When you invest in a mutual fund, you're not just buying shares—you're trusting someone to grow your money. But how do you know if they're doing a good job? That’s where fund performance metrics, measurable indicators that show how well a mutual fund is doing over time come in. These aren’t fancy jargon—they’re the actual numbers that tell you if your money is growing, shrinking, or just sitting still after fees. Without checking these, you could be paying high charges for returns that barely beat inflation.
Two key things every investor needs to watch: expense ratio, the annual fee a fund charges to manage your money, deducted silently from your returns and tracking error, how far an index fund strays from the benchmark it’s supposed to copy. A fund with a 1.5% expense ratio eats up your gains before you even see them. A tracking error above 1% in an index fund means it’s not doing its job. Then there’s the return itself—was it 12% last year? Great. But was it 12% every year, or did it swing from 30% to -10%? That’s where SIP returns, the average growth of your systematic investments over time, smoothing out market highs and lows matter more than one-year spikes. And don’t forget risk: if a fund crashes 20% when the market drops 10%, it’s not just volatile—it’s dangerous.
These metrics aren’t just for experts. They’re for anyone who wants to stop guessing and start knowing. The posts below show you how real people in India use these numbers—whether they’re comparing tax-saving ELSS funds, switching between schemes to avoid tax, or choosing between NPS and PPF for retirement. You’ll see how expense ratios quietly cost lakhs over time, how tracking error can turn a "low-risk" fund into a surprise loser, and how SIP returns reveal the true story behind flashy headlines. No fluff. No theory. Just the numbers that actually decide if your investment works—or fails.
Learn how to read a mutual fund factsheet in India by focusing on key metrics like Sharpe ratio, expense ratio, alpha, and portfolio composition. Make smarter investment decisions with data, not hype.
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