7 money questions that matter most

Summary: Drawing on over 1,500 reader letters this year, this piece picks seven questions where a wrong answer costs most, from a flat two-year SIP and a lagging fund to too many funds, hidden regular-plan fees, tax-driven buying, retirement withdrawals and nominations. Each gets a rule, a worked example and steps, with the common thread that sound habits matter more than reacting to short-term noise.

Summary: Drawing on over 1,500 reader letters this year, this piece picks seven questions where a wrong answer costs most, from a flat two-year SIP and a lagging fund to too many funds, hidden regular-plan fees, tax-driven buying, retirement withdrawals and nominations. Each gets a rule, a worked example and steps, with the common thread that sound habits matter more than reacting to short-term noise. This year was tough for the Indian equity market. Trump tariffs, AI fears and the Middle East conflict all weighed heavily. For most of the year, the market remained down. This naturally worried our readers. Hundreds of them asked the same question through Ask Value Research: Was there a problem with Indian equities? Did they do something wrong? Their SIPs were worth almost as much as the money they put in, particularly those SIPs under three years old. This was not their only worry. Since January, we got more than 1,500 letters and you have asked us more such difficult questions. Must they sell a weak fund? How many funds are too many? How much money can they take in retirement, and who gets the money after them? From these questions, we selected the seven most consequential ones. Each question comes with three things: a rule to remember, an example with real numbers and the steps to do in sequence. #1 My SIP gave no profit in two years. Is there a problem? Flat years are a cost of equity. They are not a sign of failure. The rule: Sometimes, markets give no returns for a few years. Investors who stay, reap generous returns later. Your worry is fair. The Indian market reached a peak on September 26, 2024. After that, the median large-cap fund went down 5.3 per cent each year. The median flexi-cap fund also went down, 2.9 per cent each year. This period ended on October 7, 2026. In the same period, a short-duration debt fund gave 6.8 per cent each year. Neither the flexi-cap nor the large-cap fund could match that. SIPs show the same result. A large-cap SIP that started at the peak is now worth 3.6 per cent less than the money that went in. Moreover, 28 of 32 large-cap funds have a value less than the money put in them. Three years were also not sufficient. A median large-cap SIP that started on September 26, 2023 gave 0.5 per cent. A short-duration debt fund returned 7.4 per cent in the same period. The good funds weren’t safe, either. About 47 per cent of five-star funds had one-year SIPs worth no more than the money invested in them. A good rating reduced the chance of a bad result, but it didn’t eliminate it. So the question is valid. The answer starts with history, because this has happened before. This has happened before Let’s take an example of an investor who started a large-cap SIP in August 2010. Two years later, it returned -0.5 per cent a year, while a short-duration debt fund returned 10 per cent a year. Three years later, in August 2013, the large-cap fund gave 0.2 per cent,compared to the debt fund’s 8.5 per cent. None of the 22 large-cap funds of the time did better. Yet, investors who continued saw a change over 12 months. In August 2014, the same large-cap SIP gave 18.4 per cent each year while the debt fund gave 9.4 per cent. Each large-cap fund gave more than the debt fund. After seven years, in August 2017, the SIP gave 14.2 per cent each year. The debt fund earned 8.7 per cent. Flexi-cap funds showed a similar result, returning 16.8 per cent a year. One example can be luck. Thus, we looked at each monthly SIP in a large-cap or flexi-cap fund after 2005. We counted how frequently it gave more than a short-duration fund. Over one year, the equity SIP returned more in about six of ten cases. Over three years, it earned more about three times in four. Over five years, it gave more than eight times in 10. Over 10 years, it delivered more almost every time. Thus, over longer periods, equity seldom gives lower returns. The last two years are at the unlucky end of the short-term range. They are not different from it. History shows why investors who stay get a return. It doesn’t explain why this period happened now. That cause is outside India. Why now, and why your fund is not the cause Foreign money went to one investment: AI. Most of it went to chip makers in Taiwan and South Korea. On June 30, 2026, TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix were close to 31 per cent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Many global funds follow this index. In May, for the first time in 26 years, no Indian company made the list of its 10 largest stocks. Between October 2024 and August 2026, foreign investors net-sold Rs 4.9 lakh crore of Indian equities. The profits behind this money are huge. In the April-June quarter, Samsung and SK Hynix posted about 150 trillion won (about $112 billion) in operating profit. This is close to the total profit of all 50 Nifty companies in FY26. But Indian companies continued to grow. Nifty 50 profits increased 9.1 per cent in FY26 and 18 per cent in the June 2026 quarter. Indian savers also did not leave. In the same 23 months, they put a net Rs 7 lakh crore into equity mutual funds. The slow period shows where global money went, but it does not show the performance of Indian businesses. An investor cannot control these conditions, but they can control the use of the next few years. How to continue through bad periods An SIP with a flat value still does useful work. It buys units cheaply. For example, an investor puts Rs 10,000 each month into a fund. The NAV starts at Rs 100. In the next year, the NAV goes down to Rs 85. The following year, the NAV rises to Rs 90. After 24 months, Rs 2.4 lakh went in. The investment is worth about Rs 2.35 lakh. This looks like a loss. But the lower prices bought more units. The investor got about 2,612 units. At a constant price of Rs 100, the investor would have got only 2,400 units. If the NAV goes back to Rs 100, the investment is worth Rs 2.61 lakh. This is an increase of almost 9 per cent. At Rs 110, the increase is almost 20 per cent. The flat years made this result. The recovery only shows it. What should you do Match the money to the time. Money you need in three years must not go into equity. Continue your SIPs. A flat period buys the most units. Compare a fund with its category. Do not compare it with a debt fund over two years. Increase the equity part if it goes below its planned share of your portfolio. Do not follow what gave the best result in the last two years. Check the portfolio one or two times each year. Do not check it with each news headline. #2 My fund is lagging. Must I sell it? A weak period of some years is a reason to

This article was originally published on October 23, 2026.