We read, we ask, we explain.Then you decide.

We help you choose, invest in and service mutual funds and related products, and we are paid by the fund house — not by you. We follow AMFI's code of conduct, which means a documented risk profile and suitability check for every client. We explain products factually, with the risks alongside, and the decision to invest is yours. We do not call ourselves advisers or charge for advice. If your situation needs a SEBI-registered investment adviser, we will tell you.

A trail commission from the fund house, built into the scheme's expense ratio — around half a percent a year, varying by category, disclosed on your statement. Because it is trail and not upfront, we earn when you stay invested for a long time, not when you transact. We show you the commission on any scheme we suggest, and the direct-plan cost next to it. You are free to hold direct plans or transact on NSE/BSE without a distributor.

If you are confident choosing schemes, sizing them, rebalancing on a schedule and sitting still in a fall, you should — the direct plans on those apps carry no commission, so they cost you less than any distributor can. They are very good at execution. What they do not do is decide: an app will not tell you that four of your six funds hold the same companies, that money needed in 2031 should be out of equity by 2029, or in whose name a new folio ought to sit. The difference in cost is the trail commission in a regular plan, roughly half a percent a year depending on category. We show you that figure and the direct-plan cost beside it before you invest, and if the honest answer on your call is that an app suits you better, we will say so.

Often you should not, and people who talk to us do go back to the person they already had, with better questions. Before changing anything, ask them four: can you show me in writing what each part of my portfolio is for and by when; how much of my equity is the same companies bought through different schemes; what are you paid on what I hold, and what would the direct plan have cost; and when is my next review and what will it cover? Hold us to the same four. If the answers come readily, stay where you are. A bad quarter is not a reason to move — missing answers are.

By your goals and risk profile first, then the constraints — size and SEBI's statutory minimums, then liquidity, then tax, then cost against what the product is expected to add. A mutual fund does the job in most portfolios. The others come into the picture only when the plan calls for a strategy a scheme cannot hold, and you meet the eligibility.

Both, and the proportion is the actual decision. In the large-cap end of the Indian market, the cost of an active fund is hard to beat consistently, so index funds often make sense there. Further down the curve, and in some debt categories, a good manager can still earn the fee. We show you what a scheme costs and what it must deliver to justify that cost — then you decide.