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Blogs Personal Finance

7 Things to Discuss With Your Financial Advisor

Financial freedom isn’t far when you have an expert handling your investments. A Financial Advisor can speed up your journey to achieve your dreams faster. 

In the era of Robo-Advisory, the majority of investors are still seeking advice from financial planners

In fact, 53 Lakh demat accounts became inactive between 2022 and 2023. The reason is quite simple. DIY investment apps and FinFluencers aren’t qualified enough to guide you in the right direction. They cannot help you beyond a certain limit. 

Tomorrow when you are stuck, only an experienced advisor can guide you. But that is only possible when you are transparent with them.

Your advisor can provide calculated advice only when they know you better. So here are some things you need to tell your advisor without hesitation. 

Things You Should Tell Your Financial Advisor

1. Your Financial Assets

Your financial advisor would want to know about your financial assets. This includes your investments across various instruments like Mutual funds, FDs, Bank accounts, Gold/Silver, Real estate, and everything else.

Better not to hide anything. Otherwise, your portfolio analysis may show different outcomes. 

Your financial planner will review your portfolio to understand risk tolerance or duplicate investments. This will help them provide a custom investment plan. 

2. Your Liabilities, Debt, and Existing EMIs

Aren’t EMI deductions annoying right after your salary lands in your account? Welcome to adulthood. 

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to ease up EMIs and liabilities. 

Tell the exact numbers to your financial advisor. They’ll outline a sustainable strategy to comfortably transact EMIs, clear debt, and save funds for emergencies. 

3. Major Expenses and Your Financial Goals

A wedding, purchasing a property, or children’s education abroad can be major expenses. You may have to take a loan and figure out the repayment installments.

But, you can invest in various funds/schemes to comfortably handle these expenses. That’s something you may not be able to figure out on your own. 

A financial advisor will align your investment horizon depending on your planned expenses and goals. 

A quick example: If you want to buy a car in the next 6 months, then Ultra Short Duration Debt funds would be helpful. But if you are planning for retirement, then you need a combination of long-term Equity Funds, Debt Funds, and other schemes. 

4. Your Family

It’s understandable to not want to share personal details with anyone. However, your family is a part of you. 

Being able to provide the best life for them is a dream for all. And you can fulfill that dream by aligning your finances accordingly.

Talk about your family and their potential expenses with your advisor. They’ll help you afford the best life for your loved ones.

Don’t forget to include your children’s education, healthcare, and overall lifestyle. They are going to be your successors someday. It is wise to inform about them to your advisor. 

If you have a special child, the advisor will assist you with setting up a trust with specific instructions to take care of them even in your absence.

Knowing everything about your family will ensure a thorough financial plan.

5. You and Your Family’s Health

Hospital bills can put a solid dent in your savings. All your hard work can wash away because of poor healthcare planning.

Don’t worry! You can create a healthcare plan and emergency funds with the help of your financial advisor. For that, you should inform them about existing health conditions. 

Maternity planning can also be discussed with your advisors. Having a child can be expensive. Might as well be financially ready before bringing a new life into the world. 

A well-outlined healthcare plan can save you headaches. 

6. Your Spending Habits

What’s your monthly expense? Where do you spend the most?

Spending habits can make or break your savings. But that doesn’t mean you have to cut down on spending on things you love.

You can spend comfortably by strengthening your financial plan. Discuss your spending habits with your advisor. Have a chat with them about how you can spend without burdening your savings. 

Be open to cutting down some expenses that do not cater to your growth. Your advisor will analyze your spending and guide you with sustainable budget planning. 

7. Ask Questions

Financial Advisors essentially design an investment plan suitable to YOU. They’ll encourage you to ask as many questions as you want.

If they don’t, then there’s a problem. A good financial advisor will always give you their time. They’ll avoid conflict of interest and prioritize your expectations. 

Note down all the concerns you may have. Sit down with your advisor to explore possibilities. 

You may like to read:

What to look for in a financial advisor.

5 reasons to break up with your financial advisor.

How Much Fee Does A Financial Advisor Charge?

Financial Advisors at VNN Wealth DO NOT charge any fees from investors. We make our money from Mutual Fund houses and not from our clients.

Final Thoughts

Would you hide your symptoms from a doctor? No, right? Because that will change the diagnosis. And you won’t get the right treatment. 

Similar is the case with your finances. The more transparency you create with the financial advisor, the better outcomes you’ll receive.

Of course, the first step is to choose the right financial advisor. Look for an advisor with the right knowledge and licenses. Make sure they are focusing on YOUR goals and not their benefits. 

Keep an active communication with your advisors. Ask them to show the results on a regular basis. 

Today is the day you declutter your finances and start building wealth.

