The easiest way

Sometimes, when a new issue of 'Mutual Fund Insight' is about to go out, and I'm giving it a final read, I wish we didn't have to publish this magazine or run Value Research Online. It sounds strange to say when our publications and website have been successfully helping savers solve their investment problems for decades.

Think of it this way. Doctors do a great job, but there would be no doctors in an ideal world because there would be no need for them. The need for doctors is a symptom that something is wrong. Well, Value Research is like a doctor. Ideally, savings and investment products should be simple to understand and choose, their marketing should be truthful and sincere, and the companies running them, as well as the intermediaries selling them, should work for the interest of their customers. If all this were true, I'd have to find something else to do in life. However, in reality, the complexity and opacity of these products often result in consumers feeling overwhelmed and misguided.

If I were, to sum up what Value Research's raison d'être is, I would say it's to shield our readers from this complexity. To take the convoluted mess that personal finance is and to allow our readers to pretend that the idealised world above actually exists.

Take our cover story of 'Mutual Fund Insight' for July 2023, 'How to build a crashproof portfolio', written by a young colleague of mine, Ashish. It's a great 360° explainer on the underlying volatility of equity investments, how they interact with the returns you can get and techniques to minimise volatility while maximising returns. The story gives the reader a complete understanding of asset allocation, rebalancing, and how to implement these. These core concepts will make you a successful investor and help you create wealth. However, there are genuinely a lot of concepts to understand here. For our readership, many of whom are experienced mutual fund investors, these concepts pave the way to manage the entire life cycle of investments well.

The life cycle is important here. Investing to meet a life goal cannot be switched on instantaneously. It also emphasises the importance of timing in the investment world - I don't mean timing the market per se, but the timing of your investments in terms of your financial goals and life stages. It explains how to align your investments with your financial needs at different points in your life. It's an exhaustive guide to intelligent investing and portfolio management, catering to seasoned and budding investors. Understanding and implementing these strategies can significantly enhance your investment outcomes, paving the way for a secure financial future.

Here's a question that may be bothering you. Do people do all this? By people, I mean, of course, ordinary savers, not professional investors. The constant monitoring and the frequent buying and selling that conventional asset rebalancing entails may well be something that is more talked about than done. The reality is that the practice of asset rebalancing, despite being incredibly beneficial, is often overlooked in real life.

That's why we have always focused on the practical aspects of asset rebalancing at Value Research. As our cover story explains, from the actual asset allocation ratios that you need to the methods and frequency with which you need to take action is discussed in depth. Moreover, achieving asset allocation automatically, as it were, through hybrid funds is perhaps the most practical option and one that most people will follow.

As in any aspect of life where you are trying to improve outcomes - be it health or professionally, or personal finance, it's better to go with the second best thing that is done rather than plan on doing the perfect thing, which never actually gets done. Read and absorb what we are saying, and then do whatever can be done. Don't wait, don't overthink it. Just start.