Mutual Funds For NRIs: Key Mistakes To Avoid And Smarter Ways To Invest

Living abroad often means managing financial responsibilities across geographies, from funding a child’s education overseas to building a retirement corpus in India.

Real wealth creation is not just about chasing returns; it is about consistently outpacing inflation.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

By Harsh Gahlaut

As the Indian markets present a great investing opportunity, NRIs are showing increased interest in being part of India’s growth story by investing in Mutual Funds and creating wealth over the long term. However, while mutual funds can deliver attractive growth, if they are not mapped to your long-term goals, even the best-performing funds may fail to serve their true purpose.

For NRIs, this alignment is even more critical. Living abroad often means managing financial responsibilities across geographies, from funding a child’s education overseas to building a retirement corpus in India. Without precise goal mapping, investments can become scattered and misaligned with your actual goals. That is why linking every rupee you invest to a defined financial purpose is essential.

The ‘Why’ Before the ‘Where’

Before choosing any fund, you need absolute clarity on your investing purpose. Are you building a retirement corpus, funding your child’s higher education, buying a home or simply creating long-term wealth? Each of these goals requires a customised approach where the choice of funds, the level of risk and the investment horizon are directly mapped to the purpose they are meant to serve.

Without this clarity, your portfolio can resemble a collection of random investments, influenced by market noise or ill-advice. For NRIs, this risk is amplified because decisions are often made remotely, and if conflict-free investment advice is not accessible, the risk of making random investments increases, compromising the achievement of long-term goals.

Prioritise Asset Allocation and Informed Risk

Real wealth creation is not just about chasing returns; it is about consistently outpacing inflation. Take higher education as an example. Tuition fees at US universities are estimated to rise by about 8 per cent annually, doubling every eight years. Add living expenses, and the effective inflation rate can touch 10-12 per cent. Unless your portfolio is aligned with such specific long-term goals, you risk falling short when it matters most.

This is where asset allocation and informed risk come in. To meet long-term objectives, equity should form the backbone of your portfolio. Conservative, low-return assets may feel safe, but over time they can quietly erode your wealth. By aligning investments to your goals, you ensure that you take the right level of informed risk enough to beat inflation and achieve your long term goals.

Choosing between a DIY and a Bionic Investing Platform 

Success in long-term investing largely depends on the platform you choose to invest through. Do-it-yourself or DIY platforms are usually transactional in nature. They provide transactional efficiency and use standard algorithms to recommend investments. The investing journey is long and needs careful guidance, which these platforms are unable to provide. DIY platforms often miss the behavioural aspect of investing, which is to help investors stay invested through the ups and downs of the market.

Bionic investing platforms, on the other hand, combine technology with human expertise. This makes the investment process more purposeful and aligned with your life goals rather than just products. A good Bionic platform can customise the investment journey and recommend funds based on your goals, risk appetite and investing purpose. It provides access to investing experts who understand both goal planning and the behavioural side of investing, helping you avoid the pitfalls of emotion-led investment decisions. Additionally, bionic platforms are able to provide NRIs with critical service support like assistance with KYC updates, FATCA compliance, changes to NRE/NRO accounts, transactional support, etc., which ensures that investments run smoothly and remain uninterrupted.

Avoiding the Trap of Mis-Selling

NRIs are often more vulnerable to mis-selling because investment decisions are made remotely or during short visits to India. Without clear goal alignment, it is easy to get trapped in products that look attractive on the outside but don’t serve real objectives, whether that is an insurance plan disguised as an investment or a trendy, themed fund with no alignment to your financial objective. The golden rule is, if an investment does not serve a defined long-term goal , it should not be part of your portfolio. 

Finally, India’s growth story is unfolding, and NRIs have a unique chance to be part of it. But real wealth creation will not come from chasing returns, timing the market or chasing the trendiest investment. It will come from clarity, purpose and disciplined goal alignment. 

At the end of the day, your investments should be a reflection of your goals. Remember, when you know your ‘why,’ your ‘where’ naturally falls into place.

(The author is Co- founder and CEO, FinEdge)

[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]

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