Dividend Payout not the Best Criteria to Judge MFs Schemes

Dividend Payout not the Best Criteria to Judge MFs Schemes

 

Mutual fund schemes generally boast about high dividends but mutual fund experts say picking a mutual fund scheme on the basis of its dividend payout may not be the best way to invest in the sector.

As per MF experts, comparing the quantum of dividends paid in short term is not the correct way to measure a fund’s performance.

The proportion of dividend depends on a number of factors, including the frequency of payouts over a certain period of time.

There are funds that have higher net asset value (NAVs) but lower dividends, while others have lower NAVs, higher dividends.

Moreover, many analysts believes that the consistency of dividend payout is important than the quantum of dividend.

Experts always insist investors to not to base their investment decision on the percentage of dividend paid in a short period.

Rather Investors should look for the track record of the fund in this regard over a longer period of time.

After the recent equity market bull-run, many equity funds have declared dividends up to 70 per cent.

So far in October, over a dozen of equity schemes have declared dividends.

Experts are of view that the quantum of dividend paid does not directly indicate the performance of the fund, especially in the short term.

Unlike equities, if a mutual fund scheme pays certain percentage of dividend, NAV of the scheme drops by the same proportion.

If investors go for dividend plans, they most probably miss the compounding opportunities over the long-term for short-term gains.

An Equity head of a mutual fund said “unlike debt funds, where the intention of an investor is to earn dividends on a regular basis, investors in equity funds,  do not always look for dividend”.

At times, the focus is more on capital appreciation.

Even Fund Managers of reputed firms have maintained quite often that they pay dividends every year irrespective of the market conditions and consistency have always been theirs primary concern not the quantum of dividend.