[saket77]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

I did some analysis of the difference in expenses between Direct and Regular funds in the Flexicap category.
I downloaded the data into 2 Excel files (Regular and Direct), removed the ETFs, Index funds, and FoFs from the files so that I am left with only actively managed funds (74 funds).

Summary of the findings:

Average expense ratio among 74 funds: Direct - 0.78%; Regular - 2.00%

Highest expense ratio: Taurus Flexi Cap Fund (2.64 and 2.57)

So, going via a distributor (regular plan) is going to cost you 1-1.2% more. For a portfolio of, say 50L, that's an additional recurring cost of ~50,000 per year.

If you check the expense ratios, then yes, there can be this much of difference. But entire difference doesn't go to the distributor as commission.
But your point is taken that the investor does take a hit of this much difference in direct vs. regular.

[rx100]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Experts - I have a significant investment in UTI Flexi Cap Fund. This was an SIP I ran since 2014. But stopped due to fund performance issues in May 2023.

I want to move the funds over to my other funds. What should be the best solution for this.

Option A: Sell in tranches over the next few years to make use of the 1 lakh exemption in LTCG. But this would take about 10 years, at current valuations. And the fund and my investment in this suffers for those many years.

Remember LTCG introduced only in 2018, so for your investment from 2014 to Jan 31, 2018, you can apply grandfathering clause to find the fair value and exempt those gains.

[DigitalOne]

Below is for information purposes only and not investment advice.

Recently, as an existing investor of Nippon India Multi Asset Fund, I got an email stating they are changing the fundamental attributes of the fund to include Silver ETFs. There are also changes in the name of the fund, and the limits they will invest under different asset classes.

With this change effective 24th July, this fund will have 5 asset classes it will invest in - Indian Equity, Foreign Equity (currently invested via iShares MSCI World ETF), Indian Debt, Gold (via Nippon GOLDBEES ETF), and Silver ETF (likely via their own Silver ETF) - making it well diversified.

Silver has given an astonishing 25% returns this year. Silver, as I understand, is used in the manufacture of solar panels, electronics, EVs etc, and thus probably is why there is a spurt in the price of Silver.

This fund is efficient from a taxation perspective also. This fund holds between 35 to 65% in Indian equity, which means the STCG (<3 years holding) tax is based on your income tax slab and the LTCG tax is 20% with indexation. Over a long term, in combination with a SWP, this fund can be a good tax-efficient diversified addition to your portfolio.

Disclaimer - I am an investor in this fund, and not associated with Nippon AMC in any other way.

[vaibhav_a_a]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

[b]

Silver has given an astonishing 25% returns this year. Silver, as I understand, is used in the manufacture of solar panels, electronics, EVs etc, and thus probably is why there is a spurt in the price of Silver.

I have been watching silver for last few months and have some doubts to the real reasons. If this rally was purely fundamentals driven it could have started much earlier - at least two years earlier when focus on sustainable energy was high and india hosted the solar alliance's assembly. In 2023 India's industrial silver demand actually declined marginally, but average price between 2022 and 2023 shows a jump of ~40% (see link below for source data)

Silver remains very volatile and while these gains are great, remember that people who invested in 2011 or 12 remained stuck at that level for about a decade, recovering their investment with a modest gain by 2021 or 22. If you adjust for inflation (I havent) these gains may still be negative.

https://www.bankbazaar.com/silver-ra...-in-india.html.

Prices declined again in 2022 and rose sharply in 2023.

So while i completely agree that there is a genuine demand driven base case for silver's price, I am honestly perplexed with the recent rally and remain skeptical of the metal as a good, passive investment. It seems more tradeable and speculative to me.

I'd be happy to hear of ways in which you or anyone can recommend one can profit from silver over a 3, 5 or 10 year horizon.

[yosbert]

Mint has done a piece today on Sandeep Tandon, the CEO and face of Quant MF, and it is not a pleasant read. Even if a fraction of what is mentioned is true, I would be very worried about the long term prospects of my money in Quant.

[s4ch]

A family member has been investing in "LIC MF Unit Linked Insurance Scheme Reg-IDCW" via monthly SIP for about 7 years. The returns on this are not great, and they would like to exit and redeem the money and invest elsewhere.

