Where should I invest a lumpsum for my daughter’s education?

I have a lumpsum of Rs 1 lakh. I want to invest for my daughter’s education. She is just born. Kindly advise.
--Nishit Shah

It is not clear whether you want to invest for school education or higher education. If you have a long-term investment horizon (more than five years), you may consider investing in equity mutual fund schemes. Equity mutual funds that invest in stocks are considered ideal for investing because stocks have the potential to offer superior returns than other asset classes over a long period. If you are investing in equity schemes, do not invest a lumpsum. It is always better to stagger your investments over few weeks or months in equity schemes as it will help you average your purchase cost and avoid entering the market at a particular level.

If you are investing for less than five years, you should invest in debt mutual funds.


Since you have not mentioned your risk profile, we will not be able to offer you any recommendations. It is very important to choose your investments based on your risk profile and investment horizon.

Here are some mutual fund basics that may help you:
Know your debt mutual fund schemes better
Get to know your equity mutual funds better

Here are some of our recommendations:

Our recommended equity mutual fund SIP portfolios for various risk profiles: Best mutual funds to invest in 2017
Our recommended largecap schemes: Best largecap mutual fund schemes to invest in 2017
Our recommended midcap schemes: Best midcap mutual funds to invest in 2017
Our recommended multicap schemes: Three multicap mutual fund schemes to invest in 2017