In mutual funds, investors often hear three important terms - SIP, STP and SWP. These may sound technical, but they are actually simple and powerful facilities provided by mutual funds. They help investors invest, transfer and withdraw money in a disciplined and automated manner. Systematic Investment Plan This is the most commonly known concept. In an SIP, a fixed amount is automatically debited from your bank account on a fixed date and invested into selected mutual fund schemes. For example, if a 30-year-old investor starts investing INR 10,000 per month for retirement and continues till the age of 55, the investment period is 25 years. Assuming a long-term return of around 12% per annum, this monthly investment can grow to approximately INR 1.70 crores. Please note, INR 10,000 is only a small amount used for illustration. Your SIP amount should be sufficient for your goals. Ideally, investors should try to invest at least 30% of their in-hand monthly income. The biggest benefit of SIP is discipline. You do not have to remember to invest every month. The process is automated. SIP also helps you invest through market ups and downs, reducing the stress of timing the market. That is why SIP is also popularly called Sapna-In-Progress. Systematic Transfer Plan In SIP, money moves from your bank account to a mutual fund. In STP, money moves from one mutual fund scheme to another. This is especially useful when you have a lumpsum amount but do not want to invest it into equity funds in one shot. For example, an investor has INR 20 lakhs to invest for the long term. He may worry about market volatility if the entire amount is invested at one go. In such a case, the money can first be parked in a debt mutual fund, and then gradually transferred to an equity mutual fund through STP. For example, INR 40,000 can be transferred every week over around 50 weeks. STP is flexible in terms of duration, frequency, amount and choice of schemes. STP gives comfort, automation and gradual participation in equity markets. Systematic Withdrawal Plan This is the exact reverse of SIP. In SIP, money goes from your bank account to a mutual fund. In SWP, money comes from your mutual fund to your bank account at regular intervals. SWP can be very useful after retirement. Suppose an investor has built a corpus of around INR 10 crores by the age of 55. He can set up an SWP to receive, say, INR 5 lakhs per month for his regular expenses. If the corpus is invested wisely with proper asset allocation, the investor can receive regular income and still allow the balance corpus to grow over time. To understand the power of this, consider an actual scheme’s past performance. A corpus of INR 10 crores would have grown to around INR 30 crores over 15 years, even after the investor withdrew INR 5 lakhs every month. In simple words, SIP helps you invest regularly, STP helps you transfer wisely, and SWP helps you withdraw systematically. Used properly, these three tools can make wealth creation and retirement planning more disciplined, automated and peaceful. (The author is Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial advisor. Views personal. He could be reached on 9833133605)
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