Asset Allocation: There are two plans available with this fund namely plan A and plan B.  In Plan A you can get to choose to invest in 80-100% in debt and money market instruments and the rest in equities.  In Plan B your money will be invested in debt, gold as well as equities.  The gold will be in the form of investing in Gold ETF.

NFO Details: At the time of NFO the unit price of the Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund will be Rs. 10 per unit and the minimum investment amount is Rs. 5000.  The NFO closes on January 31, 2012.

Options Available: Growth and dividend payout and reinvestment options.

Such hybrid funds are a good choice for those who are looking to diversify their investment with one single investment option but since being an NFO, think twice before investing in it.  Otherwise you can also choose other such 3 mixed class funds which other MFs like the Sundaram Equity Plus.

It is primarily a debt fund which has its leg on both equities and gold class.

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Why Gold

Gold is considered to be the safe haven due to its steady rise in price as well as it is considered as the consistent class of asset which was found only heading north.  Gold is also considered to be the perfect hedge against the inflation.  It also offers us the much needed diversification of our portfolio.

Gold SIP

Investing in gold SIP has been the long dream and request of many Indian retail investors and with the newer gold funds such as this, this option is getting fulfilled pretty easily.  Now one can invest in gold every month using the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) available in mutual funds for as low as Rs. 100.  Investing in gold SIP can fetch you up to 20% p.a. for over a period of 10 years, according to the calculation based on the price rise that gold has witnessed so far.

SBI Gold Fund NFO

As said above the SBI Gold Fund NFO is open from August 22, 2011 and will close on September 5, 2011 and will open to general public after around 20 days to 1 month when it can be brought and sold at the existing NAV price.  The price during NFO is Rs. 10 per unit.

Benchmark: Since being a fund of fund scheme, this SBI Gold Fund will track the SBI Gold ETF fund and hence will be directly linked to the domestic gold price in India.

Asset Allocation: From 95% to 100% in SBI GETS ETF fund and 0-5% in government bonds, money markets, fixed deposits, etc.

Minimum Investment: The minimum amount that you can invest in SBI Gold Fund is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Rs. 1 and the minimum additional purchase that you can make is Rs. 1000 and above.  There is no entry load on your investment but you may have to pay Rs. 150 to the investment adviser if you invest in it via him/her else there is no entry load if you invest in it directly.  Also there is an exit load of 1% if you switch or redeem within 1 year of your investment.

Options

You can invest in this gold fund via the Growth or Dividend (reinvestment and payout) options.

Benefits of SBI Gold Fund

• No need of demat account – you can invest in this gold fund just like any other mutual fund and no need to have a demat account which in fact is the case if you plan to buy gold via gold ETFs.
• Liquidity – offers excellent liquidity as you can redeem this fund and immediately get cash within 2 days or redemption
• SIP – you get the best advantage in investing in this fund when you can invest in gold via the SIP route which otherwise is not fully possible with any other options that you can buy gold like jewellery, bullion, gold coins, ETFs, commodity exchange, etc.
• Cost benefit and offers tax benefits if you invest in gold via such funds
• Purity guarantee – since investing in specialized SBI Gold ETF which buys only 99.9% pure gold hence you can be assured of the purity of buying such gold from the asset management companies via such funds
• Flexibility of adding more units and ease of investing in gold without storage or safety hassles

Systematic Investment Plan

You can invest in SBI Gold Fund via various SIP options available provided that you invest in them for a minimum specified period mentioned below

• Rs. 100 per month for minimum 60 months
• Rs. 500 per month for at least 12 months
• Rs. 1000 per month for a minimum of 6 months
• Rs. 500 per quarter for a minimum of 12 quarters
• Rs. 1500 per quarter for a minimum of 4 quarters

Disadvantages

Just remember that this being a fund of fund (FOF) scheme you will need to incur double charges, i.e., this fund charges around 1-1.5% as the fund charges while since investing in SBI ETF, even the charges incurred for that fund will need to be absorbed by yourself and hence you will be incurred with double fund maintenance charges.  Hence if you already have a demat account then investing directly via such gold ETF funds would be ideal rather than choosing such gold funds.

