I am a first time investor in mutual funds. I wish to invest in direct funds and plan to stay invested for the next decade. I want to start an SIP of Rs 1,000 each in SBI Bluechip, Franklin India Prima Plus and HDFC Balanced. Is this the right approach?
Govardhan Reddy, Hyderabad
It is a good idea to invest through SIPs in mutual funds for a decade. The funds short-listed by you are also good and you could start investing in them. However, you have not clearly stated the object to make the investment for this period. It will be in your best interest to invest with a goal and purpose. For instance, if you have a child for whom you wish to create an education corpus, having a ten year time frame helps. If you are in your 40s, you could be looking at investing for your retirement. Having a goal-based investing will enable you to have a clear end objective on what your money is needed for. Moreover, when you set such goals, you will be able to track its progress and ascertain how your investments are faring towards your financial goal. Make sure to track the performance of your investments at least once a year so that you can make any change to the fund selection if need be.