This week in personal finance: Should you go back to bank FDs amid the equity market slump?

There has been mayhem in the stock market during recent days. The Sensex tanked over 5 percent during the week and nearly 10 percent in a month on concerns over falling rupee and rising oil prices, shaving off huge investor wealth in the process.

As stock prices crumbled, so have the NAVs of mutual funds which have large exposure to stocks. If you have been checking your fund portfolio, you might be worried over the major fall in returns and wondering whether more pain is in the offing.

Such uncertain times make investors realise the benefit of having a good amount of fixed income in their portfolio to balance out the risks. Many investors would have avoided fixed deposits and invested heavily in stocks and equity funds when the market was on a one-way journey upwards. However, this is a risky strategy since the equity market can turn the other way at any time as is evident from the performance of mutual fund categories.

Multi-cap funds as a category delivered 36 percent returns in 2017, while mid-cap funds returned a higher 43.1 percent. Things have changed suddenly. Multi-cap funds lost over 8 percent in past one month, whereas mid cap funds lost more than 11 percent returns over the same period.

In the current market scenario what should be your investment strategy? Should you take refuge in fixed deposits? In our story, we tell you how to cope with the losses that your mutual fund portfolio has seen in recent days.

The festive season is here and there is a likelihood of a higher demand for homes as it is considered an auspicious time to buy. Real estate developers, too, attempt to cash in on the sentiments by offering lucrative schemes and discounts to buyers.

However, before buying a home you need to know there are several costs attached to it. Here are some of the cost that you should be aware of while deciding on buying a property.

Along with homes, there would be lucrative offers on cars this festive season. If you are going to purchase a car, you need to take the mandatory insurance cover along with it.

Do you know the features that a motor insurance policy includes? Many a time, customers blindly purchase whichever car insurance is offered to them without doing the necessary homework. While purchasing insurance one needs to take into account several factors such as the add-ons that are offered, the IDV (Insured Declared Value), the road-side assistance features and whether the policy includes a zero-depreciation benefit. Thus, one should buy their insurance policy smartly. Read to know the dos and don’ts while buying their insurance policy.

The National Pension System (NPS) is emerging as one of the best investment tools for retirement planning. Ever since its rollout in 2008-09, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has undertaken several measures to make the scheme more subscriber friendly.

If you are considering investing in NPS and are not sure of its features, here are some facts about the scheme that investors should know before subscribing.

Staying on with retirement, investing for creating a corpus for your golden years could give you tax benefits along with the returns associated. If you want to plan your taxes, you may consider planning your retirement. Here is how you can cut your tax outgo and plan your retirement.

HDFC Small Cap Fund, an open-ended equity scheme predominantly investing in small-cap stocks, was launched on April 3, 2008. The AUM of the scheme as on August 31, 2018 was Rs 5,111 crore.

The HDFC Small Cap fund aims to provide long-term capital appreciation or income. Since 2013-14. In our fund review this week, we tell you whether the fund is a good bet.
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