This fund will be ideal who don’t have demat account and wants to invest in gold every month without any hassles of doing it manually.

SBI Gold Fund is ideal for those looking to invest in gold for very long term i.e., say around 10 years or above as it is not entirely advisable to invest via SIP in rising market i.e., in this case rising gold price for short term, keep a target of at least 10 years to invest in gold SIP to get the full benefit of investing in gold.

How to Invest

You can also invest in this fund via your regular online trading platform as well as buy this gold fund via online at their website Sbimf.com.  Or alternatively contact your investment agent for the same.  You can download all the forms and applications to invest in this fund at the SBI MF website.

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Investment Objective: To offer returns that is closely based on the returns of the S&P CNX Nifty index. This fund could also invest in debt and its based securities subject to a maximum of 5%.

NFO: The NFO is open on July 4, 2011 and closes on July 18, 2011. The price during NFO is Rs. 10 per unit. After the NFO, this fund will be listed in the National Stock Exchange for regular purchase and re-purchase and selling of the units.

Options: There will be only growth option available with Birla Sun Life Nifty ETF.

Minimum Investment: Will be Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Rs. 1000 thereafter on each application and after the new fund offer the units can be brought and sold according to the existing NAV.

Entry and Exit Load: There will be no entry or exit load applicable for this fund.

Fund Manager: Mr. Satyabrata Mohanty

Benchmark: S&P CNX Nifty

Verdict
If you are looking for a plain vanilla ETF based index funds this could just be your ideal choice. But don’t expect the returns to be as good or better than the other regular equity based diversified funds.

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Investment Objective: The primary objective of Union KBC Equity Fund is to generate capital appreciation by investing primarily in equities and equity related instruments.

Asset Allocation: From 75% to 100% in equities and equity related instruments.  0-25% in money market and debt instruments.

Benchmark: BSE 100 Index

Options Available: This Equity Fund has growth and dividend (reinvestment and payout) for investment.

Loads: There is no entry load for this scheme but there will be a 1% exit load if redeemed within 1 year of purchase of units, otherwise there is no exit load.

Investment Details: During the NFO the offer price will be Rs. 10 per unit and the minimum investment amount is Rs. 5000 and thereafter in multiples of Rs. 1.  The minimum amount that one can invest via the SIP option is Rs. 1000 and in multiples of Rs. 1.

Union KBC Equity Fund is yet another NFO, but the only difference is the new AMC, namely, the Union KBC.  As the experts say that it is best avoidable to invest on new funds due to the obvious fact that the older and existing funds have the upper hand in the rising or fluctuating market and it is ideal to invest in them rather than the NFOs.  If you still want to invest in this fund for some reason, you can try the option of SIP.

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Objective

The objective of this scheme would be to invest up to 65% in equities and its related instruments while the balance up to 35% in gold ETF schemes available in India.  Thereby giving an added advantage of giving gold as a hedge against inflation even if the equities were not doing so well.

Asset Allocation

From 65% to 8% in equities and related instruments.  15% to 35% in gold ETFs.  0 to 20% in fixed and money market instruments.  The portfolio of this scheme will be rebalanced according to the valuation levels prevailing between the 3 investment opportunities available with this fund.

Options Available

Growth and dividend options (both payout and reinvestment)

Minimum Investment

The minimum investment amount to invest in this fund is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Rs. 1 thereafter.  The minimum installment amount via SIP would be Rs. 250 per month.  No entry load applicable for this fund while there is a 1% exit load if redeemed or switched within 1 year of allotment of units.

There are very similar funds that have come up in the market like the Canara Robeco Indigo Fund.  This fund’s methodology can be ideal for those looking for an alternative portfolio with equities and gold investment via one fund.  But also remember that there will be additional charges involved due to the FOF mode of investment via the Gold ETF option of its 35% of investment portfolio.

