In the end, the choice between direct and regular plans would depend on your individual investment savviness and your ability to navigate the long journey towards your financial goal achievement without support of an expert. Investing patterns studied over several years suggest that investors who remain invested and meet goals Vs investors who redeem mid way the difference often is an investment expert by your side. Unassisted investors end up getting 1/3rd the return in the long run as per a recent JP Morgan study.

Large investors often negotiate fees with their chosen advisors who then help them invest in direct plans. However, if the investment amount is less than 3-4 Cr the economies of scale favour investors who take help from an expert and invest in regular plans.

Direct mutual funds have been wrongly interpreted by many as a way to avoid professional advice. Nothing could be more detrimental. Professional advice is a must and the cost of the same can be negotiated depending on the investment volume.

The purpose of investing is to meet financial goals. Most of these goals will take many years and sometimes even decades to be met. Successful investing does not mean choosing the top performing fund, that in itself is easy, but to endure market volatility, build resilience and remain invested.

An expert will help you set the right expectations, align with the right processes, products and investing behavior over the duration of your investing journey. This is the secret to remaining invested and meeting your goals with the power of compounding.

A good fund manager or financial planner plays a vital role in the financial planning process! In the long run, “how you invest” matters a lot more than “where you invest”. Even the best investment planning processes fail to deliver results if the “human element” is not managed properly. The best financial advisor doesn’t just recommend the best investment plans or suggest market related portfolio changes – she also plays the role of counsellor or behavioural coach to ensure that you remain steadfast on your financial planning journey!

Most investors chase returns. However, that’s a race you can never win because returns are not controllable! The only thing that is controllable is “how” you invest – that is, your investing discipline, your resilience during volatile markets, and how you are able to control greed and fear driven decisions. One of the important aspects of financial planning is investing according to goals.