Wealth

Instead of withdrawing at maturity, investors can extend their PPF account and keep their retirement corpus growing.

For investors focused solely on building a Rs 1 crore corpus in the shortest possible time, SIPs in diversified equity mutual funds generally hold the advantage, driven by the long-term return potential of the stock market.

SIPs and lump sum investments have their own benefits, risks and utilities. Investors with access to both options may wonder how they can best maximise their returns.

The Rule of 114 is a widely used personal finance formula that helps investors calculate the approximate number of years required for their investment to grow three times at a fixed annual rate of return.

Open a bond investing app and investors can browse through dozens of offerings promising annual returns of 10%, 11% or even 12% — yields that often look far more attractive than fixed deposits and, at first glance, appear less risky than equities.

A monthly salary of Rs 1 lakh can pave the way to a Rs 5 crore corpus by consistently investing 30-40% of income in mutual fund SIPs for over 25 years.

With disciplined saving and investment through SIPs, you can build a corpus of over Rs 1 lakh within a year even with a monthly salary of Rs 40,000.

Another factor to consider is the cost of currency conversion. Every time you exchange rupees for dollars, you may have to pay exchange-rate margins, forex conversion charges, GST and other service fees.

A comparison between a Rs 10,000 monthly SIP and a Rs 10 lakh lump sum shows an interesting result in mutual fund investments. 

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Both advisors argued that the discussion should not be limited to gold. Instead, it should prompt investors to think more broadly about diversification.

In an exclusive interaction with NDTV Profit's Managing Editor Tamanna Inamdar at the channel's Townhall Event, Shankar Sharma highlighted that SIPs have only made money for the institutional investors, but has been like a 'forced EMI' for retail investors.

Parents or legal guardians can open an SSY account with a minimum annual deposit of Rs 250 and contribute up to Rs 1.5 lakh per fiscal.

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Speaking to NDTV Profit, Bhattacharya said investors should avoid overly concentrated portfolios but also resist the temptation to own too many stocks in the name of diversification.

Paharia said PGIM has remained meaningfully underweight information technology stocks over the past year, citing artificial intelligence as a genuine long-term disruptor to traditional IT services business models.

The EPFO 3.0 system aims to make withdrawals paperless, faster and more convenient, allowing members to access their savings in seconds instead of waiting days or weeks for claims to be processed.

PPF offers peace of mind with a respectable Rs 15.5 lakh corpus, while a well-chosen equity SIP could potentially grow it to Rs 25-35 lakh or more.

According to Basant Bafna of Mirae Asset Mutual Fund, the 'barbell' strategy broadly involves allocating money at both ends of the duration spectrum rather than concentrating investments in the middle.

The Indian mutual fund industry has been receiving sizeable SIP inflows. SEBI has now proposed the concept of payroll-linked SIPs, which shall instil the habit of saving first before spending.