Confession: we have come late. Claim: we have come good, or so we would like to believe as we present to you our thickest issue — produced over hours of brainstorming and several days and nights of calculating, writing and designing.
For a week the MONEY TODAY team forgot there was a life outside office. The result is 60 pages of information, analysis and learning on mutual funds. Our claim does not rest on quantity alone, but on what we think is a unique blend of spread and depth of coverage that should appeal to the beginner and the expert alike.
It’s a package (nine stories, nine guest columns and a 17-page ready reckoner) that should absolve us for being late in coming up with our first cover story on the mutual fund, a financial instrument that should be the core of every investment portfolio.
Actually it was always a question of when — not if — we do our mutual fund special, and what not to include in it. Mutual fund is the most versatile investment instrument.
You can use it as a substitute for stocks, fixed deposits, pension and even ready cash. Our package had to cover as much of this vastness as was possible in one issue of the magazine.
Thankfully, we had data and analysis support from Value Research — a mutual fund research house whose association with the India Today Group dates back to a decade and a half.
Again, we had to decide what all to pick and choose from Value Research’s vast offering, for it had opened the floodgates of information to us. In our profession, space is a great leveller of ambitions. So finally what we present to you is what was feasible to do in about 60 pages.
Some feature stories got edged out of the issue and several regular sections were pared down. These include Money Today Insight, Upfront, Web Index and TechSaver. We hope the diversity and depth of our special offering more than compensates for the holdovers.
Having whetted our appetite with this special issue, we are going to add to our regular coverage of mutual funds from the next issue. Expect additions to the five pages on funds that already appear in every issue of the magazine.
Look out for more omnibus editions too, as we turn our attention to produce similar specials on other areas of personal finance. In return, just keep writing to us with your questions, comments and criticism. To become an intelligent investor, be a demanding reader as well.
