Benefits of Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds

Everyone will tell you that investing in a mutual fund is a good idea and it probably is because where else will you get to invest in the equity and debt markets without having to bother about knowing how to understand them. Making the decision to invest in a mutual fund, however, is the easy part. The difficult part comes when it’s time to choose a fund or an asset management company to invest with. There are quite a few companies like Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds out there offering mutual funds and making a decision is a matter of some research but to help you narrow that search, here are some things, or benefits, that you get access to when investing in Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds.

Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds

Benefits of Birla Sun Life mutual funds

The benefits offered by Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds can be classified into the funds that they offer based on the objective of the investor and the options that these funds can come with.

Wealth creation

The wealth creation plans offered by Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds are actually long term investments that aim to help investors grow their wealth. Currently there are 7 plan on offer (this figure can change depending on the company) and they offer investment opportunities in equities and gold. They are long term investments and can even invest in multi-national companies allowing investors to reap the benefits of the growth of a company outside India.

Tax savings

Tax saving mutual funds or ELSS are mutual funds where the investments are made in the debt or equity markets but the money invested in them by an individual is eligible for tax benefits. These funds have a lock-in period of 3 years, which is good because many of the other tax saving investments offer 5 year lock-ins. These plan offers 3 key benefits, the first is the obvious tax benefit on the investment, the second is that they too can help your money grow and the third is that right now the government has declared that long term capital gains from tax saving mutual funds will be tax free. It is worth noting that this offer can be withdrawn at any time so it would be best to check up on it before invest.

Savings

The savings plans are mutual fund investments that are meant to help investors save. They do this by concentrating on low risk investments and the debt markets. They can be a good idea for anyone who is investing in mutual funds for the first time and can’t afford to take too much of a risk. Some of these funds will invest in debt market instruments with short maturity periods and then too only those that are of the highest quality.

Regular income

A regular income plan, as the name suggests, are mutual funds that come with a risk rating of moderate and are designed to supplement the investor's income. This is done by offering plans that can provide monthly pay-outs. These are all long term investments and are made mostly in the debt markets with a small portion, about 10% to 15%, being invested in the equity markets to enhance the growth of the funds.

General options

Some of the other options that Birla Sun Life mutual funds can offer are:

• Systematic investment plans allowing for monthly payments
• Variety of risk profiles ranging from low to high
• Freedom for timing the markets
• Funds that are managed by extremely experienced fund managers

If you are pretty convinced that these are the investments that you wish to go in for, you must remember two things above all. The returns in a mutual fund are never guaranteed and that no matter which fund you invest in, the element of risk will always be there.

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Top Ten FinancialTips

Financial planning makes an important aspect of an individual’s life. Financial planning ensures that your finances are well planned and that you have enough savings and investments to ensure financial protection in times of trouble as well as sufficient growth of your money. In today’s world, money has become a necessity so deep that just amassing it is not enough, ensuring that your money grows is also an essential step of financial planning.

Top 10 Financial Tips

Here are a few tips that can make you save as well as grow your money so that you are financially covered at almost all points of time in your life.

1. Differentiate between wants and needs

There can be a thousand different things that you might want to buy but only a handful of things that you actually require. Avoiding to splurge unnecessarily on things that are not essential is one of the foremost rules of financial planning.

2. Set aside a little emergency cash each month

While huge savings isn't a matter of minutes, setting aside a small amount every month will ensure that little by little you are able to build a sufficient corpus for times of emergency or urgent financial need.

3. Form a basic monthly budget and try sticking to it

Budgets are the best way to plan your spends. Overspending is an issue with almost all individuals and as such sticking to a basic monthly budget proves to be a beneficial strategy for better financial planning. Monthly budget can also help you realize your essential versus non-essential expenditure.

4. Drop excessive use of credit cards

While credit cards offer great financial flexibility, overuse might result in inflated credit card bills which may eat into your monthly budget and destabilize it. So, restrained use of credit cards is the best policy.

5. Get a retirement plan in place

Think about your current lifestyle and how you want it to be during your older years and then based on these inputs, avail a retirement plan that would take care of days when you will no longer be earning.

6. Diversify your investment portfolio

Investing in just one or two types of financial instruments is not the best way to plan finances. Diversify your portfolio in order to hedge the risk associated with bad performing financial instruments.

7. Maintain a good credit history

Pay your credit card and other utility bills on time. Ensure all EMI payments are timely made so that your credit history is good and maintained that way. This will enable you to avail credit in times of urgent or sudden financial need.

8. Maximize benefits offered by employer

Take full advantage of all employee perks that your employer offers. This goes a long way in cutting down personal expenses and enhancing savings.

9. Check your insurance plans

Avail insurance plans but check that they do not have clauses that you are paying for without actually needing them anytime in the present or future. For example, going for life insurance policies makes sense only when you have dependents and not otherwise.

10. Invest some amount from your income

While saving is an extremely essential part of financial planning, investment too is very important. Considering the current global trends and inflation rate, just saving isn't enough since you also need to ensure growth of your money which can only be achieved via investment. Avail an investment tool that you are most comfortable with based on your risk appetite.

With the above few tips in mind, your financial planning will not only be sorted but will also yield returns that you will be happy to achieve.

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