Last Updated on April 26, 2019 at 11:14 am
This week on reader story, Shashank Bisen talks about his mutual fund investing journey. Reader story is a series where freefincal readers talk about how they have managed money over the years and how their approach and attitude has changed. You can access the full archive of all past posts. If you are interested in sharing your story, you can send me a mail.
Part1: Getting introduced to mutual funds: It all started in Feb 2016, when I turned 30. My wife and I talked about extending our family and having adequate funds to support it along with my retirement. I always knew saving is necessary but how much should I save was a difficult question. Till now I use to save money in PPF and Tax saving Fixed Deposit. Then one day my head of Engineering Puneet Tanwar took a session in office telling is experience about the importance of saving and how mutual funds can give an edge in it.
Part2: Search for mutual funds: After the session, I spend a few days in trying to understand about Mutual funds and ways to invest in it. I was sure that I didn’t want to spend too much time in this as I was not sure if I had an appetite to take risk and time to manage and analyses which fund to choose.
During my exploration, I came across multiple sites like FundsIndia, Goalwise, Scripbox and few others. I tried registering to them and explore the options. The most prompt among them was Goalwise, I remember getting a call from them in few mins after registering for a call back from Swapnil (one of the founding members for Goalwise) introducing things like the different type of mutual funds like debt and equity funds. Along with that he also shared an excel sheet which asked my details of expenditure and helped me with calculating my retirement corpus, which was five crores 20 years down the line and made me realise that I am saving too less for my future.
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our robo-advisory tool & courses! 🔥
In further interaction, he introduced me to their risk assessment calculator and automatic rebalancing logic used by them to balance risk, at first everything seems to be what I was looking for, so I thought of going ahead with them, and hence I started a SIP with them from April 2015.
Part3: Getting introduced to Asan Ideas for Wealth
After nearly two years one day again I was having lunch with my Puneet Tanwar (Head Of Engineering), and we started discussing mutual funds and our experience so far in it, and he asked me if Goalwise is proving me direct or regular mutual funds and I had no idea what he was talking about. Later I went to his desk, and he found out they were providing me Regular mutual funds, and he showed me a difference in the expense of regular and direct mutual funds.
Later in the evening, he sent me links for freefincal to read and then added me to Asan Ideas for Wealth Facebook group. Meanwhile, whenever I had time I use to go through the blogs, and it seems like I can connect more through it, the best part was whatever question came across my mind after reading a blog was answered in another blog and it seems like I found someone who has the same thought process as I have.
Though I was not much active on Facebook, I used to check AIFW Facebook group once a day and started found out that I am not alone who is confused about saving and, it gave confidence that though I am a little late in understating the financial terms but not too late either.
Step4: Finally getting introduced to Direct Funds After being an active reader of both Freefincal and AIFW. I decided that the best way for me to plan my retirement in to save half of my monthly income and that too into direct funds. Hence from May onwards I started exploring few direct funds and invested in them for a few months through Kuvera after stopping all my active SIP’s through Goalwise.
Step5: Learning about index funds After a few months, I still had the same question before starting with Goalwise I always wanted things to be as simple as possible and didn’t want to run around researching which mutual fund is the best one and which among my portfolio is not performing well and needs to be removed.
The one day I came across Pattu sir’s bog on investing in index funds which gave me answers to my above questions.
And then from past 20 months the moment I receive my salary I invest half of in it the below funds and then invest the remaining after paying all my credit card bills (I live my entire month on credit cards, but I make sure I use them very wisely)
- UTI NIFTY 50 (50%)
- UTI NIFTY NEXT 50 (25%)
- PPFAS (25%)
- For Debt Part (as per my current assessment my EPF fulfil my needs)
And after a year of stopping my SIP from Goalwise, I have switched my funds (both debt and equity) to the funds mentioned above.
I maintain a balance of 4x of my monthly expenditure in my wife’s Kotak Mahindra bank account and use my annual bonus and stocks (after selling them) to plan out my next year family trips and rest as FD for an emergency.
I know I still need to go through a long journey and need to be prepared for the future, but I believe I am on the right track towards it.
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our courses, robo-advisory tool and exclusive investor circle! 🔥& join our community of 7000+ users!
Use our Robo-advisory Tool for a start-to-finish financial plan! ⇐ More than 2,500 investors and advisors use this!
Track your mutual funds and stock investments with this Google Sheet!
We also publish monthly equity mutual funds, debt and hybrid mutual funds, index funds and ETF screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
- Do you have a comment about the above article? Reach out to us on Twitter: @freefincal or @pattufreefincal
- Have a question? Subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.
- Hit 'reply' to any email from us! We do not offer personalized investment advice. We can write a detailed article without mentioning your name if you have a generic question.
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
About The Author
Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via Twitter(X), Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.Our flagship course! Learn to manage your portfolio like a pro to achieve your goals regardless of market conditions! ⇐ More than 3,000 investors and advisors are part of our exclusive community! Get clarity on how to plan for your goals and achieve the necessary corpus no matter the market condition is!! Watch the first lecture for free! One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos! Reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt while investing! Learn how to plan for your goals before and after retirement with confidence.
Our new course! Increase your income by getting people to pay for your skills! ⇐ More than 700 salaried employees, entrepreneurs and financial advisors are part of our exclusive community! Learn how to get people to pay for your skills! Whether you are a professional or small business owner who wants more clients via online visibility or a salaried person wanting a side income or passive income, we will show you how to achieve this by showcasing your skills and building a community that trusts and pays you! (watch 1st lecture for free). One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos!
Our new book for kids: “Chinchu Gets a Superpower!” is now available!
Must-read book even for adults! This is something that every parent should teach their kids right from their young age. The importance of money management and decision making based on their wants and needs. Very nicely written in simple terms. - Arun.Buy the book: Chinchu gets a superpower for your child!
How to profit from content writing: Our new ebook is for those interested in getting side income via content writing. It is available at a 50% discount for Rs. 500 only!
Do you want to check if the market is overvalued or undervalued? Use our market valuation tool (it will work with any index!), or get the Tactical Buy/Sell timing tool!
We publish monthly mutual fund screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
About freefincal & its content policy. Freefincal is a News Media Organization dedicated to providing original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on mutual funds, stocks, investing, retirement and personal finance developments. We do so without conflict of interest and bias. Follow us on Google News. Freefincal serves more than three million readers a year (5 million page views) with articles based only on factual information and detailed analysis by its authors. All statements made will be verified with credible and knowledgeable sources before publication. Freefincal does not publish paid articles, promotions, PR, satire or opinions without data. All opinions will be inferences backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence/data. Contact information: letters {at} freefincal {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)
Connect with us on social media
- Twitter @freefincal
- Subscribe to our YouTube Videos
- Posts feed via Feedburner.
Our publications
You Can Be Rich Too with Goal-Based Investing
Published by CNBC TV18, this book is meant to help you ask the right questions and seek the correct answers, and since it comes with nine online calculators, you can also create custom solutions for your lifestyle! Get it now.Gamechanger: Forget Startups, Join Corporate & Still Live the Rich Life You Want
This book is meant for young earners to get their basics right from day one! It will also help you travel to exotic places at a low cost! Get it or gift it to a young earner.Your Ultimate Guide to Travel
This is an in-depth dive into vacation planning, finding cheap flights, budget accommodation, what to do when travelling, and how travelling slowly is better financially and psychologically, with links to the web pages and hand-holding at every step. Get the pdf for Rs 300 (instant download)