TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Sep 1, 2017, 12:36 IST

You can invest in mutual funds with amount as low as Rs 500. There is no upper limit for investing in mutual funds. Each mutual fund – be it equity or debt – has certain risk due to volatility and uncertainty in market. Ideally, you should be investing 10-20 per cent of your savings in mutual funds through monthly SIP.

Here are few points that you should keep in mind while investing in a debt or equity oriented schemes:

1) Goal
List down all your short-term and long-term goals in future such as holiday, marriage, children, education of children, retairment etc. Invest more into equities for your long-term needs as it is greatly possible to be aggressive in such cases. For your short-term needs, mutual funds with 1 year lock in can be adopted.

2) Risk capacity
The amount of investment risk you are able to take on is generally determined by your financial condition. Sudden financial shocks such as job loss, an accident etc. can affect your investment decisions by altering the amount of risk you’re able to afford. Your financial commitments such as home loan, business loan, car loan, expenditure in kids education etc. may also affect your investment risk capacity.

3) Age
When it comes to investing, age is as big factor as the other two mentioned above. The best time to start investing is when you are young. The best time to learn about the markets and how to deal with its risks is when you’re young. Young investors have decades before they need the money. They have more time for their investments to recover and make up the shortfall. Once you are into your 30s and 40s, allocate a greater fraction of your portfolio to minimal risk funds or long-term funds. Also allocate some money to equity funds for your aggressive goals.

4) Fund selection – debt or equity
Debt funds can give you steady returns but in a constant range. Since debt funds invest money in treasury bonds, there’s much less risk associated with them. Debt funds are good investment option when market is volatile. Equity mutual funds give good returns over the long period to time as compared to debt funds. However, the possibility of losses and negative returns is also higher when market is volatile. Equity funds are good when the markets are booming.

You may also consult financial experts before taking final decisions. Mutual fund agents and distributors can also help you in this regard.

Source: https://goo.gl/S9RnDz