Some tips regarding Mutual Fund investments (Specifically for India)

I recently answered an internal mail in Yahoo! asking for tips to invest in Mutual funds for a first time investor. I thought to share it with a wider audience (oh yeah!)

First the legal disclaimer: Pursue this at your own risk.

1. There are two broad types: Equity and Debt. Experts recommend mixing up the two for lower volatility. If you can stomach high risk, go all equity route.
2. Don't invest in sector specific funds. Go for diversified funds (for equity funds). Again for lower risk.
3. There are three types based on market caps of the invested companies: Large cap, mid cap, small cap. Large caps, of-course, are considered safer but generate lower returns (generally). Small caps are exactly reversed in their behavior.
4. Never invest in one go. This is the most important tip. If you had invested all you money in mid Jan of this year, you would have lost 30-40% in 2 months time. There are Systematic investment plans or SIPs(all MFs have it). They allow you to invest a fixed amount (through cheques or ECS) on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly). If you a chunk of money to invest, divide it up and invest at-least over a year.
5. Don't invest in NFO (new fund offerings). Rather invest in established and proven funds. Sites like Value Research and Moneycontrol will let you compare returns of all MFs over varying periods of time. Do spend some time doing that. Remember if you invest through brokers (like your bank), they will always recommend NFOs as that has more commission.
6. Look at the star ratings given by these MF sites. They are helpful to give you a head start.
7. Don't invest in too many funds. Restrict yourself to a few good ones. If a fund makes up a very small part of your portfolio, it does not make any difference even if it performs phenomenally. On the other hand more than a certain number of funds don't lower your risk any further.
8. You can save upto 1 Lac in ELSS funds. Read about them.
9. If you can spare some time and money, browse through magazines like Outlook money or Mutual fund insight.
10. Never compare NAVs. NAV of 10 is not better or worse than NAV of 100. There is no equivalent of IPO in MF. NFOs don't offer any advantage over established funds.
11. Don't churn your portfolio frequently. There are entry and exit costs associated.
12. Long term capital gain tax in equity funds is zero. So try staying invested in equity funds for at-least a year.
13. No short term gains. Enter with a long term approach.
14. Use brokers which allow you to buy/sell online. This will save a lot of hassles for you. Check the online coverage of the broker. Most of them will allow you to buy any MF through paper forms but cover only limited MFs in their online service. If you do some investing through online and some offline, you will end-up with lots of hassles.
15. Use online portfolio tools provided by MF review sites (Value Reserach, Money Control etc). They are very useful.