I am 35. I recently started investing ₹1,000 per month in each of the following funds: Axis Long-Term Equity, Canara Robeco Emerging Equity, Franklin High Growth, HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities, Reliance Tax Saver and Reliance Equity Opportunities and ₹2,000 in ICICI Pru Value Discovery (₹8,000 in all).

My long-term goals are: children’s education - 15 years from now; children’s marriage - 25 years from now; my retirement - 25 years from now.

I can take moderately high risk as I expect a minimum compounded annualised growth rate of 12-15 per cent.

Please tell me whether I am on the right path.

Saradindu Roy

Your expectation of 12-15 per cent annualised return over the long term is reasonable.

Keeping the return expectation at the lower end of 12 per cent, an investment of ₹8,000 per month for the next 15 years should fetch you about ₹40 lakh at the end of the period, to fund your children’s higher education needs.

Although this seems a comfortable corpus, remember that the value of ₹40 lakh may not be the same as it is today, 15 years later. Besides, you may want more if your children decide to go abroad for higher studies.

Hence, to make up for the shortfall, if any, in meeting this goal 15 years later and also to save for your other targets, such as children’s marriage and your retirement, step up your investments as and when your surplus increases.

Although all the funds that you are currently investing in are good performers, it is enough if you restrict yourself to about three funds for ₹8,000.

Continue with ICICI Pru Value Discovery and Axis Long-term Equity investing ₹3,000 and ₹2,000 respectively, in each of these funds. You can invest the remaining ₹3,000 in Franklin High Growth.

These choices also give you exposure to different styles of investing, such as value (Pru Discovery), growth (Axis Long-Term Equity) and blended (Franklin High Growth).

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