Mutual fund loss: What to do if you are losing money (2024)

FAQs

Mutual fund loss: What to do if you are losing money? ›

Diversify. This is perhaps the only way to counter your mutual fund loss at the moment. If your portfolio is exposed only to equity, then add some liquid funds to the mix. They will not only balance out your losses due to equity but will also allow you to raise money for short term goals.

So, if you notice a loss in your mutual fund portfolio, it is best to keep yourself calm instead of making a big decision. The aim should be a long-term investment plan while dipping into mutual funds investment, as it works well. Also, build a mutual fund portfolio that aligns with your long-term financial plan.

Diversify your investments: If no corrective action is required, you can diversify your portfolio and include other upward-trending assets in your basket of investments. This will help offset some of the mutual fund losses while you wait for the market to correct and the prices to rise once more.

Mutual fund liquidations, also referred to as "full closures," are never good news. Liquidation involves the sale of all of a fund's assets and the distribution of the proceeds to the fund shareholders. At best, it means shareholders are forced to sell at a time, not of their choosing.

"If you want to stay invested, sell at a loss and use the proceeds to buy into a similar, but not substantially identical, fund," Wybar says. "This way you can recoup the loss and participate in upside returns when the market goes back up."

However, if you have noticed significantly poor performance over the last two or more years, it may be time to cut your losses and move on. To help your decision, compare the fund's performance to a suitable benchmark or to similar funds. Exceptionally poor comparative performance should be a signal to sell the fund.

However, this only happens very rarely, but because money market funds are not FDIC-insured, meaning that money market funds can lose money.

Summary. Learn about the 8-4-3 rule of compounding, where investments double within 8, 4, and 3 years, showcasing exponential growth. It emphasizes staying dedicated to investment plans, guarding against inflation, and adapting to market changes.

While market crashes inevitably impact mutual funds' performance and pull them down, as an investor, you need to remain patient and avoid exiting your investment. If you redeem your investment during a market crash, you essentially convert your notional losses into actual ones.

When it comes to equity, it is very important that, especially when you are thinking about long-term goals, you want to exit as soon as you have 2-3 years left approaching your goal and there are just 2-3 years to get there. That is number one.

What to do if mutual fund is not performing? ›

It is generally recommended to exit a poorly performing mutual fund if it has consistently underperformed its benchmark over a sustained period of time, typically 1-2 years. Investors should also consider the reasons for the poor performance and evaluate if those issues are likely to persist in the future.

Yes, absolutely right. The underlying fact remains and irrespective of what guidelines come out, all investors must understand and keep this in mind, there are no guaranteed returns whatsoever in any mutual fund schemes.

You will need to visit the website of your mutual fund and log in with your credentials. You will need to select the fund and the number of units you want to redeem and confirm your request. You will receive the redemption amount in your bank account within a few days, depending on the type of fund.

Regardless of whether an investment has lost or gained value, you should never keep it if it no longer fits your strategy. That said, it can be hard to let go of an investment that's lost value, thanks to the break-even fallacy, or our instinct to wait to sell an investment until it rebounds to our purchase price.

When mutual fund investors seek higher returns, they invest in equity mutual funds. These are mutual funds that invest in the stock markets. Since they are market-linked, these funds get affected when the market goes down and this is why there are chances of loss in mutual funds too.

The underlying securities of mutual funds comprise stocks from different companies. Due to this, mutual funds offer you the benefit of diversification. However, during a market crash, stock prices come down. This, in turn, pulls down the performance of mutual funds holding these stocks.

When it comes to equity, it is very important that, especially when you are thinking about long-term goals, you want to exit as soon as you have 2-3 years left approaching your goal and there are just 2-3 years to get there.

By selling off mutual funds, you lose their potential for significant growth over time, especially if you have been reinvesting dividends to automatically buy more shares. In addition, you're only allowed to contribute so much to an IRA each year, so you won't be able to make up for your withdrawals later.

What is the best option if you begin losing money in your mutual fund? Leave it alone, and continue to invest money in the fund.