Fixed income products like liquid funds seem slightly complex & difficult to understand. To solve that ambiguity, we have demystified liquid funds by briefly citing its important features and traits. Checkout how you can easily use liquid funds to your advantage to achieve your goals and build an emergency fund.
What is the meaning of liquid funds?
A Liquid Mutual Fund is a debt fund which predominantly invests in liquid money market and debt securities which are of shorter duration maturity of upto 91 days. Asset allocation in Liquid fund consists of:
Liquid funds don’t have any lock-in period and provide low interest rate risk in the debt fund category. Some Liquid funds also provide redemption within 24 hours of the business day.
How do they work?
The primary focus of liquid funds is to provide a high degree of liquidity & safety of the capital for investors. Since liquid fund portfolio is invested in for short duration (91 days), it has low sensitivity of interest rate movements, making liquid funds less volatile and provide steady returns.
How much returns do Liquid Funds provide?
Liquid funds are a good alternative against savings account deposits and tend to provide better return than fixed deposits. Even though the returns are not guaranteed but are less risky than equity funds.
Who can invest in Liquid Fund?
Anyone who has surplus cash can park their idle money by investing in a liquid fund which lets you earn slightly higher returns and better liquidity. Liquid funds are said to be an entry point to invest in mutual funds. It also allows you to switch from liquid fund to other category of mutual funds of your choice.
Other traits of Liquid Fund
Unlike other funds, Liquid Funds generally have a lower expense ratio. They are preferred by most debt investors, as it helps in maximizing their gains. Since portfolio maturity is of a shorter period, liquid funds invest and hold the security until maturity. Thus, the fund does not incur expenses due to excessive buying and selling of securities.
Since liquid funds fall in the category of debt funds. They provide tax indexation benefit which helps long term investors to cope better with inflation when subjected to capital gains tax.
Liquid funds are used by many investors to create an emergency fund as they are highly liquid. Ideally, they are designed for investors with a 3-month investment horizon. Wealth managers suggest liquid funds as a suitable parking ground when you have a sudden influx of cash, which could be from a huge bonus, or selling of real estate property and so on and so forth. Investors looking out for opportunities in equities and long-term fixed income instruments can also park their money in the liquid funds until a favorable opportunity arises in the market.
Liquid Funds do not charge any exit loads after 7 days from the date of investment. The exit load amount gradually reduces from the first day to the 7th day from the date of investment. It offers growth & dividend options.
In dividend option, one can choose daily, weekly or monthly dividends depending on their investment horizon & principle amount. Redemption requests in these Liquid funds are processed within one working (T+1) day. Since today it’s become easier to invest in Mutual Funds, individual investors may choose Liquid funds as an effective short-term investment option over their savings bank account.
Disclaimer, Statutory Details & Risk Factors:
The views expressed here in this article / video are for general information and reading purpose only and do not constitute any guidelines and recommendations on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Quantum AMC / Quantum Mutual Fund is not guaranteeing / offering / communicating any indicative yield on investments made in the scheme(s). The views are not meant to serve as a professional guide / investment advice / intended to be an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial product or instrument or mutual fund units for the reader. The article has been prepared on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other sources believed to be reliable. Whilst no action has been solicited based upon the information provided herein, due care has been taken to ensure that the facts are accurate and views given are fair and reasonable as on date. Readers of this article should rely on information/data arising out of their own investigations and advised to seek independent professional advice and arrive at an informed decision before making any investments.
Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
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