They have asked me for help to do this but I don't quite understand how this scheme works. I had a look at their online dashboard on LIC MF, and while there is an option to pause the SIP, there is no option to withdraw.

I understand this is basically a ULIP and has a lock-in for 5 years, but I believe this is from the start date of the first investment and not that each individual monthly investment is locked in for 5 years. So they should be able to redeem the whole amount now. If this is wrong please correct me.

Please could someone help me understand in the most simple terms:

1) What exactly is this fund all about and how does the insurance part of it work?
2) How can they exit the fund and get their money back?
3) What would be the tax implications of redeeming the entire amount? (profits above 1 Lakh)

Many thanks for your help!

[saket77]

Originally Posted by yosbert

Mint has done a piece today on Sandeep Tandon, the CEO and face of Quant MF, and it is not a pleasant read. Even if a fraction of what is mentioned is true, I would be very worried about the long term prospects of my money in Quant.

Please post a link for others to go through.

Thanks.

[manowar]

Originally Posted by s4ch

Please could someone help me understand in the most simple terms:

1) What exactly is this fund all about and how does the insurance part of it work?

Life Insurance Cover to the extent of Balance of Target Amount i.e., Contributions yet to be made for the unexpired period of the
Scheme in case of the Regular Contribution Reducing Cover Option (this is what the scheme document says). Accident cover is also provided.

Originally Posted by s4ch

2) How can they exit the fund and get their money back?

The scheme document mentions a lock-in of 3 years. So redemption in your case should not be an issue.

Originally Posted by s4ch

3) What would be the tax implications of redeeming the entire amount? (profits above 1 Lakh)

Profits beyond Rs.1 lakh would attract Tax as per LTCG rates. You could tax harvest vide partial redemptions.

[RavSam]

Hi everyone!
Can anyone tell me what is this "HDFC Defence Fund" and if it's worth having SIP in it?

[DaptChatterjee]

Originally Posted by RavSam

Hi everyone!
Can anyone tell me what is this "HDFC Defence Fund" and if it's worth having SIP in it?

It’s a sectoral/thematic fund launched last year which invests in defence sector. We should strictly avoid all these sectoral/thematic funds like the plague. Read the articles below for further understanding-
link 1
link 2

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by DaptChatterjee

It’s a sectoral/thematic fund launched last year which invests in defence sector. We should strictly avoid all these sectoral/thematic funds like the plague.

I can’t comment on whether one should avoid or not, but it’s not completely defence sector, they have the diversification in different sectors, past one year the fund has really done good, but can’t say how it will behave in the future.

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by saket77

Please post a link for others to go through.

Thanks.

It was in today's Mint newspaper. The online version is behind paywall
https://www.livemint.com/companies/p...591601633.html

[vaibhav_a_a]

Originally Posted by RavSam

Hi everyone!
Can anyone tell me what is this "HDFC Defence Fund" and if it's worth having SIP in it?

So the news two days ago was that HDFC restricted new SIP regns into this fund : https://www.business-standard.com/fi...1000716_1.html

If you read this and other related articles, it says the SIPs are capped at 10K INR per month but no details on lumpsum. I cannot say if this is an advisable mf as i am not an investment advisor but I'd give this one a good, hard look and study in depth. Philosophy of stopping investments seems correct - if valuations are too rich, then one can avoid investing.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by vaibhav_a_a

So the news two days ago was that HDFC restricted new SIP regns into this fund : https://www.business-standard.com/fi...1000716_1.html

If you read this and other related articles, it says the SIPs are capped at 10K INR per month but no details on lumpsum. I cannot say if this is an advisable mf as i am not an investment advisor but I'd give this one a good, hard look and study in depth. Philosophy of stopping investments seems correct - if valuations are too rich, then one can avoid investing.

Top 2 holdings in this fund constitute more than 42% of the portfolio. It might have performed well given the recent run but I don't suggest investing in such a fund where only 2 PSU stocks constitute almost half the portfolio. High risk to take in my opinion.

[ruskinash]

I am curious to see where this is headed.

https://www.livemint.com/market/stoc...766613291.html