Have you wondered why your fund seems to have delivered fantastic returns and yet your returns have been on the lower side? Well you are not alone. Any market investment can be said to give two types of returns or performance - first its actual market returns /performance and second, the returns /performance of the investor holding the investment. Most of us would think that the two should be similar, in the same range. However, often the reality is quite different, especially in the long run.

Investor behaviour has been identified as one factor with the highest impact on long-term outcomes. In fact, there is a complete field of studies dedicated to this aspect called as ‘behavioural finance’. The field of behavioural finance deals with investor behaviour in the real world as opposed to the mainstream market assumptions that the market is efficient, and all players act rationally to make optimum decisions to maximise their gains. However, behavioural finance studies have countered this and has shown that there are social, emotional and cognitive factors impacting our investment decisions and we do not really end up investing rationally, which is what we think we do. These behavioural biases undermine our decision-making and impact the investor performance or long-term success in investing. This is much more common than we think and results in the ‘behavioural gap’ that we are alluding to. 

Behavioural Gap:  

Facts and historical evidence across different markets and multiple studies have proven that the market performance has been much higher than the investor performance in the same market /investment across different countries and spanning over many decades. The results are often the same, irrespective of even investment horizon. This difference between the return an investment organically produces over a fixed time frame, and the return an investor in that very investment actually earns, is coined as ‘behaviour gap’.

There is a popular research report published every year by DALBAR on ‘Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior’ for past 22 years. Here are the brief extracts from the report for the period ending on 31st December 2022:

As can be clearly seen, the broad stock market in the US has outperformed the average equity fund investor by a huge margin, almost 50%, over the 30-year period. Interestingly, the out performance is seen across all holding periods. Similar results were seen in almost all the past studies carried by DALBAR. Results have been on similar lines by many more studies. 

Closer home too, a recent study done by one domestic fund house for the period from 2003 to 2022 showed that the equity funds delivered impressive returns of 19.1%, but the investor returns were just at 13.8%. The out performance of nearly 38%, compounded, over nearly 20 years of investment is very alarming to say the least. 

The verdict is simple - even though the Indian equity investor has created wealth, outperforming all other asset classes over the past two decades, he has clearly missed creating many more multiples of wealth creation due to his behaviour. 

What should investors do?

As witnessed, one of the biggest roadblocks to investing success is investor behaviour, often driven by biases and emotions. Investors let their biases and emotions dictate their investment decisions. We have often spoken of the cycle of ‘Fear - Greed - Hope’ seen in the markets. Investors typically panic and sell when markets correct and become greedy and buy when markets have moved up. However, avoiding our personal biases, and emotions and making rational decisions in real life is a tough task. 

On the positive side, there are many famous and successful investors whom we know by names and still many who are silently enjoying their success around us. These are investors who have overcome the factors we spoke about above, made fewer mistakes, corrected themselves in time and then played the game well in the long term. So what would distinguish these successful investors and the average equity fund investor? 

Successful investors have been found to portray certain characteristics, unlike average investors. They are more rational, they do not let personal biases impact investment decisions, they are more patient and do not let emotions cloud their judgement, are more focused on the wealth creation journey rather than the money, are research and data-oriented, and they keep the big, long-term picture in mind. As common investors, this can be a lot to digest and copy at one go but we surely can learn and dig deeper into each aspect of our investment journey. 

The true role of mutual fund distributors /investment advisors:

There is an interesting thing. Investors who are guided by qualified experts say, experienced mutual fund (MF) distributors or investment advisors, are likely to have outperformed the average investor. The true role of your MF distributor is not to find the top-performing fund or service your queries. The true role is of managing and even controlling investor behaviour - making sure that factors like personal biases, emotions, ill information, lack of knowledge, etc, do not impact your investment decisions. They would make sure to push you to save and invest more, motivate you to see the big picture and at times, even disagree with you, see the big picture which you do not see and give you conviction and confidence when you need it the most. That’s the true, invaluable role that your mutual fund distributor plays and one cannot really put a price on this or quantify this in terms of the value it can bring to your financial journey. What we can assume though is that if we do follow and seek guidance from our MF distributors /advisors, we would be able to bridge the investor’s behavioural gap by a large extent. With just a couple of percentage differences, there can be life-changing for you when compounded over the long term. 

Conclusion: 

The behaviour gap is the reason we often feel that we have failed to create wealth as much as we could have, given the impressive historical performance of the equity markets. More than timing the markets or product /fund selection, it is how we behave and make decisions at the overall portfolio level that truly matters. It is time for us to also acknowledge this fact, focus inwards and find ways of becoming better investors with time, knowledge and experience. Surely, we are supported and guided by our MF distributors /advisors in this journey. What is also needed is that we listen to them more, make decisions and take action. And let deep, meaningful conversations take place.

As investors most of us feel that creating wealth requires an active approach on our part. Frequent portfolio churning, be it stocks or mutual funds, multiple trading and demat a/cs and at the end of the year, managing the capital gains tax component. While some of us may feel that active management is the way to create wealth, let us understand how we can create wealth by just being passive investors.

