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Fincash » Mutual Fund vs Stock

Mutual Funds Vs Stocks

Updated on November 18, 2024 , 14593 views

Mutual Funds or stock markets directly – where to invest, is one of the oldest debates when it comes to personal Wealth Management. Mutual funds allow you to invest a certain amount in a fund where the fund managers use their expertise to invest a client’s money in a variety of stocks to achieve the highest rate of return. Investing in stock markets gives you greater control over the investment on shares is made by the user. However, it makes them more prone to risks as they have to directly deal with the markets.

Difference: Mutual Funds Vs Stocks/Shares

1. Understanding Mutual Funds and Stocks

When compared on a risk Factor, stocks happen to be far riskier than mutual funds. The risk in mutual funds is spread across and hence reduced with the pooling in of diverse stocks. With stock,s one has to extensive research before investing, especially if you are a novice investor. Visit fincash for more details on the various areas of investments. In the case of mutual funds, the research is done, and the fund is managed by a mutual fund manager.

Stocks Vs Mutual Funds

This service though is not free and comes with an annual Management Fee that is charged by the fund house under Total Expense Ration (TER).

2. When investing as a beginner

If you are a new investor with little or no experience in the financial markets, it is advisable to start with mutual funds as not only the risk is comparatively lesser but also because the decisions are made by an expert. These professionals have the insight to analyze and interpret financial data to gauge the outlook of a prospective investment.

3. Associated Costs

Though you have to pay a fee to mutual fund managers unlike in the case of stocks that you buy individually, the Economies of Scale also come into play. It is true that active management of funds is an affair that does not come free of cost. But the truth is that due to their large size, mutual funds pay only a small fraction of the brokerage charges that an individual shareholder pays for brokerage. Individual investors also have to pay the charges for DEMAT which is not needed in the case of mutual funds.

4. Risk and Return

It is already established that mutual funds have the advantage of reducing the risk by diversifying a Portfolio.

MF-vs-Stocks

Stocks on the other hand are vulnerable to the Market conditions and the performance of one stock can’t compensate for the other.

5. Short Term Capital Gain

Remember when investing in stocks, you will be liable to pay 15 percent tax on your short term Capital gains (STCG) if you sell your stocks within a span of one year. On the other hand, there is no tax on capital gains on the stocks that are sold by the fund. This can mean substantial benefits for you. The tax saved is also available for you to invest it further thus making way for further Income generation through investment. But you will have to hold on to your equity for more than a year in order to avoid paying that short-term capital gains tax.

6. Long Term Capital Gain

Long Term Capital Gain (LTCG) is taxed at 10% for gains exceeding 1 Lakh gain (As announced in Budget of 2018). which means one has to pay tax on gains incurred in period over an year (Long term) if amount exceeds 1 Lakhs in a year at a Flat rate of 10%.

7. Control on your investment

In the case of mutual funds, the decision pertaining to the choice of stocks and their trading is solely in the hands of the funds manager. You do not have control over which stock is to be picked and for what duration. As an investor, if you invest in Mutual Funds you do not have the option to exit from some stocks that are in your portfolio. The decisions pertaining to the fate of the stocks rest in the hands of the fund manager. This way, an individual investing in stocks has more control over their investment than an investor who invests in mutual funds.

8. Diversification

A well-diversified portfolio should include at least 25 to 30 stocks but that would be a huge ask for a small investor. With mutual funds, investors with small funds can also get a diversified portfolio. Buying units of a fund allows you to invest in multiple stocks without having to invest a huge corpus.

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9. Time and Research

When you invest directly, you will need to invest a lot more time and research into your stock while in the case of mutual funds you can be passive. The fund manager is the one who invests his time to manage your portfolio.

10. Investment Tracking

With an investment in mutual funds, you have the benefit of a fund manager who has extensive expertise and experience in the field. Whether it is picking the stocks or monitoring them and making allocations, you do not have to worry about any of it. This service is not available in the case of stock investments. You are responsible for picking and tracking your investment.

11. Investment Horizon

When investing in mutual funds, remember that you will have to give the funds at least 8-10 years to generate good returns as these have a longer-term growth trajectory. In the case of stocks, you can get quick and good returns if you choose the right stocks and sell them at the right time.

