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While investment in mutual funds through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) with a monthly frequency was the norm, fund houses even offer a daily and quarterly frequency under SIPs.Which is the best SIP frequency?

Last month, the LIC Mutual Fund offered investors the option to invest in mutual funds through Daily SIP with as low as Rs 300 per day. This facility is available in five equity schemes viz. LIC MF Equity Fund, LIC MF Growth Fund, LIC MF Midcap Fund, LIC MF Infrastructure Fund, LIC MF Index Fund and two hybrid schemes viz. LIC MF Balanced Fund and LIC MF Monthly Income Plan.

“Through Daily SIP, the fund house is trying to promote the habit of investing daily and the aim is to create wealth through investing daily with a minimum sum of Rs 300 across 22 working days, which will lead to a monthly investment of Rs 6,600,” the fund house explained.

But do Daily SIPs truly benefit investors or even help negotiate volatility better than Monthly SIPs in mutual funds?

According to LIC Mutual Fund, “Daily SIP will further help in beating the market volatility and benefit our investors from rupee cost averaging.”

Logically, investing daily will certainly help in averaging your investment cost better, as you will be making many more transactions over the period. But, will it result in a significant difference in returns over the long term? At the end of the day, that is what matters.

PersonalFN crunches the numbers to find out…

Daily SIPs vs Monthly SIPs

Over the five-year period starting from March 1, 2013, PersonalFN compares the Daily SIP returns with the Monthly SIP returns of 147 equity-oriented schemes.

There were as many as 1,225 daily instalments of Rs 300 each under the Daily SIP section in mutual fund schemes, leading to a total investment of Rs 3.68 lakh approximately.

To make a like-to-like comparison, Rs 6,126 was the instalment for the Monthly SIP spanning 60 months. The investment was made on the 1st of every month. This resulted in a total investment of Rs 3.68 lakh.

Now the results…

On an average, Monthly SIPs generated a value of approximately Rs 2,516 over Daily SIPs. In percentage terms, this works out to an outperformance of just 0.41%.

Under the Daily SIPs and Monthly SIPs, the portfolio value worked out to Rs 5.86 lakh and Rs 5.88 lakh approximately. The average XIRR generated was 18.8% and 18.7% respectively

Daily SIPs did marginally better in terms of XIRR. This is mainly because the monthly investment, made at the beginning of the month, was distributed across the month.

Below is the list of schemes where the difference was the highest between the Monthly SIP returns and Daily SIP returns.

Top 25 Mutual Fund Schemes Where Monthly SIP Was Better

Scheme Name	Portfolio Value* - Monthly SIP (A) (In Rs)	Portfolio Value* - Daily SIP (B) (In Rs)	Difference in Value (A-B)	Difference in Percentage
SBI Small & Midcap Fund	919,653	909,929	9,724	1.07%
Reliance Small Cap Fund	870,058	861,098	8,960	1.04%
DSPBR Micro-Cap Fund	792,909	785,183	7,726	0.98%
LIC MF Equity Fund	471,492	466,956	4,536	0.97%
LIC MF Growth Fund	500,596	495,956	4,641	0.94%
Sundaram S.M.I.L.E Fund	723,072	716,795	6,277	0.88%
Franklin India Smaller Cos Fund	722,486	716,215	6,270	0.88%
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip	754,121	747,590	6,531	0.87%
Edelweiss Mid and Small Cap Fund	705,566	700,408	5,158	0.74%
Reliance Mid & Small Cap Fund	658,512	653,756	4,756	0.73%
Canara Robeco Emerging Equities Fund	748,320	742,926	5,394	0.73%
L&T Midcap Fund	743,379	738,042	5,338	0.72%
Aditya Birla SL Small & Midcap Fund	734,492	729,315	5,177	0.71%
Kotak Emerging Equity Scheme	700,006	695,147	4,859	0.70%
Franklin India Prima Fund	659,898	655,512	4,386	0.67%
Aditya Birla SL Pure Value Fund	750,283	745,297	4,986	0.67%
HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund	673,698	669,256	4,441	0.66%
Sundaram Select Midcap	681,469	677,046	4,423	0.65%
ICICI Prudential Midcap Fund	676,695	672,357	4,338	0.65%
L&T India Value Fund	685,702	681,387	4,315	0.63%
HSBC Midcap Equity Fund	735,751	731,185	4,567	0.62%
Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund	637,947	634,037	3,910	0.62%
BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund	628,149	624,373	3,777	0.60%
Aditya Birla SL India Opportunities Fund	649,024	645,177	3,847	0.60%
Franklin India High Growth Cos Fund	609,821	606,240	3,580	0.59%

*Portfolio value as on February 26, 2018 | SIPs starting March 1, 2013
(Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research)

*Please note, this table only represents the funds based solely on past returns and is NOT a recommendation. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks. Read all scheme related documents carefully. Past performance is not an indicator for future returns.

Below is the list of schemes where the difference was the lowest between the Monthly SIP returns and Daily SIP returns.

