There is no guarantee if you stay in market for 20 years, you will gain: Anurag Singh
Anurag Singh, Managing Partner, Ansid Capital, says today, anyone who wants to be in the market in India is already there. It's hard to find someone new looking to join. As of December, 5.4 million new SIP accounts were opened, but 4.4 million were also closed. What's going on? Investors seem unsure. They are moving their money from one fund to another, focusing on past performance over the last few years. This indicates a lack of confidence; they are just following previous returns. We need to be very cautious around the phenomena that investment works in the long term. He does not think it works. It has not worked anywhere in the world.
Globally, systematic investing approaches do exist. How do investors in developed markets, particularly the US, handle such prolonged downturns? Do they stick to the dollar cost averaging like SIPs or do they make tactical shifts based on market conditions?
Anurag Singh: So, allow me to make three points. Point number one, I am very sceptical of experts and market gurus who say, stay for 20 years, you are guaranteed to gain. And in the same breath, people say past performance is not a guarantee for the future. I do not think anybody can guarantee anything here.
First point to note is even if you say, oh, 20-year time, it has always worked because it has worked in the last 20 years, that does not hold true. So, please be sceptical of that.
Second, SIP analysis in India is a hindsight phenomena because nobody did it; the market had prolonged bear phases of 7, 8, 10 years, markets
