Apurva Bhosale, 27, started with an ELSS, and built a wedding fund with debt mutual funds

She got married a month ago. And she is proud of the fact that she took care of a part of her wedding expenses with her investments in debt mutual funds. Apurva Bhosale, a 27-year-old IT professional from Pune, started investing in mutual funds like most others: via tax saving or ELSS mutual funds.

Bhosale’s brother asked her to meet Deepali Sen, Founder, Srujan Financial Advisers LLP, a Mumbai-based wealth management firm, to finalise her tax-saving investment. Bhosale met Sen in 2016. She remembers talking to Sen about her investments in LIC and bank fixed deposit. “Why should I take extra risk when I am getting guaranteed returns in LIC and fixed deposit,” Bhosale remembers asking Deepali Sen.

Deepali Sen remembers telling Apurva Bhosale about the impact of inflation on her money and how she will lose the value of money over long period if she sticks to safer investment options.

Deepali Sen asked Bhosale to invest in ELSS to save taxes under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, and Bhosale made her first mutual fund investment in Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96, Growth option

“Deepali asked me to not pull out the money after the three-year lock-in period. She asked me to tag this investment to my retirement goal,” says Apurva Bhosale. According to Deepali Sen, Apurva Bhosale had some apprehensions about market volatility in the beginning, but once she understood a bit of it, she became comfortable with the equity market.

“The best part about Apurva’s investment is that she doesn’t look at the markets on a frequent basis and doesn’t get anxious as she understands the volatility is normal for equity funds . She knows her investments are for a long term and she has understood the concept of long-term investments,” says Deepali Sen.

Apurva Bhosale also had two short to medium term goals: a marriage fund and vacation. To meet these goals, she invested in a banking & PSU fund and a corporate bond fund.

Apurva Bhosale says she got anxious about her debt mutual fund investments when the debt market went through downgrades and defaults. However, she held her nerve and continued with her investments.

“I don’t follow market news very closely. So, I was not impacted by the negativity around the debt market. Also, there was no impact on my schemes, so I didn’t want to fret about it. I had told Deepali that I don’t want to take much risk on these investments since my goal is over the next couple of years,” says Apurva Bhosale.

Deepali Sen remembers that Apurva Bhosale used to be a frequent caller in the first few months, but soon she got comfortable with the market and her calls became infrequent. “Apurva used to call and discuss about various other instruments like NPS and ULIPs. She used to discuss about her fear of losing money she is putting together for marriage fund. In three months, she started trusting me completely and didn’t call even when there were news of defaults and downgrades, because they did not effect her debt portfolio” says Deepali Sen.

Apurva Bhosale also says her faith in her mutual fund advisor kept her sane in times of market corrections and volatility.

Bhosale indeed succeeded in meeting her short and medium term goal of vacation and marriage respectively with her investments in short term and medium term debt mutual funds. Now, 90% of her investments are in equity mutual funds.

She is planning to take her husband to meet Deepali Sen and stitch together an elaborate long-term financial plan for them. “Till now, I was living with my parents. Now we have rented a place and I will note down my expenses from my salary and I would want to get a proper financial plan for me and my husband. I have an emergency fund in debt funds, and rest of everything in equity. I will be rebalancing it soon as per my impending goals,” says Apurva Bhosale.