More of anything may seem fun and exciting. However, it’s commonly said and heard that ‘Too much of anything is bad’. Not only having too much of anything can be difficult to manage; it can also be mind-boggling. In the Mutual Fund space too, for both the investor and the mutual fund house; having lesser schemes becomes relatively simpler to make decisions and manage. To provide a solution, the regulator has now stepped in to make progressive reforms for the investors and the mutual fund houses. Read 5 Key reasons why ‘Less Is More’ here;
Clear the dust of confusion, doubt & fear
From a new investor’s point of view, having to choose an ideal fund from over 2000 funds offered by 43 Mutual Fund houses is a very difficult task. This is similar to a customer stepping in a store looking for something specific and then he/she ends up in picking almost everything and many a times, whatever that’s been purchased is not even of much use or irrelevant. In the same way, the investor too; can get flummoxed looking at the variety and yet after making a decision can still doubt on it and if it doesn’t work well for the investor, he/she can later apprehend from investing any further
Focus enough to master and make things simple
Now if there are fewer, focused options to choose from, it is a less tedious task for you to make the right pick. It is easier as clearly defined array of sharply differentiated alternatives are provided. The core concept of selecting a mutual fund scheme should not be based upon spotting the differences but on how a particular mutual fund scheme is in sync with your financial goals, risk appetite, investment horizon, so on and so forth. This helps you in not just selecting the fitting mutual fund scheme but also encourages the investor in staying invested as it’s easier to focus and simpler to master
If you buy the market, you can’t beat the market
Over-diversification can adversely affect your equity portfolio. An investor who opts to include a bunch of 8-10 mutual fund schemes which are equivalent to over 300 unique stocks, ends up owning 88% of the market. For you to achieve your financial goals, you would need to appropriately diversify amongst the available mutual fund schemes but duplicating schemes into your portfolio will cease to make any valuable contribution in your wealth creation journey. The most convenient way to achieve optimal diversification and reflect the right investment universe is by investing in one scheme per category that consist of not more than 20-25 stocks so that you avoid duplication of schemes in your equity portfolio
Ensure a level-playing field
Speaking of duplication of schemes, the regulation states that there should be one scheme per category to consolidate and rationalize the number of funds a mutual funds house is offering. This is to ensure a clear and hard-bound definition of categories and schemes for both the investors, intermediaries and the fund houses. To state an example, there are two Large Cap funds, each offered by two different fund houses. Here the portfolio one scheme consists of the top blue-chip companies, while the other consists of a combination of blue-chip as well as emerging stocks. The fundamental error observed in this comparison is that though both the funds are categorized under Large Cap; don’t consist of large-cap stocks entirely. It is as good as comparing Apples and Oranges because evidently, both belong to two different categories and are not fit for comparison
Higher fund performance
While categorization of funds is definitely a boon for a Mutual Fund house when it comes to having a few, rationalized schemes in every fund house which reflect the right investment universe. Taking cue from a school’s ideal teacher to student ratio of 1:20, a similar scale is expected from a mutual fund house where it is ideal to have one fund manager per scheme so he/she and the research analysts can fully concentrate on one portfolio and its performance. It is vital for their funds to perform well, beat the benchmark and deliver phenomenal returns. This can happen best when the fund house has lesser funds to offer or manage as focus lies on the performance of the handful of available schemes
