Losing money in Mutual Funds - What should you do?

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Wikipedia defines Mutual Funds as “A mutual fund is an open-ended, professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to invest in multiple asset classes.” Mutual Funds make a great investment option; however, many investors suffer losses due to a lack of complete knowledge of it.

As a great financial instrument and investment option, mutual funds provide a high rate of return as compared to traditional financial products. Mutual funds are basically market-linked funds. Thus, they get affected by the market movements. Various factors like economic tension, geopolitical factors, recessions, pandemics, etc. also affect the markets and hence the mutual funds.

Many investors face a knee-jerk reaction and question their decisions after they lose money in mutual funds. However, one must stay calm and not make a decision in a hustle, keep reading, adhere to expert recommendations and stick to long-term investments to make profits.

Here's what you should do if you're losing money in mutual funds.-

1. Understand the Return process

It is natural for mutual funds to get affected from time to time as they are market-linked. As a prudent investor, you must always try to understand the process and the pattern in which your mutual funds perform. You must also understand that some categories of mutual funds are more volatile than others. Accordingly, try to study the pattern in which a particular fund performs.

You might lose a lot of money if you don't grasp the procedure. If you do not do a comprehensive exercise in this respect, you may wind up selling your investments when you need money, regardless of whether the timing is right or not. As a result, it is important to periodically evaluate and examine the performance process.

2. Do not be impulsive

Markets are absolutely dependent on timing and various other economic factors. Thus, patience is the key while investing in mutual funds. A wise investor should not impulsively indulge in making higher investments nor shall he stop investing when the funds are not performing well. Decisions taken in haste do more harm than good in the long run.

Analyze your risk profile and invest accordingly to make the best of the market timing and the mutual funds’ performance.

3. Diversify

Essentially, the best way to make the most out of mutual funds is to diversify. Diversify into various categories, check the ratings of the mutual funds, and analyze their performance over a stipulated period of time. Accordingly, make a decision to invest in more mutual funds. The higher amount of investment made either through the SIP route or by investing lump sum amount will translate into a higher recovery of profits when the markets perform well.

4. Avoid redeeming in a bear market

Redeeming in a bear market simply means turning your theoretical losses into actual losses. By doing so, you will simply wind up mismanaging your long-term wealth-building process. It is not always a good decision to disinvest when the markets are underperforming and then reinvest later. Your forecast may be incorrect, and all of your efforts to save and create money will be worthless.

5. Compare the performance of various mutual funds

Check the performance of your mutual funds with other mutual funds to understand if the downtrend is temporary or it is going to last for a long time. Comparison of the fund within the same categories and in different categories is one of the best strategies to understand the market trend.

Mutual funds do not always perform well because of the fund's quality, but rather because of market conditions. An investor must realize that losses will diminish over time and be turned to profits.

mastertrust enables you to track your portfolio with ease and invest in a simplified manner. It also shows a daily view of the performance of top-performing mutual funds so that you can always keep a track of your investments. Say goodbye to paperwork and conveniently do SIPs, STPs or SWPs with mastertrust’s qualified and customer centric services.

mastertrust also provides a single platform to invest, switch and redeem mutual funds at one go. To know more about mutual funds, mutual funds investment plans, and top-performing mutual funds, visit today!

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