Hi,

Hope you are doing well. Would love to get some collective wisdom on portfolio allocation. I am a 37 year old (married, no kids) with a portfolio allocation below, intention is to simply save for the future for retirement. I do not have an employee provident fund. I would like to be able to buy a house worth Rs 1- 1.5 cr in a few years time as well.

SIP – Rs 40,000/month (5 years running) – quite good performing funds like HDFC Balanced, HDFC Equity, HDFC Midcap, IDFC Premier Equity, QLTF, ICICI Pru top 100  etc..

Are corporate bond funds something worth considering as an addition to the SIP to mitigate excess equity exposure?

PPF – Contributing 1.5 lakhs a year (both my wife and i) – 5 years

Stocks – Rs 40 lakhs in direct stock investments, actively managed, performing well

FDs – Rs 40 lakhs – SBI

Tax Free Bonds – IREDA, IIFLC, REC – 5lakhs each

NCDs – Shriram Transport – Rs 5lakhs

Life Insurance – Kotak Life Preferred – 1cr

Health Insurance – Apollo Munich cover for both wife and me

House – Investment – 50% equity in a property bought a few years ago, interest + equity payments covered by rent. Have a small plot of land as inheritance, intend to hold it longterm.

Interested in buying a house worth Rs 1-1.5 cr for family in 2 years. Have about 20 lakhs for a deposit available for the same at this point. My wife and i continue to work , so we should be able to save some more in the meantime. What is the best place to park this pot of money to be used for downpayment on a flat? Are Bank or corporate FDs like Shriram transport FDs,  good mechanisms for this purpose or are there better instruments (bond funds?) to park a Rs 10 -20lakh investment pot for 2-3 years? I want to limit equity exposure as i have quite a bit of exposure through the above mentioned SIPs and direct stock investments.

Will REIT products be interesting at all once they show up as options?

Interested in a pension product like NPS for the long haul if it is a good idea. I do not know, please do let me know your thoughts.

All this has been done through adhoc buying of investment products over the years. I have not spoken to any financial advisor yet. I would love to get your feedback on how to optimize this portfolio from a risk and longterm holding viewpoint.

Thanks a million to all,

Shyam