The real key to MF investing isn't timing—it's allocation

Indian investors should moderate their equity return expectations over a 5-10 year horizon.

- Jash Kriplani

At the Mint Money Festival 2026, where several attendees gathered to hear leading investment and personal finance experts share insights on managing money, a panel discussion on ‘How to Invest in Mutual Funds in Today's Environment’ offered timely guidance on where investors should be allocating their money, what they should avoid, and what returns they could they realistically expect from their mutual fund investments over the long term.

Asset allocation

All experts highlighted the importance of taking an asset allocation approach to investing, depending on an investor's risk-appetite and goals.

Sankaran Naren, executive director and chief investment officer of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, said, he was worried that while people often talk about asset allocation, but in practice get caught up with “anti-asset allocation”. He was referring to gold and silver ETFs (exchange traded funds) after the rally in gold and silver prices.

“In the last two years, since markets became costly, we have been recommending everything to do with asset allocation. Hybrid funds, equity savings, balanced advantage, multi-asset, aggressive hybrid—these are the categories we have been recommending.” “For people who think gold and silver have become too euphoric, we are saying maybe avoid multi-asset,” he said.