Investing in SIP's through market cycles...

"Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly." ~ Dhirubai Ambani

We can replace 'Ideas' with 'Knowledge'. And more and more investment managers come in... they debug complex concepts in simpler fashion. And most of them explain those there were not done earlier. In this knowledge economy - that is the BIGGEST Benefit. You can gain out of others wisdom. And the new entrants in to the industry - try to impress the investing public more than the older ones for obvious reasons.

The new kid on the mutual fund industry is https://capitalmindmf.com/. And I enjoy reading their newsletter by email. In their recent newsletter dated 1st May 2026, I was stunned with their write up on - "You want the bad years now - not later."

It was so impressive - thought of summing up the same for everyone's benefit.

In this article they discuss about the impact of investing in two schemes which has delivered end to end - same CAGR - 14% - over 10 years. The only difference is - in 1st scheme - 1st 5 years the NAV has risen steadily and flattered. In the 2nd scheme - it the the other way around - 1st 5 years has been bad and next 5 years has been good.

Now the scenario testing:

1) For a One time investor - the end result in both funds would be the same : 14%

2) But for SIP - the results are different. For SIP - B, when the 1st 5 years were bad - and NAV's were obviously low - each SIP investment would have accumulated more units. 

3) As a result - SIP started during BAD years gave better returns than those started during Good years.

But in reality - many investors worry / hold back investing during bad years. And worse - some of them stop their SIP's saying that the returns are not great only to restart when green shoots show up.

So the writing is clear on the wall - continue your SIP's in GOOD FUNDS irrespective of market conditions. Over a 10 year period - you never know when good or bad years come up. Infact, they alternate. As seen in either of scenario above - you make returns in both scenarios. But you can be lucky if you start your investments during tough times and tough times last for sometime - you hit a JACKPOT.