How to make money from your fund

Examine Sector Weightings and the Fund’s Concentration:
The funds that have large stakes in just one or two sectors are expected be more volatile than the evenly diversified funds. A concentrated portfolio may also get more successful if its stocks are performing better. You may add a concentrated fund in your portfolio but mostly the concentration should be in a diversified fund which is more predictable.

Invest in a few funds and develop a Plan:
But it would not mean you should invest only in one fund. Even though the funds are diversified, many funds go though a few years of poor performance. When you invest in only one fund, you might lose heavily. On the other hand, investing in too many funds may lead to duplication of many securities and a portfolio with no focus. For the long-term financial goals, equities are the best option.
Keep It Simple:
To keep the selection of fund simple, you should stick with well diversified and well established equity funds, an index fund for equity exposure and a floating-rate bond fund for fixed income exposure. For long term perspective, equities are the best performing asset class. One should normally stay away from speciality and sector funds because they have a huge risk associated.

Know Your Portfolio & Ignore the hot stocks and funds:
Avoid going for impulsive purchase. It is wise to invest in a fund that invests in stocks that make up an index. This way, you will do no worse than the market. Since, in the long run, markets have a tendency to go up, even your investment will move the same way. But in case, you are a little more active, you can go for established `value’ funds that invest in undervalued securities.
Invest Regularly:
Investing a little bit of money each month is the surest way to reduce the risk of investing. Investing on a regular basis is the key to success. Irrespective of the fund you choose, the reality is that its value will be keep going up and down. One can expect a reasonable price in the long term by investing on a regular basis.

Diversification is suitable for many investors:
It is generally true that stocks perform better than any other liquid investment. So in case of long-term horizon and if you are comfortable with the risks associated with the stock market, you can think of investing in stock funds. But in case you are a slightly conservative, you may think of investing in different asset classes such as stocks, bonds etc. The key challenge is to choose the right fund.

Assess Performance Appropriately:
Past performance is not necessarily a good indicator of future results and this fact should be kept in mind every time one consider investing in any fund. Avoid investing in a concentrated fund and focusing on short-term returns. Generally while choosing a fund, one should look for above-average performance over a period of time.

Corporate Benefits

Is it possible to get securities allotted in public offering directly in the electronic form?

Yes, it is possible to get securities allotted to in Public Offerings directly in the electronic form. In the public issue application form there is a provision to indicate the manner in which an investor wants the securities allotted. Investor has to mention the Beneficial Owner ID and the name and ID of the DP on the application form. Any allotment made will be directly credited into the BO account of investor and you can trade immediately after trading starts on the exchange.
How are cash corporate benefit such as dividend / interest received?
 

In a demat environment, you are required to give your bank account details to your DP. The concerned company obtains the details of beneficiary holders and their holdings as on the date of the book closure / record date from Depositories. The payment to the investors will be made by the company through the ECS (Electronic Clearing Service) facility, wherever available. Thus the dividend / interest will be credited to your bank account directly. Where ECS facility is not available dividend / interest will be given by issuing warrants on which your bank account details are printed. The bank account details will be those which you would have mentioned in your account opening form or changed thereafter.
What is delivery instruction slip (DIS)?
To give the delivery of shares from one account to another account, the investor has to fill ‘Delivery Instruction Slip (DIS)’. DIS may be compared to cheque book of a bank account. The following precautions are to be taken in respect of DIS:-
Ensure and insist with your DP to issue DIS book Ensure that DIS numbers are pre-printed and DP takes acknowledgment for the DIS booklet issued to investor.
Ensure that your account number [BO client id] is pre-stamped.
If the account is a joint account, all the joint holders have to sign the instruction slips. Instruction cannot be executed if all joint holders have not signed.
Avoid using loose slips
Do not leave signed blank DIS with anyone viz., broker/sub-broker.
Keep the DIS book under lock and key when not in use.
If only one entry is made in the DIS book, strike out remaining space to prevent misuse by any one.
Investor should personally fill in target account -id and all details in the DIS.
Keep track of your DIS at frequent intervals.
Is it possible to give delivery instructions to the DP over Internet?
Yes. Both NSDL and CDSL have launched this facility for delivering instructions to your DP over Internet, called SPEED-e and EASI respectively. The facility can be used by all registered users after paying the applicable charges. This would allow you to transfer shares through click of a mouse.