'Feeling cheated by the market. 7 years of SIP and I'm done'

Summary: A Redditor recently vented: ‘Seven years of SIPs, Rs 11 lakh invested and only Rs 16 lakh today, at just 7–8 per cent CAGR. If I had bought land instead, I’d be sitting on double or triple returns by now.’ We break down why this frustration is misplaced, and explain why their post is misguided. We give three strong reasons why…

A few weeks ago, a Reddit headline caught my eye: “Feeling cheated by the market. 7 years of SIP and I’m done.”

The frustration was real. The poster, going by the name of Upbeat_Click_686, wrote:

“I’ve been investing in mutual funds through SIPs for the last 7 years — Rs 11 lakh invested. The current value? Barely touching Rs 16 lakh. That’s barely 7–8 per cent CAGR. Honestly, I expected better. Meanwhile, if I had bought land in my town, I’d have doubled or even tripled my money by now.”

This post struck a chord because it isn’t an isolated cry. Many investors, especially those who’ve been patient for a few years, feel the same way that somehow, the game is rigged against them and their mutual fund investments aren’t really growing as rapidly as they expected.

But before we give up on SIPs, let’s pause and note three important truths.

1. CAGR is not the right measure for SIPs

When you invest via SIP, you’re not putting in all your money on Day 1. You’re investing month after month, year after year. That means different instalments enter the market at different points, some at highs, some at lows.

So, looking at CAGR on the final corpus is misleading. The right way to measure SIP performance is XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return).

Think of XIRR as a way to measure the return on every rupee you invested, taking into account when it was invested. We have explained this in detail here.

Now, let’s run the numbers.

• If this Redditor invested Rs 11 lakh over 7 years, that works out to a monthly SIP of roughly Rs 13,000.
• Since the current corpus is Rs 16 lakh, the XIRR comes to about 10.97 per cent.

In other words, the Reddit poster’s SIP has delivered nearly 11 per cent annualised returns, almost in line with Nifty’s own growth over this period, which is about 11.13 per cent.

Therefore, far from being “cheated”, the mutual fund investments have been more or less in line with what the market (Nifty 50) has delivered. And this is overlooking the fact that the Reddit poster may have invested a portion of their SIP in low-risk, low-reward debt funds, which might have reduced overall returns.

2. Patience feels painful in the early years

This is perhaps the hardest lesson for investors: compounding feels slow at first.

Seven years in, Rs 16 lakh may not feel like much against Rs 11 lakh invested. But keep going, and the picture changes dramatically.

• Continue investing Rs 13,000 per month for just three more years at the same growth rate (11 per cent) and the corpus grows to Rs 27.7 lakh.
• If that sounds disappointing, stick around for five more years. In that case, the corpus swells to Rs 56.8 lakh.
• 10 more years and you’re past the Rs 1 crore mark.
• And if you stay the course for 20 more years? Your corpus touches Rs 2.36 crore.

This is the compounding curve at work. In the beginning, the line crawls. And then, suddenly, it sprints. Too many investors quit right before the sprint begins.

3. The lure (and illusion) of real estate

The poster also compared SIPs with real estate:

“If I had bought land in my town, I’d have doubled or tripled my money by now.”

Let’s test that claim.

• Doubling in seven years means a 10.4 per cent CAGR, which is slightly lower than what their much-maligned SIP delivered.
• Tripling in seven years means a 17 per cent CAGR — possible, but uncommon.

And even if real estate did triple over seven years, remember:

• You need a large upfront ticket size to invest in real estate.
• Liquidity is poor. You can’t sell a corner of your land quickly and easily.
• Costs (taxes, registration, maintenance) and hassles (legal disputes, tenants, encroachments) eat away at returns.
• Real estate too has cycles. After the Covid boom, even this market is facing stagnation.

So yes, property can make headlines. But SIPs quietly keep compounding, with none of the headaches.

The bottom line

The feeling of being “cheated” is understandable. You invest diligently, and the numbers don’t feel life-changing — yet.

But the truth is, SIPs don’t cheat. Our expectations do.

At around 11 per cent XIRR, the Redditor’s SIP is exactly where it should be. The only thing missing? Time.

So, before you break your SIPs in frustration, remember: in investing, the first few years test your patience. The later years reward it.

Also read: Our salaries shrank from FY16-24. But here's what didn't.

This article was originally published on August 19, 2025.