LIQUID FUNDS:
This is one of the most underrated mutual fund product categories in the Indian MF space. Why? As investors, we tend to leave a lot of money lying around in our savings and current a/cs for liquidity or emergency reasons. We may have also come across investors for whom having a large bank balance is a matter of prestige and topic of discussion and comparison in their friends' circles. This fantasy is further fueled by the big private banks who provide goodies like high value credit cards with free add-on cards, international debit cards with high daily withdrawal limits, stylish looking cheque books with Platinum or Gold customer mentioned on the cheque leaves and a dedicated relationship manager to take care of all your needs. The only person who benefits in this whole game is the bank and of course, the relationship manager. The poor investor is worse off as over a period of time the money lying in the savings and current a/cs has actually de-grown if we consider the impact of taxes and inflation.

Solution:
Open a liquid MF a/c through NJ E-Wealth A/c which provides online buy / sell facilities through the mobile device of your choice. The entire process is paperless and also helps save the environment. You get your money back in 1 working day and the returns, depending on the option selected, can be either tax free dividends or capital gains. Some MFs also provide you with an ATM card which can be used at the bank of your choice for withdrawing upto 50% of your liquid fund balance. The card can also be used to pay for your groceries at supermarkets.

EQUITY LINKED TAX SAVING SCHEMES (ELSS):
This is a favourite with tax payers who want to take risk in their portfolio. The scheme has a lock in of 3 calendar years after which you are free to withdraw the money whenever you choose to do so. The money invested in year 1 can be redeemed in year 4 and reinvested to claim tax benefits for that year. Similarly, the money invested in year 2 can be redeemed and reinvested in year 5. This cycle can go on endlessly. The benefits to you are two-fold, namely: Tax benefits u/s 80C and market-linked capital appreciation. As an investor, you need to invest for only 3 years after which it becomes a self-generating investment.

PROPERTY:
Investors who are matured and have a large surplus can look at investing in property. The benefits to you are multi-fold. To start with, you can claim tax benefits if you buy the property on loan. Secondly, if you put the property on rent, you can generate a monthly income for yourself. Thirdly, this monthly income can increase over time. Finally, the property will also appreciate in value. If we were to do a survey of people who have taken a housing loan for a period ranging from 15 – 25 years, the interesting fact that will emerge is that majority of the borrowers tend to pay off the loan much before maturity. Thereby, saving on the interest component. Therefore, it makes immense sense to buy a house on borrowed funds and try to pay off the loan before maturity. You may then look at taking another property on loan and repeating the same process. The monthly EMIs can be funded from the income being generated from the earlier property. The result can be a chain of properties earning regular passive monthly income.

All the options mentioned above are applicable to salaried as well as self employed investors. The options are simple and easy to execute and, hopefully will not take much of your time. If the passive options are well executed, you may end up as a wealthy investor at the end of the day thanks to passive income. A word of caution: none of this will happen over night. It will require time and patience from you. The power of compounding requires time to work in your favour and help you create wealth. The legendary investor Warren Buffett once said:

"No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

Most parents think that they do not need to teach their children how to manage money and the value of managing money in the right manner. They believe that this will be taught to the children as part of their curriculum in schools. The reality is very different. Personal finance is not taught in schools and by the time children reach college it may be too late to correct this mistake. Therefore, the onus falls on parents to teach their children this critical skill. As parents, we have to see ourselves as the primary source of financial education for our children. The earlier we start educating our children, the better the chance of ensuring that our children grow up to become financially literate and responsible people.

We are listing down some strategies that parents can use to share knowledge of money management:

Lessons should be unique if you want the message to sink in. To start with, parents need to sit down with their children at eye-level either at a table or in the child’s room. Keep the mobile phone and other distractions aside for some time and start by emphasizing the importance of the conversation. It needs to happen at their own level and in language that they understand. Irrespective of how young the child is, the effort of making this conversation happen is worth every rupee.

Money mistakes made by parents in the past can serve as a good guidance for teaching children about money. Past mistakes is not a disqualification for teaching but can in fact help to get your point across to children. Parents can explain how the mistakes could have been avoided and provide documentary proof as a support. Children will grasp the learning much faster if have actual figures to refer to; parents can explain how much money was lost because of the mistakes.

Reinforce your Teaching constantly: Make it a point to involve your kids in any transaction where you have any opportunity to save. Even if it is saving of only 5% - 7% on account of a cash back offer from your debit or credit card, it can go a long way in reinforcing the benefits of saving money.

Encourage children to save more money by opening a bank account for them. Even though the bank a/c may not earn much interest, it will go a long way in making your children appreciate the benefits of saving money for the future.