Despite all of this if the stock market and its intricacies are something that an individual is familiar with, they can invest directly. They must be ready to play a long term game where a stock doesn’t provide immediate returns and must also have an increased appetite for risk. Unlike investors in mutual funds, they do not have the expertise on Smart investment which fund managers can provide. Even in the best of times, investment in stocks is a risk. In comparatively tougher times, it is better to invest in mutual funds due to the advantage of portfolio diversification, professional management and constant monitoring.

The choice between mutual funds or stocks generally boils down to personal factors like trust and an individual’s ability to take risks. It is a decision to be taken with the utmost of thought with all the options carefully weighed down. However what is important for an individual is the decision to plunge into personal wealth management and attempt to make their savings useful through either mutual funds or stocks, rather than simply sitting on it.

Top Equity MF investments FY 24 - 25

FundNAVNet Assets (Cr)3 MO (%)6 MO (%)1 YR (%)3 YR (%)5 YR (%)2023 (%)
Nippon India Small Cap Fund Growth ₹169.046
↑ 1.79
₹61,027-3.57.132.52634.648.9
Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund  Growth ₹104.202
↑ 1.59
₹20,0564.724.357.33231.441.7
Kotak Small Cap Fund Growth ₹266.313
↑ 1.03
₹17,593-2.210.33116.130.134.8
Note: Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR basis. as on 19 Nov 24

*Below is the list of best mutual funds based on 5 year CAGR/Annualized and AUM > 100 Crore.

1. Nippon India Small Cap Fund

The primary investment objective of the scheme is to generate long term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity related instruments of small cap companies and the secondary objective is to generate consistent returns by investing in debt and money market securities.

Nippon India Small Cap Fund is a Equity - Small Cap fund was launched on 16 Sep 10. It is a fund with Moderately High risk and has given a CAGR/Annualized return of 22.1% since its launch.  Ranked 6 in Small Cap category.  Return for 2023 was 48.9% , 2022 was 6.5% and 2021 was 74.3% .

Below is the key information for Nippon India Small Cap Fund

Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Launch Date 16 Sep 10
NAV (19 Nov 24) ₹169.046 ↑ 1.79   (1.07 %)
Net Assets (Cr) ₹61,027 on 31 Oct 24
Category Equity - Small Cap
AMC Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd.
Rating
Risk Moderately High
Expense Ratio 1.55
Sharpe Ratio 2.23
Information Ratio 0.95
Alpha Ratio 6.45
Min Investment 5,000
Min SIP Investment 100
Exit Load 0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL)

Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.

DateValue
31 Oct 19₹10,000
31 Oct 20₹10,780
31 Oct 21₹21,000
31 Oct 22₹24,010
31 Oct 23₹31,500
31 Oct 24₹46,003

Nippon India Small Cap Fund SIP Returns

   
My Monthly Investment:
Investment Tenure:
Years
Expected Annual Returns:
%
Total investment amount is ₹300,000
expected amount after 5 Years is ₹705,310.
Net Profit of ₹405,310
Invest Now

Returns for Nippon India Small Cap Fund

Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) basis. as on 19 Nov 24

DurationReturns
1 Month -6.6%
3 Month -3.5%
6 Month 7.1%
1 Year 32.5%
3 Year 26%
5 Year 34.6%
10 Year
15 Year
Since launch 22.1%
Historical performance (Yearly) on absolute basis
YearReturns
2023 48.9%
2022 6.5%
2021 74.3%
2020 29.2%
2019 -2.5%
2018 -16.7%
2017 63%
2016 5.6%
2015 15.1%
2014 97.6%
Fund Manager information for Nippon India Small Cap Fund
NameSinceTenure
Samir Rachh2 Jan 177.84 Yr.
Kinjal Desai25 May 186.44 Yr.