Mutual Fund Schemes Where Daily SIPs Were Better

Scheme Name	Portfolio Value* - Monthly SIPs (A) (In Rs)	Portfolio Value* - Daily SIPs (B) (In Rs)	Difference in Value (A-B)	Difference in Percentage
Baroda Pioneer Mid-cap Fund	477,027	477,675	-647	-0.14%
Escorts Growth	624,785	625,010	-225	-0.04%
Taurus Bonanza Fund	480,392	480,449	-57	-0.01%

*Portfolio value as on February 26, 2018 | SIPs starting March 1, 2013
(Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research)
In the tables above, high volatility schemes where exposure to small-caps and mid-caps has been the highest resulted in a bigger difference between the Monthly SIPs and Daily SIPs.

If Daily SIPs help in beating the market volatility, why weren't the returns higher?

Well, Daily SIPs do help in averaging out costs better, but this does not necessarily mean that the average cost of investment through Daily SIPs will be lower than Monthly SIPs.

Take for example, at the beginning of the month, the NAV of a scheme is Rs 100. For the Monthly SIP, this is the cost price. If we assume that over the month, the NAV of the scheme gradually rises to Rs 110, the average cost under Daily SIP will naturally be higher than that of the Monthly SIP investment.

However, if the NAV was headed lower, Daily SIPs would have scored better. Hence, the difference in returns is primarily a factor of how the market behaves over this period. But, over the long term, the variation will be insignificant.

During a period where the market was continuously hitting all-time highs, investments through Daily SIPs were gradually made at higher prices, hence the returns suffered marginally.

Thus, if you invest with the expectations that the market will move higher over the long term, Monthly SIPs should be an apt choice.

 

If you wish to calculate the future value of your Monthly SIPs, use PersonalFN's SIP Calculator.

3 reasons why you should opt for Monthly SIPs over Daily SIPs

As seen in the analysis above, in terms of returns, there is hardly much difference between a Monthly SIP and Daily SIP. The quantum variance in returns will change over different market cycles. Hence, you need to choose an option that is simple and convenient. Here's is where Monthly SIPs score over Daily SIPs.

1. Convenience – Over a five-year period, there will be over 1,200 Daily SIP transactions. This compares to just 60 transactions through a Monthly SIP. Imagine viewing your bank statement with daily entries on entries because of mutual fund investments through a Daily SIP. If you invest in multiple schemes through Daily SIPs, the number of entries multiply.
   
   You certainly do not want important bank transactions to get lost in sea of SIP entries. The same goes for your mutual fund transaction statement. Imagine the inconvenience of reading through the statements in order to identify non-SIP transactions.
    
2. Better tracking – With a reduced number of entries under Monthly SIP, you will be able to track your investments better. Imagine comparing your bank statement to your mutual fund statement to check if all transactions were successful. This would be easier to track if you invested through the Monthly SIP route. Also, when it comes to calculating the returns, you would be able to do it faster with investment through a Monthly SIP.
    
3. Ability to plan better – If you are salaried, you get a monthly salary credit. Thus, you can smoothly plan what proportion of your salary can be invested every month. And this can be effortlessly be converted into a mutual fund investment through a monthly SIP. Many opt for a Monthly SIP date that is a few days after their salary credit. Unplanned expenditures towards the end of the month may lead to a lower bank balance, hence, nobody wishes to take the risk of the SIP instalment getting returned. This can get a little tricky with a Daily SIP. Hence, with a Monthly SIP, you should be able to plan your finances better.

In times of volatility, a SIP would undoubtedly be a prudent route as compared to investing your corpus as a lumpsum. As seen in our analysis above, a Monthly SIP will be a prudent choice.

When investing in equity, it is important to keep a long-term investment horizon of five to seven years or more, even if you are investing via a SIP. The returns may be a few percentage points lower as compared to a lumpsum investment, but it will still be sufficient to meet your financial goals.

It is important to note that there are several benefits of investing via a SIP as a regular form of investment.

The top three reasons why you should invest in mutual funds through SIPs:

1. A hassle-free investment route
2. Deals with market volatility
3. Devoid of behavioural biases

Clearly, SIP-ping into mutual funds, with all these benefits and much more, will help achieve your financial goals.

Editor's note: PersonalFN understands that not all investors are equipped with wherewithal to select the best mutual fund schemes for their portfolio. One would have to spend hours analysing mutual fund schemes in order to arrive at the right list for them. Thus, PersonalFN saves you the trouble and does all the tedious number-crunching work for you. SIP is only a method of investing in mutual funds. To support this investment method, you also need to pick the right mutual funds. PersonalFN offers a report titled "The Super Investment Portfolio – For SIP Investors." After a rigorous shortlisting process, PersonalFN goes a step ahead when selecting funds that are SIP-worthy. Under this, PersonalFN conducts a detailed analysis on how SIPs in the top shortlisted funds have performed across multiple market conditions and timeframes. Only those funds that successfully pass this evaluation are suggested. You can read more about the report and the subscription details here: The Super Investment Portfolio – For SIP Investors. Don't miss out on special discounts. Subscribe Now!

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