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This is an open ended Fund of Fund which is going to be invested only on the Quantum Gold Fund Exchange Traded Fund which in fact is one of the early starters when it comes to gold ETF funds in India.  By the way the Quantum Gold Fund ETF’s each unit has the value of half gram as against the 1 gram being followed by other MFs.  You don’t need to have a DEMAT account to invest in this gold fund as you can invest in it in lumpsum or via SIP route just like any other regular Mutual Funds.  The Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) is available only when the scheme reopens though.

NFO

The current NFO is open from April 28, 2011 and closes on May 12, 2011 and the same will be reopened on May 26, 2011.

Details

As said above, Quantum Gold Savings Fund is an opened ended Fund of Fund Scheme investing mainly only at the Quantum Gold ETF fund.

Objective

The key objective of this fund is to derive capital gain by way of investing solely in Quantum Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).  The benchmark of this fund is going to be domestic gold price.

Entry and Exit Load: There is not entry load for this fund but there will be a 1.5% exit load if there is redemption or switching within 1 year of allotment of the fund’s units.

Asset Allocation

Up to 95% in Quantum Gold Fund and the balance 0-5% in money market and debt instruments offered by government companies.

Minimum Investment

The minimum amount that you can invest in this Quantum Gold Savings Fund is Rs. 500 and in multiples of Rs. 1 thereafter.  There is only going to be growth option with this fund and no dividend option is available.

SIP

The main advantage of investing in such gold funds is the beauty of being able to invest in gold via the SIP option which is otherwise not possible in regular Gold ETF conventionally, but you can buy them every month at least 1 g of gold via your demat account though.   Quantum Gold Savings Fund has five types or frequencies of SIP namely daily, weekly, fortnight, monthly and quarterly SIPs.  The minimum amount of investment for daily SIP is Rs. 100 while for the others the minimum amount to invest is Rs. 500 and in multiples of Rs. 1.  You can also opt for the Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) or the Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) with this gold fund.

This Quantum Gold Savings Fund (QGSF) is an excellent opportunity for those who don’t have a DEMAT account to buy the regular gold ETFs but have always been wanted to invest in gold on a monthly basis!  Although they have mentioned an annual recurring expense of 0.5% there have been reports that there is not going to be any management fee that is going to be charged for this fund except for the charges being incurred on Quantum Gold ETF.  Hence it could prove to be an additional benefit when you compare it with the Reliance Gold Savings Fund where you get double charges on your investments.  But according to the Quantum Gold Fund’s prospectus there will not be any annual recurring expenses taken from the investors but it will be borne by the AMC and also they will not charge any investment management fee for this particular fund and hence making it an ideal choice for those looking for SIP route to invest in gold.

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Benchmark: The actual benchmark that this fund follows is the Crisil MIP Blended Index.

Asset Allocation: 80-95% in debt and money market instruments, 5-20% in equities.

Options Available: Dividend payout and growth option.

NFO Details: The minimum investment is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Rs. 1 thereafter.  There is a lock-in period of 3 years.  There is no entry or exit load for this fund as it will be listed in stock exchange.

The dual benefits work like giving stability and fixed returns from the debt portion of the investment and the equity portion will help you achieve the extra push needed for the additional income.  Apart from that this fund also helps you gain the indexation benefits for those in the higher tax bracket!  The 3 year lock in period helps the fund managers to get their call with a long term view and hence enhanced returns can be achieved.

The debt portion of this Reliance Dual Advantage Fund will be invested in the highest of quality debt and money market instruments while the equity part will be invested across the broad based portfolio of stocks.

This fund (Reliance Dual Advantage Fixed Tenure Fund I) looks like just another capital protection oriented fund but comes with a different name!  As, we have not been receiving not so too good reviews about the capital protection oriented funds, hence think twice before going for this NFO.  If you are really looking for stability and extra push on the equities, go ahead and try this fund else give it a miss.

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