Dear radhika_nandlal,
Investment and Insurance are two completely different things.
One should not consider insurance policies as investment. Rather, one should go for top rated mutual funds, if looking for investment (for retirement, child`s marriage and/or education) etc....

Article in VR by Dhirendra Kumar:-

Finally, Warren Buffett is scared. Perhaps you should be too. Fifteen months after start of the global credit crisis (which we innocently used to call the US sub-prime crisis in the olden days), the legendary investor has declared that he has never seen so much economic fear in his life. He has likened the crisis to an economic Pearl Harbour and said that if things don`t improve, he`ll "have to go back to delivering newspapers."

Just last week I`d mentioned how the crisis had left Buffett as a sort of a last man standing on Wall Street and how the crisis had proven the wisdom of what he used to say about financial derivatives and the kind of behaviour they presented. `Financial weapons of mass destruction,` was his description. Interestingly, while Buffett`s words sound more alarming, his actions have indicated hope. He has put down a large amount of cash (about eight billion dollars) to buy major stakes in Goldman Sachs and General Electric.

During this past few weeks, the scale of this crisis has become quite clear. As I`d written two weeks ago, the world has seen easy credit being available for many years, and now the cycle is threatening to reverse itself. Till a few days ago there was a naïve hope that the problem was caused by major global institutions not trusting the quality of assets on each others books. All that was needed was someone like the US government to underwrite the bad assets on these institutions` books and all would be fine.

These simple hopes have now disappeared. It is clear that the great unwinding is upon us. In many ways, what follows will just reset a balance that has been disturbed by the surfeit of money that the world`s economy has seen for about five or six years. The easy and cheap money has been used in all sorts of ways from setting up new factories and infrastructure to buying over-priced stocks and real estate. A cycle of asset price inflation came into being in which the only logic for prices to go up further was that they were going up and there was cheap money available to drive them up. That money is gone now.

What exactly do I mean by `the great unwinding`? Take the example of share prices in India. Almost all the foreign funds that have been driving up the markets are heavily leveraged. Someone has 10 million dollars and they borrow 10 or 20 times on that basis and then bring in the hundred or two hundred million dollars to invest. This could be happening in the hands of the actual fund that invests on Dalal Street or in the hands of that funds` investor but that doesn`t matter now. The 10 or 20 times will now be brought down to a much lower ratio. In a different way, the story of the Indian real estate market is also the same. Unfortunately, the story is also the same on many people`s credit card statements. Debt fuelled a buying binge, and now debt is suddenly a four-letter word.

But that`s the bad news. The good news lies in the actions (not the words) of people like Buffett. The time to buy assets at bargain prices are coming. In the long run, the fortunes will be made not by those who invested in the recent past, but those who will invest in the times to come....

DWS has not started online investment to inevst as DIRECT.
You have to go to AMC office / registrar and submit the forms with DIRECT broker code....

Once you get folio number in ICICI, Birla Sun Life, Reliance, HDFC, Kotak etc., you can request for PIN / HPIN. Once you receive the PIN, you will be able to invest online with broker code as DIRECT (will save entry load) through AMC website. Only thing is each website offers limited banks to invest through. If you have account in HDFC or ICICI Bank, you will be able to invest in all these fund houses online....

Both are TOP funds.
HDFC Growth is 4 Star, while Reliance Growth is 5 Star rating fund as per VRO.
Both are consistent and worth investing....

In current situation, when markets are going down day by day, what should an inveter do?
The more you invest today, the more market go down, next day. As they say, "The more market go down, the more money you push to bring the average cost down."
But in current situation, even that is not helping.
For example, even after investing on regular basis my folio is down 33 percent as of yesterday....

Although, I am invested in lot (I mean LOT) of funds, and waiting for them to complete 1 year, so that I can exit from them or switch to other ones. But this fund attracted me also.
Dear Ashal, Sharmaji, Mr. Ranjan, kentmms (and other experienced ones), please post your views on same....

khilji, I think my hubby was afraid of my rash driving and bought lots of insurance. lol lol... now whats to be done, i am wondering if i should redeem them.. will they give loans against insurance so i can pay back the loan itself when stocks move up..... pss5588 too was mentoining the same thing....

Oops warren believes Quote if things don`t improve, he`ll "have to go back to delivering newspapers. Unquote Gosh then what happens to us.. i am not going to be fooled though, i will redeem all my insurance money and invest in stocks. LOL ...

yea khilji. Good Day shakti...

Dear m_i_khilji Stock market by design is volatile in nature. Sometimes downside continues little longer. But when market was going up unidirectionally for almost 4 yrs nobody was complaining. This is why one require Asset Allocation and one should invest in line with his asset allocation and rebalnce his portfolio every year accordingly. If u are a long term investor just dont go by everydays move of the market. dont see sensex level and dont see ur portfolio everyday. just continue investing by SIP and reap benefits afterwards. Regds Ashport...

Dear m_i_khilji Please note that Reliance Growth is no longer 5 star fund as per VOL. It has been downgraded to 4 star rating from September. However having said that Rel Growth is still a very good fund and deserves a look by every MF investor in his/her portfolio. Regds Ashport...

In current situation, when markets are going down day by day, what should an inveter do? The more you invest today, the more market go down, next day. As they say, "The more market go down, the more money you push to bring the average cost down." But in current situation, even that is not helping. For example, even after investing on regular basis my folio is down 33 percent as of yesterday....

I may consider SIP in IDFC NFO initially for 6 Months & then Review for further Extension because of Excellent Performance of other Funds of Fund Manager. P.C.Sharma...