Should I shift my investments from equity funds to balanced funds

Shifting of funds from equity to balanced should be based on your risk appetite and investment horizon. If your investment horizon is 5+ years you can still remain invested as the markets look pretty good for the long term albeit there could be some bouts of small corrections in the interim.

Having said the above, we feel that you may be concerned as you have taken early retirement and thus do not want to loose the gains you have already made. If that is the cause of concern then you can take this decision of shifting your investments from equity to balanced. Please also note that balanced funds, even though invests only 65% in equities and the rest in debt instruments, it has given the same returns as that of large cap funds in the last 5-10 years. In fact, during some periods it has given even better return than large cap funds.

Wishing you a happy and healthy early retirement life. Thanks for writing to Advisorkhoj.