Budget pocket money or allowance: First of all, it is a good idea to give an allowance to your kids on a defined frequency. There can be various options to consider on how to pay an allowance to your child, namely:

1. "Earn money for tasks" allowance: The child is expected to complete certain house work or tasks on a regular basis and is paid for his efforts. The child will see a direct correlation between the effort and the money he or she receives. If for any reason, the task is not completed, then the child is not given spending money.
2. "Pay as needed" allowance: Children do not receive an allowance on a regular basis but request their parents for money as and when required. Here the child may or may not be helping the parents with household tasks. Secondly, as this money does not come on a regular basis, the child may not be able to save for future expenses.
3. Unconditional allowance: The parents give a fixed amount to the child on a weekly or monthly basis without any precondition of doing any tasks. This method allows the child to manage money on a regular basis similar to a salary payment. The downside of this method is there is no correlation between efforts and the payment made.
4. Hybrid allowance: Here this child is expected to do certain basic tasks for free as a contributing member of the family. The child will be paid for completing larger tasks like cleaning the fans, windows or cupboards. Whenever the child wants more money, he or she can take up a task or job and receive payment on completion of it. This method teaches the child that the harder he works, the more money they can earn. This is of course, very similar to our real world.

Whichever method you as a parent choose to pay an allowance to your child, encourage them to create a budget before they receive the money. For e.g., if the weekly allowance is R1000, you can suggest that R200 should be saved, R 200 can go for charity (a very important concept your child needs to learn from a young age) and the balance can spent as they like. This budgeting will help them plan for their future purchases and also help them manage their finances when they become full grown adults and earn their independent incomes.

Let us know put down some action plans for execution of the above strategies. As Steve Jobs once said, "To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier . Execution is worth millions."

Let’s start with shopping for your groceries at your nearest supermarket. Shopping with kids can be a nightmare; or a great way to teach them about budgeting, if you can spare some extra time:

Create a food plan followed by a shopping list: Get your children to help create a food plan for a week; then create the shopping list to fit your weekly grocery budget. This will teach your kids about budgeting, planning ahead and checking out any discounts being offered.

Getting the best price: Comparison shopping is a great way to teach kids about money and how to get the best value for your rupee. You can help improve your child’s math skills by challenging them to identify the best deal based on the product quantity or number or servings.

Making smart choices: Encourage your child to decide between several competing brands including the store brand. You may end up saving a lot of money provided you are comfortable with the product quality of the store brand, if you decide to buy it.

Matching discounts and sales with your shopping list: It may be worth your while to check out the discounts and sales offers the supermarket is offering. This will help your child to develop bargain – hunting skills.

Give your child a budget to spend on his treats and snacks. This will teach them to spend on their treats within their budget and not go overboard. Children love it when they are given the freedom to decide some part of their life. Now let’s move onto banking which is slowly and steadily moving the online route especially with younger generation.

Though a visit to the bank is still required if you want to deposit a cheque, fill a nomination form or meet the branch manager. It is a good idea to take your child along so they can better understand in person how a bank works.

Deposit savings: Children should be encouraged to deposit their piggy bank savings into their savings a/c on a regular basis. You can create savings milestones with your child which if reached within a particular time frame can be enjoyed with a small celebration or gift for the child.

Show your child the money: Children are fast learners by nature and very keen observers. Teach them how to deposit and withdraw money, how to fill up a deposit slip, how to operate the ATM etc. This will go a long way in making them understand the basics of money management.

Education literature: Check with your personal banker if they have any programs or literature for teaching children about basic banking. Banks may also provide you with educational coloring or story books which can used for learning and fun.

Finally, let’s talk about the large retail chains like Star Bazaar or Croma. These stores not only offer loads of electronic gadgetry but also plenty of stuff that your kids may wants like clothes, toys, games etc. A nightmare for all parents surely, but also a silver lining… opportunity to teach our children.

Economy and money: This is good place to teach your child about the working of the economy starting with why businesses are set up, how they grow and prosper, how the owners or shareholders are rewarded etc. Why does the store sell so many items, why is it organized the way it is?

Sales and discounts: Retail chains are famous for offering discounts and sales around festivals like Diwali, Holi etc. They also offer discounts on electronic items like TVs during the IPL season. Children can be taught how shopping smartly for electronics and other items during such events can help save a lot of money. On the other hand, just because a particular item is available at a huge discount is no reason to buy it.

Needs vs. Wants. Before buying any item, teach your child to check if the item(s) passes the following conditions:

1. Have they compared the prices with other retail shops and online shopping websites, especially for high priced items?
2. Is the item a need or want? Wants are discretionary.
3. Are there any discounts you can avail off (through your credit or debit card)?

If your are willing to teach your children about money, you can find a way irrespective of the choice of venue. Be creative in your approach and help your children understand why savings and budgeting techniques are critical real-life skills for them to learn. These skills will last them a lifetime and they will remember you for taking the time and efforts to impart them.

To conclude, can you rewind back to the times when you were young and your parents took the time to teach you about money management? If you are finding it difficult to remember, then this is the time to make up and put your children on the right path. The average Indian is struggling today as they have not saved sufficiently for critical goals like retirement and child’s education. There is a constant struggle to manage monthly expenses as the basics of budgeting were not learned in their young age. Please do not let your children commit the same mistakes when they become adults.

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