Can you suggest schemes which pay dividends more than fixed deposits

Even though there are mutual fund schemes which pay monthly / quarterly dividends regularly, these are not assured - Neither the dividend dates / frequency nor the dividend quantum.

As the dividends are not assured, there is another way to get regular return from your investments and that is known as SWP. You can draw a fixed amount on a fixed date every month through SWP. You can invest a lump sum amount in a balanced fund (if you can take moderately high risk and the investment horizon is minimum 5 years) and start drawing a fixed amount every month on a fixed date. You can submit the SWP transaction form along with your lump sum investment and the AMC will credit the amount fixed by you in your bank account on the date chosen by you. However you need to note the following in case of SWP from balanced funds –

1. The profits made on all the SWP withdrawals from balanced fund upto 12 months from the date of investment will attract short term capital gains tax which is currently at 15%. To avoid this, you can start the SWP after 12 months and in that case capital gains will be tax free. Like equity funds, long term capital gains on balanced funds are also tax free.

2. However, if you need regular income immediately and do not want to pay the above short term capital gain tax, you can invest a portion of the lump sum amount in a liquid fund or ultra-short term fund and start drawing a fixed amount immediately. For example – you want to invest Rs 10 Lakhs and draw Rs 7,500 per month from balanced funds. You can split the investments in two parts –

1) Invest Rs 90,000 in a liquid fund/ ultra-short term fund and draw Rs 7,500 per month during the first 12 months and exhaust the entire investment. However, even after withdrawing your entire investment, some amount will be left in the folio which is your gain from the investment in liquid/ ultra-short term fund. The gains made on liquid/ ultra-short term fund will be added to your income and taxed according to the income tax slab applicable to you.

2) While investing Rs 90,000 in liquid funds, ensure that you invest the remaining Rs 910,00 on the same date in balanced funds and start SWP after 12 months. All the SWP withdrawals after 12 months, from balanced fund will be tax free. The gains made on liquid/ ultra-short term fund will be added to your income and tax to be paid according to the income tax slab applicable to you.

3. The other thing you need to keep in mind is that you should not draw more than 9-10% during the first 2-3 years of your investments in balanced funds. Withdrawals can be increased in future depending upon how the fund performs over a period of time.

However, if you are still interested to invest in balanced funds which pays monthly dividend (not assured), you can check this link https://www.advisorkhoj.com/mutual-funds... As you can see, HDFC prudence Fund, ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund, L&T India Prudence Fund and DSP BlackRock Balanced Funds have been paying monthly dividends consistently for many months now. You can also see that the rates at which the dividends have been paid is higher than that of fixed deposits. Moreover, the dividends paid by equity and balanced funds are tax free.

With regards to top performing balanced funds, you can consider investing in ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund, HDFC Balanced Fund and DSP BlackRock Balanced Fund.

Hope you find the above useful. Thanks for writing to Advisorkhoj.