Categories
Blogs Mutual Funds

Multi Cap Mutual Funds: Investment Across Market Capitalization

Multi Cap Mutual Funds are equity funds that invest across market capitalization. Fund managers distribute your assets among Large-Cap, Mid-Cap, and Small-Cap companies. 

It’s safe to say that these funds are synonymous with portfolio diversification across the market cap. You don’t have to manually pick funds when Multi Cap can do the job for you.

Investors with low to moderate risk appetite can invest in these funds. But before that, let’s understand how these funds work.

How Multi Cap Mutual Funds Work?

Earlier, these funds used to invest at least 65% of total assets among equity and equity-related funds. Meaning, fund managers had the freedom to decide the allocation across market capitalization.

However, in Sept 2022, SEBI circulated a new rule for Multi Cap Mutual Funds:

Now, fund managers must invest at least 25% each in Large-cap, Mid-cap, and Small-cap companies, making the total 75%. 

Fund managers can increase the focus to a particular market cap with the remaining 25%.

How Are These Funds Different than Flexi-Cap Funds?

In Flexi-Cap Funds, fund managers are required to allocate at least 65% of total assets in equity. But there is no threshold of minimum investment in each category. 

Why Invest in Multi Cap Mutual Funds?

1. Exposure Across Market Capitalization

Investing in Multi cap funds unlocks exposure across Large-cap, Mid-cap, and small-cap funds. 

Each of these categories has a varying risk-reward structure. Multi-cap funds offer a balance by investing at least 25% in each category to encourage diversification. 

2. The Right Balance to Sustain Market Conditions

After investing 75% across market capitalization, the remaining 25% can be used to your benefit. 

Fund managers make a calculated decision depending on the market conditions. If the Small and Mid-cap funds are overvalued, the remaining 25% can go into Large-cap. Or vice-versa.

This method shifts the focus of the funds into either Large-cap or Small/Mid-cap. This brings us to the next point. 

3. Risk-Adjusted Returns

These funds deliver risk-adjusted returns because of the balanced allocation. Fund managers can tweak the allocation with the remaining 25% to balance the risk.

Multi-cap funds are certainly less risky than pure Small-cap or pure Mid-cap funds. And these funds will deliver superior returns than pure Large-cap funds. 

Things to Consider Before Investing in Multi-Cap Funds

1. Investment Horizon

Equity mutual funds deliver superior returns in the long run. You may want to consider staying invested for at least 5 years or more. 

Longer duration acts as a safety guard against market volatility. Invest only if you are comfortable with a longer investment horizon. 

You can also start SIP

2. Risk

Sure, these funds balance the risk-reward. However, it’s always better to be aware of the asset allocation. 

Investors with a low-risk appetite can go with Large-cap focused funds. Otherwise, multi-cap funds with small/mid-cap focus have the potential to make more profit. 

3. Fund House/Fund Manager

Returns on these funds depend on the fund manager’s strategy. They shift the allocations based on their analysis.

It is important to know the fund house/manager’s strategy, scheme policy, and rolling returns. You can find this information on the scheme’s factsheet. 

4. Expense Ratio

Multi-cap funds are actively managed by fund managers. Therefore, investors will have to pay a small annual fee in the form of an expense ratio. 

You can find the expense ratio structure in the fund’s factsheet. 

Note: The expense ratio is not a huge dent in your returns. A higher expense ratio is not a bad thing. Sometimes, fund houses may charge extra but the returns will also be higher compared to other schemes in the similar category. 

If you want to check, compare the expense ratio and the rolling returns of the funds in a similar category. That is, see the performance of the multi-cap funds of various fund houses.

Tax Implications on Multi Cap Mutual Funds

Taxation on these funds is similar to any other equity funds. It depends on the investment horizon. 

Investors have to pay:

  • 15% tax on Small-Term Capital Gains (Investment held for <12 months)
  • 10% tax on Long-Term Capital Gains above 1 Lakhs (Investment held for >12 months.)

Note: Long-term capital gains up to 1 Lakh are tax-free.

Who Should Invest in Multi Cap Mutual Funds

These funds are suitable for first-time investors as well as investors looking for a balanced portfolio.

Instead of going for a specific category, first-time investors can begin with Multi cap funds. These funds are great to introduce diversification in your portfolio.

Investors looking for long-term investments can welcome these funds into their portfolios. Instead of pure small-cap or pure mid-cap. Multi cap funds are less risky. 

Conclusion

Distributing your assets across market capitalization is a great way to balance risk-reward. Though it can be tedious to manually ensure diversification. 

That’s when Multi cap funds come into the picture. These funds can be a great start to get the best of all equity worlds. 

We’d recommend starting a SIP and benefiting from compounding. As these funds can stay for the long-term, you’d end up building a large corpus. 

Reach out to our advisors to know more about Equity Mutual Funds. We’ll help you introduce a proper balance to your portfolio.

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