Did you know that your systematic investment plan (SIP) can be more than just a vehicle to channel periodic savings to investments of choice? Beyond the plain-vanilla SIPs, mutual funds have introduced other facilities that fall into the category of tools that help automate and bring discipline to investment decisions. What are they and do they warrant inclusion in the playbook of the mutual fund investor?
The new SIP variants
The basic SIP has been fine-tuned to make it a more investor-friendly offering. Some of the variations are Perpetual SIPs that eliminate the need to renew the SIP periodically, SIPs that allow investments into more than one scheme to enable diversification, and SIP pause which is a better way to suspend SIPs during times of financial constraints and allow you to resume the investment without having to go through the entire process of making a fresh SIP application.
