellent way to accomplish your goals faster. There are mutual fund plans that suit all personas. Investors need to assess their risk profile, investment horizon, and goals before getting started with their mutual fund investment. For example, if you are risk-averse and planning to purchase a car in five years, then you may consider investing in gilt funds. If you are ready to take some risk and are planning to buy a house in a period of fifteen to twenty years, then you may consider investing in equity funds. If your investment horizon is less than two years and you are looking to earn higher returns than a regular savings bank account, then you may consider parking your surplus funds in a liquid fund.
Unlike stocks, you need not wait for any particular time to invest in mutual funds. This is because the fund managers and his team of analysts pick only the right securities and assets at all times and are going to benefit the investors, regardless of the market condition. Also, if you are investing via an SIP, then you are going to benefit from both down and high market cycles. When the markets are down, you end up buying more fund units as the stock prices would have fallen to their fresh lows, and when the markets shoot up, you buy lesser units. This is called the rupee cost averaging. This benefit is available only in the case of investing in mutual funds via SIP. Hence, you need not wait for any particular time to invest in mutual funds. The best time to invest in mutual funds is now!
Taxation of Mutual Fund
Dividends offered by all mutual funds are now taxed classically. They are added to your overall income and taxed as per your income tax slab. Capital gains offered by mutual funds are taxed based on the holding period and their type. The holding period is the duration over which you have stayed invested in a mutual fund.
- Equity Funds
If you exit an equity fund within a holding period of one year, then you make short-term capital gains. These gains are taxed at a flat rate of 15%. You make long-term capital gains on exiting an equity fund after a holding period of one year. Long-term capital gains of up to Rs 1 lakh a year are made tax-exempt. Any long-term gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh a year are taxed at a flat rate of 10%, and there is no benefit of indexation provided.
- Debt Funds
You make short-term capital gains on exiting a debt fund holding within three years. These gains are added to your overall income and taxed as per your income tax slab. Long-term capital gains are realised on redeeming your debt fund holdings after three years. These gains are taxed at the rate of 20% after indexation.
- Hybrid or Balanced Funds
If the equity exposure of a hybrid is more than 65%, then the fund is taxed like an equity fund. If not, then the rules of taxation of debt funds apply. Therefore, you need to be aware of the equity exposure before you decide to invest in a hybrid fund to plan your taxes correctly.
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