3 Best Mutual Funds to Invest & Hold for 15+ Years! | Gajendra Kothari 🔥

Key Takeaways

The guest did not name three specific mutual funds. Instead, he recommended choosing a fund category that matches an investor’s risk tolerance, noting that fund names and strategies can change over time. He described three broad categories as potential options for long-term investing:

• Multi-asset funds: Potentially suitable for conservative or moderate investors. These funds may hold assets such as equities, gold, and silver, with the manager adjusting allocations. The guest cited potential returns of roughly 9–10%, while emphasizing stability and lower volatility as attractions—not guaranteed outcomes.
• Aggressive hybrid funds: Potentially suitable for moderate investors seeking more equity exposure. The guest described an allocation of 65% to equity and 35% to other assets. He cited historical returns of 14–15% over the past 20 years and said he would expect about 12% overall. These historical figures are not a forecast.
• Multicap funds: Potentially suitable for aggressive investors seeking exposure to large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks. The guest described the category’s allocation as 25% each to large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks, with the remaining 25% available for the fund manager to allocate. He contrasted multicap funds with flexi-cap funds, where the manager has more discretion, but noted that large fund sizes can constrain small-cap investing.

He characterized these categories as ways to participate across the market, but did not identify any particular fund or asset manager.

Investing Approach and Lessons

• Match the category to your risk tolerance: The guest framed multi-asset funds as a possible fit for conservative or moderate investors, aggressive hybrids for moderate investors seeking more equity exposure, and multicap funds for aggressive investors.
• Keep it simple and invest patiently: He argued that investor behavior matters more than finding a supposedly perfect fund. Even a strong fund may not help an investor who lacks patience.
• Keep learning, then apply what you learn: He advocated continual learning, testing ideas in practice, and avoiding blind imitation.
• Limit conflicting inputs: He suggested learning from many people but choosing one or two mentors whose investment philosophy aligns with your own, rather than reacting to daily market noise.
• Apply principles thoughtfully: He mentioned “buy low, sell high” and contrarian investing as principles he had learned and applied, but did not provide a specific trading or portfolio-rebalancing method.

The guest said he began investing through SIPs at age 30 and wished he had started earlier. He recalled investing ₹10,000 through an SIP. He said a portfolio value of about ₹62 crore reflected not only investment returns but also increased business income that he reinvested.

Retirement-Planning Illustration

The guest used an expense-and-inflation calculation to illustrate how to estimate a retirement target:

1. Start with current spending of ₹1 lakh per month, or ₹12 lakh per year, for a couple in a major city.
2. Assume inflation of about 6.5–7% over the next 20 years. He estimated that annual spending of ₹12 lakh could rise to around ₹43.9 lakh by then.
3. For someone retiring at 50 and planning through age 85, he assumed 6% inflation and 9% returns after retirement.
4. On those assumptions, he estimated a required corpus of about ₹9.75 crore—roughly ₹10 crore—to fund rising expenses over 35 years.

This is an illustrative calculation, not a universal target. The guest stressed that not everyone needs ₹10 crore; the right goal depends on personal expenses, timing, and circumstances. The projection depends heavily on its return, inflation, and longevity assumptions.

Risks, Cautions, and Disclosures

• The guest explicitly said he was not giving a recommendation and chose to discuss categories rather than name funds.
• He cautioned against chasing fund names, switching strategies based on podcast guests, or expecting one fund choice to guarantee wealth.
• He presented historical returns and retirement calculations as examples. Past performance and assumed returns are not assured. Actual outcomes, expenses, taxes, and investment risk may differ.
• He suggested that investors who do not need to withdraw for 20 years may benefit from staying invested. His comment about not paying tax in that situation should not be taken as a general tax rule; tax treatment depends on the investment and applicable law.

Presenters and Sources

• Host/interviewer: Rahul
• Guest: Gajendra Kothari
• Investing figures and role models mentioned: Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Ramdev Agarwal, and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
• Channel: StocksVerse Studio