Data below for Nippon India Small Cap Fund as on 31 Oct 24

Equity Sector Allocation
SectorValue
Industrials26.53%
Financial Services13.41%
Basic Materials12.59%
Consumer Cyclical12.01%
Technology9.17%
Consumer Defensive8.08%
Health Care7.17%
Communication Services1.91%
Utility1.83%
Energy0.83%
Real Estate0.59%
Asset Allocation
Asset ClassValue
Cash5.18%
Equity94.82%
Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
NameHoldingValueQuantity
Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 21 | MCX
2%₹1,206 Cr1,851,010
HDFC Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 22 | HDFCBANK
2%₹1,154 Cr6,650,000
Tube Investments of India Ltd Ordinary Shares (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 18 | TIINDIA
2%₹1,120 Cr2,499,222
Apar Industries Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 17 | APARINDS
1%₹905 Cr899,271
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 12 | KIRLOSBROS
1%₹864 Cr4,472,130
ELANTAS Beck India Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 13 | 500123
1%₹827 Cr614,625
Tejas Networks Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 30 Jun 17 | TEJASNET
1%₹773 Cr5,763,697
State Bank of India (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 19 | SBIN
1%₹746 Cr9,100,000
Voltamp Transformers Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Sep 16 | VOLTAMP
1%₹745 Cr642,476
↓ -7,968
Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 30 Nov 18 | DIXON
1%₹720 Cr512,355

2. Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund 

(Erstwhile Motilal Oswal MOSt Focused Midcap 30 Fund)

The investment objective of the Scheme is to achieve long term capital appreciation by investing in a maximum of 30 quality mid-cap companies having long-term competitive advantages and potential for growth. However, there can be no assurance or guarantee that the investment objective of the Scheme would be achieved.

Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund  is a Equity - Mid Cap fund was launched on 24 Feb 14. It is a fund with Moderately High risk and has given a CAGR/Annualized return of 24.4% since its launch.  Ranked 27 in Mid Cap category.  Return for 2023 was 41.7% , 2022 was 10.7% and 2021 was 55.8% .

Below is the key information for Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund 

Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund 
Growth
Launch Date 24 Feb 14
NAV (19 Nov 24) ₹104.202 ↑ 1.59   (1.55 %)
Net Assets (Cr) ₹20,056 on 31 Oct 24
Category Equity - Mid Cap
AMC Motilal Oswal Asset Management Co. Ltd
Rating
Risk Moderately High
Expense Ratio 0.66
Sharpe Ratio 2.88
Information Ratio 1.19
Alpha Ratio 19.69
Min Investment 5,000
Min SIP Investment 500
Exit Load 0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL)

Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.

DateValue
31 Oct 19₹10,000
31 Oct 20₹9,551
31 Oct 21₹16,394
31 Oct 22₹19,861
31 Oct 23₹23,514
31 Oct 24₹39,059

Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund  SIP Returns

   
My Monthly Investment:
Investment Tenure:
Years
Expected Annual Returns:
%
Total investment amount is ₹300,000
expected amount after 5 Years is ₹657,502.
Net Profit of ₹357,502
Invest Now

Returns for Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund 

Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) basis. as on 19 Nov 24

DurationReturns
1 Month -3.1%
3 Month 4.7%
6 Month 24.3%
1 Year 57.3%
3 Year 32%
5 Year 31.4%
10 Year
15 Year
Since launch 24.4%
Historical performance (Yearly) on absolute basis
YearReturns
2023 41.7%
2022 10.7%
2021 55.8%
2020 9.3%
2019 9.7%
2018 -12.7%
2017 30.8%
2016 5.2%
2015 16.5%
2014
Fund Manager information for Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund 
NameSinceTenure
Ajay Khandelwal1 Oct 240.08 Yr.
Niket Shah1 Jul 204.34 Yr.
Santosh Singh1 Oct 240.08 Yr.
Rakesh Shetty22 Nov 221.94 Yr.
Sunil Sawant1 Jul 240.34 Yr.

Data below for Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund  as on 31 Oct 24

Equity Sector Allocation
SectorValue
Consumer Cyclical28.84%
Technology25.23%
Industrials22.07%
Financial Services9.82%
Health Care5.2%
Basic Materials3.46%
Real Estate2.4%
Communication Services0.59%
Asset Allocation
Asset ClassValue
Cash2.4%
Equity97.6%
Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
NameHoldingValueQuantity
Coforge Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 23 | COFORGE
10%₹1,982 Cr2,600,000
↑ 350,000
Kalyan Jewellers India Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 29 Feb 24 | KALYANKJIL
9%₹1,905 Cr28,983,719
↑ 3,583,719
Polycab India Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Sep 23 | POLYCAB
9%₹1,863 Cr2,875,000
↑ 325,000
Persistent Systems Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 23 | PERSISTENT
8%₹1,612 Cr3,000,000
↑ 300,000
Jio Financial Services Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Aug 23 | JIOFIN
8%₹1,612 Cr50,000,000
↑ 3,226,841
Bajaj Auto Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 24 | 532977
7%₹1,346 Cr1,367,958
↑ 1,367,958
Tube Investments of India Ltd Ordinary Shares (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 20 | TIINDIA
6%₹1,210 Cr2,700,000
↑ 232,189
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 24 | M&M
5%₹1,038 Cr3,805,755
↑ 3,805,755
Voltas Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 17 | VOLTAS
4%₹825 Cr5,000,000
Zomato Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 23 | 543320
4%₹786 Cr32,500,000
↑ 7,500,000

3. Kotak Small Cap Fund

(Erstwhile Kotak Midcap Scheme)

The investment objective of the Scheme is to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related securities.

