Important factors to look at when investing in mutual fund schemes

Many mutual fund investors have an obsession with the returns they have got in the past. However, past performance is no guarantee for the future. So, apart from returns what other factors should investors look at?

According to Mohit Gang, CEO and co-founder of Moneyfront, the fund manager is a very important factor to look at. He said the right hands, right brain can do magic to an investor’s money.

He said, "Apart from the return, the first factor investors should look at is the fund manager – the person who is managing the money. Right hands, right brain can do magic to your money. So how old is your fund manager, what has been his experience in managing public money, how many cycles of the market he has gone through, there are some of the important factors to look at."

Gang added that the concentration or style of investing in the mutual fund scheme is also an important parameter to look at.

“One of the biggest parameters to look for in a mutual fund is concentration or style of investing. If 60 percent of the portfolio of the scheme is concentrated amongst 2 or 3 sectors then the scheme is highly concentrated. Also if you see that those sectors are more cyclical in nature then that can mean very high risk. So investors need to see how well the scheme is diversified across different sectors and stocks," he added.

Also, Harshvardhan Roongta of Roongta Securities discussed how investors can plan for different goals simultaneously.