A look at data for gold funds between Akshaya Tritiya in 2017 (April 28) and April 16 this year, reveals that returns have been in single digits.
Investors are always on the prowl for golden opportunities to make money. And what better occasion to turn a new leaf than the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.
The Hindu festival, seen as an opportune day to accumulate or begin buying different assets for prosperity, sees many potential investors flocking to buy gold or gold-related assets every year.
In fact, the spillover is seen in equity markets as well, where gold and jewellery stocks tend to gain a day before the festival. On Tuesday, stocks such as Goenka Diamond, PC Jeweller, Titan Company, Renaissance Jewellery, Tara Jewels and TBZ gained up to 9 percent.
Other such asset classes where investors park their money are gold funds and gold ETFs (exchange traded funds). But a look at data for gold funds between Akshaya Tritiya in 2017 (April 28) and April 16 this year, reveals that returns have been in single digits.
According to data from Morningstar, in the ETF category, the maximum returns came in from IDBI Gold ETF at 6.42 percent, while the lowest return was 4.98 percent by ICICI Prudential Gold Fund ETF.
In fact, the average returns, or even the highest returns in both the categories, have either managed to just match or largely underperform returns from traditional defensive asset classes such as bank deposits. These are usually in the 6-7 percent range.
Experts highlight that even investors with risk-averse behaviour must ideally look away from such asset classes.
Most of the asset classes, be it gold, real estate or debt, do not offer meaningful returns. It will be advisable for retail investors to have a fairly large exposure to equities. Such investors could also look at hybrid funds, which invest in debt and in turn see lower volatility.
Speaking about the returns chart, Dua highlighted that the longer-term performance of gold funds have actually been negative.
Financial planners also advice investing in the appropriate investment avenue rather than in such funds.
This festival brings in the traditional habit of buying gold for auspicious purposes. But it cannot be considered to be an investing habit. Gold has not performed for the past five years and the even longer term returns show around 6-7 percent growth in rupee terms. So, one must look at asset classes which will give you good returns. At best, you can still have 5-10 percent of this class in your portfolio if you are a conservative investor and seeks some kind of a hedge, without worrying too much abou returns.
Sadagopan went as far as to say that one must buy the yellow metal only when there is need for it.
Gold should be used as an avenue only if there is end-use to it. For instance, if gold is being saved with the purpose of, say, your kid’s marriage, which is two-three years away, that makes sense. But to do that 10-15 years in advance is a flawed logic.
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