Kotak Small Cap Fund is a Equity - Small Cap fund was launched on 24 Feb 05. It is a fund with Moderately High risk and has given a CAGR/Annualized return of 18.1% since its launch.  Ranked 23 in Small Cap category.  Return for 2023 was 34.8% , 2022 was -3.1% and 2021 was 70.9% .

Below is the key information for Kotak Small Cap Fund

Kotak Small Cap Fund
Growth
Launch Date 24 Feb 05
NAV (19 Nov 24) ₹266.313 ↑ 1.03   (0.39 %)
Net Assets (Cr) ₹17,593 on 31 Oct 24
Category Equity - Small Cap
AMC Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd
Rating
Risk Moderately High
Expense Ratio 1.67
Sharpe Ratio 2.12
Information Ratio -0.62
Alpha Ratio 7.3
Min Investment 5,000
Min SIP Investment 1,000
Exit Load 0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL)

Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.

DateValue
31 Oct 19₹10,000
31 Oct 20₹11,349
31 Oct 21₹22,656
31 Oct 22₹23,119
31 Oct 23₹26,953
31 Oct 24₹38,783

Kotak Small Cap Fund SIP Returns

   
My Monthly Investment:
Investment Tenure:
Years
Expected Annual Returns:
%
Total investment amount is ₹300,000
expected amount after 5 Years is ₹642,208.
Net Profit of ₹342,208
Invest Now

Returns for Kotak Small Cap Fund

Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) basis. as on 19 Nov 24

DurationReturns
1 Month -6.6%
3 Month -2.2%
6 Month 10.3%
1 Year 31%
3 Year 16.1%
5 Year 30.1%
10 Year
15 Year
Since launch 18.1%
Historical performance (Yearly) on absolute basis
YearReturns
2023 34.8%
2022 -3.1%
2021 70.9%
2020 34.2%
2019 5%
2018 -17.3%
2017 44%
2016 8.9%
2015 7.4%
2014 74%
Fund Manager information for Kotak Small Cap Fund
NameSinceTenure
Harish Bihani20 Oct 231.04 Yr.

Data below for Kotak Small Cap Fund as on 31 Oct 24

Equity Sector Allocation
SectorValue
Industrials33.42%
Consumer Cyclical20.77%
Basic Materials14.45%
Health Care12.7%
Financial Services3.67%
Real Estate3.63%
Consumer Defensive3.17%
Communication Services2.54%
Technology2.1%
Asset Allocation
Asset ClassValue
Cash3.55%
Equity96.45%
Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
NameHoldingValueQuantity
Cyient Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Dec 19 | CYIENT
3%₹597 Cr3,174,852
Techno Electric & Engineering Co Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Dec 18 | TECHNOE
3%₹570 Cr3,559,792
Century Plyboards (India) Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 18 | 532548
3%₹565 Cr6,353,571
Blue Star Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 May 18 | BLUESTARCO
3%₹540 Cr2,616,673
↓ -240,679
Ratnamani Metals & Tubes Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 18 | RATNAMANI
3%₹487 Cr1,328,764
Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Dec 23 | 543308
2%₹451 Cr8,096,930
Sansera Engineering Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 30 Sep 21 | 543358
2%₹434 Cr2,596,496
Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 24 | 543350
2%₹422 Cr4,397,621
↑ 9,120
Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 22 | APLLTD
2%₹413 Cr3,427,766
Carborundum Universal Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Jun 18 | CARBORUNIV
2%₹407 Cr2,718,155

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Disclaimer:
All efforts have been made to ensure the information provided here is accurate. However, no guarantees are made regarding correctness of data. Please verify with scheme information document before making any investment.
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GAURAV, posted on 3 Dec 18 5:08 AM

Clarified my doubts

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