What is Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) ?

A mutual fund is one of the most popular modes of investment opt by investors desirous of making good returns on the same. There are generally only 2 ways to invest in a mutual funds scheme- Lump sum investment and Systematic Investment Plan. Lump-sum investment refers to the investment of a good sum of money once into the scheme. It is suitable for times when you have a free load of cash in hand with you. However, the availability of a comparatively huge sum of money is not very common and this is the reason why many potential investors were unable to make investments. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) was brought as a mean of making a systematic and regular investment. This requires the investors to invest a fixed amount of funds at stated intervals, regularly. This has dealt with the inability of huge sums and allows the common man a chance to invest. The return from the mutual funds depends on the market value of the securities present in the portfolio represented by the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the mutual fund scheme. Hence, the NAV keeps fluctuating on a daily basis, which is more prominent under equity mutual funds.