Here is why you should not invest in closed-ended mutual funds

Last Updated on August 7, 2016 at 2:36 pm

It is raining closed-ended mutual fund NFOs. Here is why one should avoid this category of mutual funds.

There are many articles that describe the features of closed-ended mutual funds. Therefore, I will not mention them here. Let us focus on the titular suggestion alone.

1) The first and foremost rule of purchasing – be it a financial product or a bottle of shampoo. Never buy anything based on unsolicited recommendations.

There is usually a pretty good reason why a product is recommend to you without your asking for it and it has nothing to do with you!

Bank branch mangers/relationship managers or mutual fund distributor are eager to push closed-ended mutual funds because of high commissions! In a closed-ended mutual fund, the intermediary is paid the entire commission of the tenure upfront, unlike a SIP or lump sum investment in an open-ended mutual fund.

This is the reason for the aggressive selling.

Yes, yes, yes, not all distributors are like that and all that sort of thing.

Let us choose to believe that investors read the SID cover to cover and chose, of their own free will, to invest an insignificant AUM of 4,500 Crore in such funds. Naturally no one made any promises of high returns to these investors.

Here is a simple way to ensure your relationship manager does not even recognise you as a human being: Invest before you spend and reduce the balance in your SB account to something small asap.

2) What are you doing with a lump sum in the first place?
If you are considering a closed-ended fund, you have a lump sum free to be invested (who on Earth would invest a small amount in such funds?!).

Ask yourself where does this lump sum figure in your scheme of things? Has it been tagged to a financial goal?

A person who has budgeted efficiently, accounted for all present and future expenses (foreseen and unforeseen) will not have any lump sum lying around to invest each time an NFO pops up.

3) Do you know how to expect when you are expecting?

Let us face it. Be it a sector fund or a fixed deposit, every investor has expectations. What are the expectations of a closed-ended mutual fund investor? Especially the ones who choose predominantly equity-based closed ended funds for 3 or 5 years.

Surely it is not a single digit return!

Just because redemptions are not allowed does not make a fund better. What matter is intelligent stock selection and the necessary time for the stocks to perform. There is no evidence that closed-ended funds have performed better than open-ended funds (you can check at VR online).

A skilled, experienced fund manager is certainly a plus for any active fund – closed or open. Unfortunately, that cannot guarantee returns. Equity as an asset class is too volatile for such short periods of time to  have any kind of return expectations.

It is time existing and prospective closed-ended fund investors learn about standard deviation and how compounding occurs in a volatile instrument. You could start here: Understanding the nature of the stock market returns.

A ‘veteran’ fee-based financial planner revered by his colleagues stated to a reporter that closed-ended funds are good because the money is locked-in therefore enabling many investors to spend time in the market. What utter bollocks!

If anyone says three years is long-term for equity investing, they are either trying to sell a product or are clueless about risk.

They call it advisory ‘business’ for a pretty good reason!

Launching equity-based closed-ended mutual funds is an opportunistic exercise by AMCs to lure investors clueless about equity investing. All things that look good on paper (acche din) do not turn out that way. At least not within a definite time frame.

Bottom Line: Closed-ended mutual funds are utterly unsuitable for goal-based financial planning. Stay away  …. unless you like clutter.