<p class="gmail_quote">I fully understand your concern. These are tough times as equity markets are not doing well. However, I would like to bring to your notice the following :-</p>
<p class="gmail_quote">Primarily, there are 3 main asset class where you can invest. Let us understand them:-</p>
<p class="gmail_quote">1) Real Estate – As you know, real estate investments are currently not doing well. It also requires huge investments. It is illiquid also. I don’t think this is a great time to invest in real estate.</p>
<p class="gmail_quote">2) Bonds – You can consider to invest in fixed income products like bank FD, company FD, debentures, govt bonds, etc. Even mutual funds have debt schemes. I deal in these products and if you like them, I can suggest you some options. While you should have some exposure in fixed income products as an asset allocation strategy but considering your profile, it is not a good idea to have over exposure in bonds. Their returns are not very exciting. Also, most of them carry high tax on income. While they look attractive when equity markets are not doing well but if you are considering investment for&nbsp; 5-10 years and above, they may not be a great option to invest in. If you think, you will convert your bond investments to equities when markets recover, it happens only in hindsight, not reality.</p>
<p class="gmail_quote">3) Equity – Equities offer the best returns in long term. Yes, they are volatile and can give negative returns also in the short term but it makes sense to stay invested. When you invest in equities through mutual funds, they are safer than other forms of equity investment because of expert fund management and excellent processes that they follow. Don’t just look at last few year performance. I will show you the long term performance of the schemes in which you have investments. It is very decent. These are not very good times. Wait for a few more years and I think your investments will do well.</p>
<p class="gmail_quote">Most other investment options which you see in the market falls in one of the above category. It may just be structured differently. So, there aren’t really many investment options, just a variation of debt and equity.</p>
<p>I know it hurts to see poor returns in the portfolio and when you compare it with last 1-2 years of FD return, it pains even more. But if you hold your investments for many years and look back, you will find that these investments have done far better than FDs and you will be happy that you continued in equity&nbsp; mutual funds.</p>