Coronavirus’ Effect– What should an intelligent investor do?



Novel Coronavirus (COVID – 19) has brought about an unprecedented situation before the whole world. Leaders, policymakers, scientists and economists across the world have numerous puzzles to solve before them. Best economies and stock markets across the globe have taken a hard hit in the last few months. In light of this, what should a Mutual Fund investor know and decide?
1. Economic slowdowns and crash in markets are normal and usual. With any event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which effects the world at large, it inevitably leads to a slowdown. However, this is just a phase.

2. This phase might last from 1 year to 3 years depending upon the severity of the situation. Most world leaders including Donald Trump had not considered the impact of the pandemic seriously for a long time. Hence, nothing can be said with certainty about till when the slowdown will last as its overall negative impact on the economy is still merely a matter of economic prediction.

3. A long term equity investor should not be worried about such a downward phase in the market. Although, the situation seems extremely grim at the moment, those investors who stay calm in these trying times win. In the last two decades, whenever there has been a downturn in the stock markets (for eg. the 9/11 terrorist attack or the 2008 financial crisis etc.), it was followed by a period of high growth and boom of 2 to 5 years.
Markets cycle –
Investors who invested during the crisis have received the following returns –
(Source – Economic Times Magazine)
4. For an intelligent investor, the next few months is a great time to make additional investments. When the markets are low, an investor can purchase more units of Mutual Funds at lower prices. These units are likely to yield better returns as compared with units purchased when the markets are at their high point.

5. A SIP investor need not worry about the economy and markets fallout at all. The very purpose of investing through SIP is to ensure that an investor purchases units during all cycles of the market. To reiterate, units purchased during this time will yield good returns for an investor in the long term. The most important decision to take during these times is to invest more and continue with your SIP investments. SIP installments made when the markets are down earning investors the most.

6. However, the situation might be slightly problematic for short term investors or for those who require funds for completion of goal in the near future. Our advice for those investors would be to systematically redeem your investments after consulting us in this regard.

7. As Warren Buffett says: “The stock market is a device of transferring money from the impatient to the patient”. Thus, we implore our investors to be patient in these testing times and stay invested. Patience is a virtue that will help you make intelligent decisions.


To conclude, we would advise for an equity mutual fund investor to be calm and patient in these times. Secondly, consider this time as a good investment opportunity window and you will be glad ten years down the line that you invested money right now.

We hope that you and your family are doing well.
Bodh quotes

Please do contact your financial advisor in jaipur for any sort of investment or portfolio related queries for these times. Our more than 27 years of experience in the field will prove beneficial for your investment decisions.


Dr. Ramesh Maloo (Certified Financial Planner)
Contact us for tax planning in jaipur


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