- See everything you own, in one place
- Find out what it costs you
- Clear the clutter
- Set the mix on purpose
- Put it on a schedule
Who it is for
People who have invested for a few years and ended up with a collection: funds bought on a friend's advice, an old policy, shares from an app, deposits that keep renewing.
- You needYour fund and demat statements, and about twenty minutes a day.
- You getA one-page picture of your money and a short list of changes worth making.
- You will not getFund tips or a model portfolio. What suits you depends on your goals, which is a conversation, not a course.
Day 1. See everything you own, in one place
You cannot fix what you cannot see. Most people's investments are spread over several apps, a couple of fund houses, an employer and a bank. Today you pull them into one list.
Today's task
- Get your consolidated account statement. CAMS and KFintech will email you one statement covering every mutual fund held under your PAN. Search for "CAS statement", enter your email and PAN, and choose the detailed version.
- Open your demat holdings. Your broker's holdings page, or the NSDL or CDSL statement, lists your shares, ETFs and bonds.
- Add what sits outside. EPF balance, PPF, NPS, fixed deposits, insurance policies with a savings element, gold and property.
- Write one line for each. Name, current value, and what it is for, if anything.
Most people are surprised twice: by the total, and by how many things they had forgotten.
Day 2. Find out what it costs you
Costs are the one part of investing you control completely. They are also the part nobody shows you, because they are taken out before you see your returns.
Today's task
- Mark every fund as Regular or Direct. The plan is in the fund's name on your statement. A regular plan pays a distributor a commission each year from your money. The direct plan of the same fund does not.
- Put a number on it. Enter your regular-plan total in the commission calculator.
- Look at any insurance that doubles as an investment. Endowment and ULIP plans often return 4% to 6% a year after charges. Note the surrender value and the premiums left to pay.
- Check your deposits after tax. The FD calculator shows what is left in your slab.
Do not change anything yet. Today is for measuring.
Day 3. Clear the clutter
A portfolio with fifteen funds is not safer than one with five. Funds in the same category buy from the same list of companies, so you end up owning the same shares several times and paying several managers to do it.
Today's task
- Group your funds by category. Large cap, flexi cap, mid cap, small cap, ELSS, hybrid, debt. The portfolio check does this for you.
- Circle every category with more than one fund. Ask of each pair: what does the second one do that the first does not?
- Circle anything under 3% of the total. It is too small to matter either way.
- List the candidates to merge or exit. Only a list, for now.
Before selling anything, check three things: the exit load, the tax on the gain, and whether an ELSS lock-in applies. Selling in stages across two tax years often halves the tax.
Day 4. Set the mix on purpose
How your money is split between equity, debt and gold decides most of your result and most of your risk. For many people the split was never chosen. It is whatever was left after years of separate decisions.
Today's task
- Work out your current split. Add up equity (shares, equity funds, most of NPS), debt (EPF, PPF, deposits, debt funds) and gold. Leave out the home you live in.
- List your goals with dates. Money needed within three years should not be in equity. Money for fifteen years away mostly should be.
- Test your nerve honestly. If your equity fell by a third next year, would you hold, buy more or sell? Your past behaviour is a better guide than your intentions.
- Write down the split you want. Even a rough one, such as 60% equity, 30% debt, 10% gold.
The gap between today's split and the one you wrote down is your to-do list. New investments can close most of it without selling anything.
Day 5. Put it on a schedule
A good portfolio needs very little attention, but it does need some, and at set times, not when the news is loud.
Today's task
- Automate the inflow. SIPs dated just after salary day, with a yearly step-up of at least your raise.
- Book a review twice a year. Put it in your calendar now. April, after the tax year closes, and October.
- Set a rebalancing rule. If any part drifts more than five percentage points from your chosen split, move it back.
- Do the paperwork. A nominee on every folio and account. A note for your family saying what exists and where.
- Decide what you will ignore. Daily prices, hot funds, and tips.
What comes next
You now have what an advisor asks for in a first meeting: a full list, the costs, the overlaps, a target mix and a schedule. If you would like a second set of eyes on it, or someone to turn it into a plan and keep it on track, talk to an advisor. The call is free. Our fee, if you go ahead, is ₹8,999 a year, fixed, with no commissions.