Back to Blog

Why Are Alternative Investment Funds on the Rise in India?

October 31, 2022

With a growing appetite for risk-based investments and prolonged market volatility, alternative investment funds are gaining momentum in India. These asset management strategies provide investors with opportunities to diversify their portfolios and mitigate risk at the same time.

In this article, we take a look at why alternative investment funds are on the rise in India, who they are suited for, and which are the best examples of these investment options.

What Are Alternative Investment Funds?

An alternative investment fund is neither an equity nor a debt fund, but a hybrid of both. These funds are often created in response to changing market conditions, such as political uncertainty, economic expansion or a change in interest rates. Alternative investments are made up of assets that are not stocks or bonds. Examples of alternative investments include real estate, commodities or derivatives.

Why Are Alternative Investment Funds Rising in India?

The demand for alternative investment funds in India is growing because of a few key reasons:

  • A Long-Term View – Alternative investment funds are meant to be held for long-term growth. With a volatile equity market, investors may want to take a long-term view to protect their capital while also earning good returns.
  • Protect Capital – Investors may want to switch to investments that can protect their capital, and generate wealth over long term.
  • Increase Returns – With interest rates expected to rise in the U.S., investors may be looking for growth outside the U.S. equity markets, where dividends are not taxed.
  • Diversify Portfolio – Investors may want to diversify their portfolio to spread the risk across other investment classes.
  • Market Sentiment – Investors may also be looking to benefit from market sentiment as certain alternative investment funds could be rising in value.

Types of Alternative Investment Funds

Alternative Commodity Funds – These funds invest in volatile commodities such as gold, silver and crude oil. They may also invest in agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans.

Alternative Credit Funds – These funds are invested in leveraged loans, collateralized by corporate bonds or government securities.

Alternative Fixed Income Funds – These funds invest in high-yield, high-risk debt instruments such as junk bonds and high-yield corporate bonds.

Alternative Growth Funds – These funds invest in companies with high growth potential, high market share and high profit margins.

Alternative Hedge Funds – These funds are unregulated, but they are an asset class that includes a range of investment strategies.

Conclusion

As the Indian equity market continues to be volatile, the demand for alternative investment funds has increased. Investors are looking for new and innovative ways to boost their returns, protect their capital and diversify their portfolios. These investment options can provide investors with a steady income stream and a chance to earn higher returns. Investors are always looking to make the most of their investments and it is no surprise that alternative investment funds are rising in India and expected to grow further given the current market conditions.

Back to Blog

What to Consider When Selecting a Wealth Management Service

October 30, 2022

Wealth management is the process of helping individuals and families manage their financial assets throughout their life cycles. Wealth managers are financial advisors who specialise in managing your assets by providing financial advice such as managing your investment portfolio and insurance needs, providing estate planning advice, assisting you with your financial plan, and more. Wealth management services will typically incorporate both financial planning and investment management into their service offerings.

Here’s what you need to know about selecting a wealth management service.

Know your investment needs and wants

One of the most important things you can do before selecting a wealth management service is to understand your investment needs and wants. You can do this by asking yourself a few questions.

First, how much do you currently have to invest? What is your risk tolerance? How soon do you plan on needing this money? Answering these key questions will help you determine if you want to select an advisor who focuses on financial planning, investment management, or a combination of both.

If you are looking for a financial advisor who focuses on financial planning, you will likely have a more in-depth discussion about your overall financial situation. This can include a review of your current financial situation, financial goals and current financial situation.

If you are looking for investment management, an investment management service will likely have a more limited discussion about your overall financial situation.

Don’t forget the importance of research and due diligence

Once you have an idea of what type of wealth management service you are interested in, you need to do your due diligence to make sure you are selecting the right one. You can do this by researching investment performance, the track record of the advisors, and any malpractice or regulatory issues that might be on record.

Additionally, you will want to make sure your advisor has a strong track record. You can do this by looking at the overall performance of their investment management services. Investment management services have been around for about 20 years, before which, financial advisors mainly focused on financial planning. A track record of at least 10 years should give you a good understanding of their capabilities

Finding The Right Fit For You

One of the most important things to keep in mind when you are selecting a wealth management service is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. It is important to find a service that will work best for you. While some of these are broad categories, each category has different subcategories with different services.

For example, hybrid advisors are different from financial planning firms. There are many different types of wealth management services. The most common services are financial planning firms, hybrid advisors and investment management firms. 

Financial Planning Firms – Financial planning firms focus mainly on financial planning. They will typically help you with things like creating a financial plan and budget, taxes, insurance and net worth calculation. They may also help you with your investment portfolio, but this is not their main focus. 

Hybrid Advisors – Hybrid advisors are a combination of financial planning firms and investment management firms. They will typically help you with your financial plan as well as your investment portfolio.

Investment Management Firms – Investment management firms focus mainly on managing your investment portfolio. They will typically work with you to identify where you want your money to be invested and then manage that portfolio for you.

They will also typically make recommendations on when to buy and sell securities within your portfolio.

When it comes to your personal finances, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Everyone has different needs and wants at different points in their lives. This is why so many people are looking for customised services when it comes to wealth management. Finding a wealth manager is just one half of it. You would also need to keep a track of your investments, and when you become adept at investing, put your money in the instruments of your choice. KFintech’s KPRISM platform can help you keep a track of your portfolio and manage your investments safely. Learn more about it here

Back to Blog

What To Know Before Investing in Alternative Investment Funds in India

October 28, 2022

Alternative investments refer to any type of investment that is not common equity or fixed income. These include hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure and others. Investors who want to invest in alternative investment funds can do so by opening an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) account with any registered Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM).

