Calculators

What is Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)?

Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) as the name suggest is a systematic way of investing in mutual funds. Investors can invest in mutual fund either through lumpsum mode, which involves making one-time investment, or through SIP mode, which requires making regular investment at pre-defined time interval. The concept of SIP is very similar to Recurring Deposit (RD) concept, which is prevalent in banking system, and differs only with regard to the final destination of investment – in bank RD, the investment will rest with banks whereas in mutual funds, depending on the type of mutual fund, the investment will rest in either equity or debt market.

What are the advantages of SIP?

SIP mode of investment has become very popular among retail investors in India as it allows small amount of investment in different types of mutual fund & various funds across categories also delivered decent returns on account of rupee cost averaging benefits. Although there are lot of benefits of investing through SIP mode, same can be summarized through below mentioned points;

• Disciplined Savings : As SIP involves regular investment, generally every month although daily, weekly or fortnightly options are also available, it inculcates habit of keeping aside small amount money from income earned every month, thereby helping build a saving corpus.

• Rupee Cost Averaging: SIP investments are spread over longer duration of time and is made at regular intervals which encompass both the ups and downs of the market. Investment at different levels of the market averages out the buying cost in the long run - few mutual fund units are bought at high Net Asset Value (NAV) and some at low NAV which averages out the cost, and being invested for longer horizon delivers higher returns.

• Simple, convenient and easy to monitor: Unlike RD or any other bank deposit which requires multiple branch visits or regular updation of passbook, investment in SIP is very simple to start and can be made completely online. In addition to the mutual fund companies websites there are many online platform which provide these services & being online also helps to track the live performance of the funds thereby giving real time status of the investment.

• Power of Compounding: 8th Wonder of the World as it is referred to many a times gives the power of compounding to SIP investment as the investment in equity markets are compounded on daily basis - longer the investors remain invested, larger the impact on portfolio. As mutual funds are meant for long term investors, many gets higher returns by remaining invested for long term.

• Achieve your Goals: Goal based investing as a concept is gaining a lot of traction in India as investors have started to realise that if they assign a goal to each of their investment, it become easier to set the expectation from the investment. Investment in mutual fund through SIP is widely used in India today to achieve various life stages goals such as child education, holiday planning or retirement planning.

• No need to time the market: Handful of seasoned investors across the globe would have timed the market correctly and even they would think that they were lucky to get the timing right. So, the learning is that it’s almost impossible to time the market and is better invest at regular interval so as to average out the cost. Rupee cost averaging in SIP removes the need to time the market.

Which is the best SIP plan in India today?

Which funds to invest in depends on lot of factors with the most important being your risk appetite investment objective and investment horizon. ‘FundsPi’ offers you multiple funds and solutions to choose from. Click on various options below to select the funds that suit you the most.

• Top Gold Funds

• Top Tax Saver Funds

• Top Equity Funds

• Alternative to FDs

• Better than Savings account

• Bluechip Funds

Why one should invest through SIP?

SIP allows investors to make a small or big amount of investment at pre-defined intervals. The amount saved for investment at pre-defined intervals not only inculcates the habit of regular saving but being invested for long term in equities also help achieve much higher returns on the invested amount compared to other traditional investment avenues such as RD, bank deposits or post office schemes. SIP becomes the most beneficial way of investing in mutual fund as it offers many benefits such as Rupee-Cost averaging, Power of Compounding, Disciplined savings and many other compared to other avenues of investment.

How does SIP Calculator works?

SIP calculator as the name suggest calculates the final value of your SIP investment assuming certain rate of return on investment which you would make over a period of time. In SIP calculator, to calculate the final value of your investment you will need to input the amount you wish to invest every month, initial investment you want to make towards the SIP, the number of months or year you would continue SIP and the expected returns from the investment. One can use SIP calculator to simulate many scenarios taking into consideration different rate of return, SIP amount or tenure and choose the one for investment that suits him/her most.

What is better SIP or Lumpsum investment?

Numerous studies have shown that investing at regular intervals in equity market over long period of time outweighs one-time investment gains as the regular investment covers for both ups and downs in the market which helps in averaging out the purchase cost of the mutual fund units. Theoretically, if the equity market moves continuously in upward direction, returns from SIP investment would lag lumpsum investment but the very basic element of equity market is volatility which makes a strong case for investment through SIP mode.

How much one can invest through SIP?

Investors can start a SIP in mutual fund with as low as Rs.100 per month.

What is the maximum tenure of SIP?

There is no cap on maximum tenure of SIP and you can choose any number of years or months for your SIP investment. Best part of SIP is that you can stop or start a new SIP with same folio at any point in time provided you hold minimum number of units under the same folio.

Is SIP different than mutual fund?

SIP is one way of investing in mutual funds & can be assumed as the part of the mutual funds.

Can we modify the SIP amount?

Yes. You can modify the SIP amount. You can increase, decrease, skip or pause the SIP amount.

What are the different types of SIP?

Although there are different types of SIPs in the market but the most popular are the one as highlighted below.

• Top-up SIP: Increase the amount at different time

• Flex SIP: Increase or decrease the amount

• Trigger SIP: SIP gets triggered at pre-set time interval or NAV target

• Perpetual SIP: Never ending SIP

• Pause SIP: Stop and re-start SIP at pre-set time interval or value target

Can one stop SIP?

Yes, one can stop the SIP at any point in time.

Can one restart the SIP?

One cannot restart the SIP but same folio number can be used to start another SIP so that all units are held under single folio number.

Can I renew the SIP?

Yes, you can renew the SIP. To renew the SIP, you need to send renewal instructions 30 working days before the last SIP date. If the existing SIP expires, it can renewed using same folio number.