The 'boring' asset that shields your portfolio

Summary: For every four rupees in equity mutual funds, only one gets real diversification through hybrid funds. The past 18 months have shown exactly what that gap costs and what debt does when equity stalls.

Summary: For every four rupees in equity mutual funds, only one gets real diversification through hybrid funds. The past 18 months have shown exactly what that gap costs and what debt does when equity stalls. The past 18 months have tested investors. First, the correction. Then tariffs. Now, the US-Iran conflict. With markets in the red, portfolios have stagnated and optimism is fading; not into panic, but into something more corrosive: a slow withdrawal of conviction. The signs are visible in declining SIP flows and rising stoppage ratios. Investors are not fleeing. They are gradually disengaging. And in investing, that drift often does more lasting damage than any single moment of fear. This pattern is not new. Between April 2022 and June 2023, when markets went sideways for over a year, SIP momentum dropped, recovering only once markets did. These phases expose two things: the fragility of equity-heavy portfolios and the cost of ignoring debt. How investors sabotage their own wealth When markets turn shaky, pausing a SIP feels sensible. But it rarely is. Compounding is unforgiving about interruptions. Even

This article was originally published on April 20, 2026.