A mutual fund is one of the many ways through which one can build wealth. However, with so many different funds available from a variety of fund houses, how can one choose the right one? Investing in an investment fund might be difficult for you if you’re having trouble choosing one. In this article, we’re going to look at how you can do it.
How to choose and evaluate mutual funds?
You have a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right fund to invest in. Here are a few of the most important ones.
1. Investment Objective
The first factor that you would need to consider is your investment goal. By doing so, you can ensure that the mutual fund you invest in will produce returns consistent with your expectations. In other words, if you plan to save money for retirement, you can consider investing in a mutual fund that invests in both equity and debt.
2. Risk Tolerance
The next step is to match the mutual funds with your risk profile once they match your investment objective. As a continuation of the previous example, if you plan to save for retirement, equity mutual funds or hybrid mutual funds might be the best choice.
Which one will you choose from these two types of funds? Here’s where your risk profile or tolerance comes into play. As an example, if you are a moderate risk-taker, you may want to invest in hybrid funds. As an alternative, you may want to invest in equity mutual funds if you are a risk aggressive investor.
3. Fund Management
The next factor that you would need to consider is the way the investment fund is managed. Mutual funds can be divided into two types – actively managed funds and passively managed funds. The basket of stocks in an active management mutual fund is created and managed by a dedicated fund manager.
Moreover, they routinely reorganize and rebalance mutual funds to ensure that the fund meets its objectives. Passively managed funds, on the other hand, usually track an equity or debt index and may or may not have a manager. In order to replicate the performance of the index, such funds aren’t managed, reorganized or rebalanced frequently.
Actively managed mutual funds may be just what you’re looking for if you want to outperform the stock market and are willing to take on risk. However, if you’re happy following the market and don’t like taking too much risk, then passively managed mutual funds are what you need to invest in.
4. Fund Performance
There are dedicated online tools that can provide you with detailed information regarding the past performance of a mutual fund.
When you are satisfied with the performance of a mutual fund, then you can invest in it. You can use them to understand how it performed during different market conditions. However, past performance isn’t a guarantee of future performance, which means you should exercise caution when evaluating investment funds using this factor.
Conclusion
To invest in a mutual fund, you must have a demat account in your name. Open a demat account and a trading account with EquityBox today through a paperless account opening process.