Alternative investment funds (AIFs) have gained enough traction to become the next big thing in the Indian investments space. With retail investors looking for higher returns and a new asset class, alternative investments are fast catching up with retail investors and institutional investors.

What are the Benefits of Investing in Alternative Investments?

Alternative investments can be a valuable tool for building retirement savings and the benefits below are just some of the ways in which these types of investments can help diversify and grow retirement savings over time.

Alternative investments are not the same as traditional investments. They are more risky and they can provide higher returns. However, they also have a higher chance of losing money.

There is a long list of benefits that comes with investing in alternative investments. 

  • These types of investments can help diversify your portfolio and reduce volatility.
  • You will be able to participate in opportunities that you would not be able to do with traditional investments.
  • Investing in alternative investments will allow you to have access to certain assets which are not available through traditional investment options like real estate, private equity, hedge funds and commodities.
  • Alternative investments offer higher expected returns than those offered by traditional investments.

How to Choose the Best Alternative Investment Fund for You?

Choosing the best AI fund can be a difficult task. You have to consider many factors including the risk, return and diversification.

When choosing an AI fund, it’s important to consider the following:

  • What is the level of risk?
  • What is your time horizon?
  • How much money do you want to invest?

There are many different types of funds that you can invest in, the two most popular types being equity funds and bond funds. Equity funds are more risky because they typically invest in stocks and bonds, which can fluctuate in price. Bond funds are less risky because they invest primarily in fixed-income securities that have a low rate of fluctuation.

Alternative Asset managers are often challenged by fragmented markets, legacy tech, disparate systems, and cost pressures. KFintech’s proprietary Alternative Investment Platform is designed to be the backbone of alternative investment funds, enabling fund managers to run fund operations smoothly, on board investors and scale their operations as they grow. Know more here.

Back to Blog

5 Ways Mutual Fund Software Can Benefit You

October 20, 2022

Investing in mutual funds is easier today than ever before. You no longer need to be a millionaire to own blue-chip stocks or hedge fund assets. Thanks to mutual funds, you can invest in almost any asset class via an affordable and accessible product.  

As an investor, there are plenty of ways you can take advantage of this new world order. Read on for details about how you can use software to further your investing goals with mutual funds.

Know your investments

It’s always a good idea to know what you own. The best way to figure out what is in your mutual fund portfolio is to use mutual fund software, which not only keeps track of your mutual fund holdings but also helps you stay on top of the overall performance of each fund.

This type of tracking is especially important if you’re investing in actively managed mutual funds. These funds are managed by humans, so they’re not guaranteed to perfectly track a specific index. With mutual fund software, you can keep track of any changes in your funds’ holdings to ensure you’re not investing based on inaccurate information.

Diversification is key

Investors should always diversify their portfolios. This strategy protects you from being too heavily invested in one specific asset class. No one can predict how sectors or markets will perform in the future, so it’s best to own a bit of everything and hope for the best.  

Mutual fund software makes it easy to diversify your holdings by letting you select from thousands of different funds. You can even use mutual fund software to automatically diversify your portfolio for you. There are various ways you can go about this.  

The most straightforward way is to just select funds that are spread across different asset classes. Alternatively, you can choose funds that are designed to track specific indices.

Automate your investing

Many mutual fund companies offer what is known as an “automated investment plan” or “aggressive investment plan.” These are recurring investment plans that will automatically pump new money into your mutual funds at a specified frequency. As an investor, this is an excellent way to take advantage of dollar cost averaging.  

This strategy involves investing a set amount of money at regular intervals. The idea is to smooth out your investment over time to reduce your exposure to market volatility. With mutual fund software, you can set up an automatic investment plan that will help you dollar cost average into your funds regularly.

This will let you invest smaller amounts over time and smooth out your exposure to market volatility. Plus, you don’t even have to remember to make each investment, so there’s less chance you’ll procrastinate and miss out on the opportunity.

Protect yourself from market risk

As noted above, many funds are designed to track specific indices. That means when the index experiences a fall, the fund will lose money as well. This is known as market risk. In the short term, it’s certainly possible that you will lose money with funds that track specific indices.  

However, over the long term, you should make a profit. The idea is that the fund will lose money when the market falls but then gain money when the market recovers. In general, funds that track broad indices are unlikely to experience significant market risk.  

Funds that track narrower indices are at risk of being negatively impacted by market fluctuations. Therefore, if you’re worried about market risk, you should select funds that track broader indices. You can also use mutual fund software to select funds with lower market risk. This will give you an idea of how much risk each fund has.

Track performance over time

As you track your mutual funds, you’ll be able to track performance over time. This is important if you’re investing with a long-term outlook. You don’t want to panic if the market drops a bit because that happens over time. You just want to be sure that your funds are growing at a pace that’s consistent with their long-term averages.  

If you use mutual fund software, you can also track how much fees are eating into your returns. This is important because fees can significantly reduce your potential gains. If you keep track of fees and make adjustments when appropriate, you can reduce your fees and increase your long-term returns.

Summing up

As an investor, there are many ways you can take advantage of mutual fund software. This type of financial software will help you know your investments, diversify your holdings, protect yourself from market risk, and track performance over time. With all of these benefits, there’s no reason not to use mutual fund software.