The discomfort you’re feeling with the markets is not a sign to stop. It’s the price of the return that will come over a period of time.
If your Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) has felt like it’s going nowhere for two years, you’re not imagining it. Nearly two years have passed since the BSE Sensex last closed at a record high, on September 26, 2024. It isn’t a crash. It’s something more frustrating: a market that simply refuses to go up.
Investors who have been patiently contributing via SIP for the last two years may draw comfort from the past. That would be a mistake. Nilesh Shah, MD and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management, says two negative years on the index don’t invalidate a 7-10 year SIP plan. If anything, the rupee-cost averaging SIPs offer works best in exactly this kind of stretch, not despite it.