Goals vs funds

For better or worse, government and regulatory action drive investors' behaviour. There's nothing wrong with it - this is a heavily regulated area worldwide, and entire categories of investments are either created or destroyed in response to the laws and regulations. In India, over the last few decades (perhaps two) or so, a lot has changed in mutual fund investing because of SEBI's actions. While entry load abolition, direct plans and the regularisation of fund categorisation have had the biggest impact, the downstream effect on the actual funds and investor choices has been immense. The biggest example has been the complete remaking of the longstanding hybrid categories. Terms like 'MIP' (monthly income plan) and 'balanced', which a couple of generations of investors grew up with, have completely changed,