Don't spread your investments too thin

Consolidation of schemes can be both costly & slow. Nonetheless, bite the bullet to improve returns

In the past, when the stock markets were on a roll, many mutual fund houses would launch new fund offers (NFOs) in the equities segment to gather fresh funds. The usual pitch from distributors: NFOs, in which units are priced at Rs 10 per unit, are cheaper than existing schemes whose net asset values (NAVs) have gone up. The pitch was misleading, yet many investors fell for it. A leading mutual fund distributor remembers getting a client who had a portfolio of Rs 10 lakh. The number of schemes: 120. “This investor had bought almost every NFO. He had almost