What do the investment gurus’ personal portfolios look like?

Deciding the fate of so many people’s money is a scary prospect. With great power comes great responsibility — especially when the responsibility is worth the net asset value of any given mutual fund.

With the exception of some AI-based quant funds, most of the mutual funds in the market are managed by people. Mint Money’s Guru Portfolio series allows the common investor to peek into the personal investment mix of the people behind the MFs.

This provides a bright and fresh perspective to investing. In their day jobs, these fund managers have to be more careful with their positions as the NAV grows. However, where they stand personally on investments is different. Some of these fund managers prefer extremely risky positions, or dabble in international stocks.

Our team speaks to the managers and asks them some fundamental questions: on their personal portfolio mix, performance of said portfolio, what’s the secret sauce to their portfolio performing well in the last year, and advice to investors.

Here’s some of the more interesting Guru Portfolios from our Mint Money team:

View Full Image

🏅 While Radhika Gupta’s main focus is towards the investors in Edelweiss Asset Management Company, she’s the personal fund manager to one person: her son, Remy. Gupta started investing on the behalf of her son when he was just 3 months old, and will continue to manage the SIPs till he turns 18. Gupta also rued her chance to invest in gold, and might course-correct by investing through a multi-asset fund.

View Full Image

📈 PPFAS has been an investor favourite for the past decade — and with good reason. Its performance has brought a CAGR in excess of 18% since the fund started 10 years ago. With an 84% mix in equity, PPFAS’ chief investment officer Rajeev Thakkar is a firm believer of PPFAS: 66% of that mix is in PPFAS itself, while 33% of that in Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is!

View Full Image

📊 While the aforementioned managers have a bit of a risk appetite, it’s refreshing to see a completely conservative investor in the mix too. “I am a conservative investor and, for me, not losing capital permanently is a priority that comes before earning the highest returns,” said Kalpen Parekh, MD and CEO at DSP Mutual Fund. Parekh is yet another company man: 85% of his diversely-allocated portfolio is invested in funds of DSP MF itself.

View Full Image

💰 Zerodha’s co-founder Nikhil Kamath reviews his portfolio every month. Perhaps that’s why his mix is neat: 40% in equity, 40% in debt, 15% in gold, and the remaining 5% in alternate asset classes like private equity. Kamath has also been sceptical of real estate “for a long time”, and anticipates a housing crisis soon — all of which results in zero money allotted in the housing sector. Another sector Kamath is bearish on? International markets.

View Full Image

🗽 While Kamath might not be fond of international markets, First Global’s chairperson and MD. 82% of Mehra’s investments are tied up in international assets (nearly half of that in the US), while the remaining find a home in Indian equities. Barring some legacy stocks, more than 85% of Mehra’s portfolio is invested through First Global itself. Mehra prioritises liquidity, choosing to invest in assets that can be quickly realised as and when required.