Introduction
Hello everyone, and welcome to another blog post! In this post, I’ll share our family’s experience with high-return Fixed Deposits (FDs), specifically from Shriram Finance FD and Bajaj Finserv FD. I’ll cover:
- The investor profile
- Why we chose these options
- How we discovered them
- Our doubts and decision-making process
- Current portfolio status and future plans
The purpose of this blog post is to provide insights from our personal investment journey with high return rate FDs, so that, investors looking for such options can have more relatable insights.
The Investor Profile
My parents invested in these FDs. My father is a retired government official receiving pension & medical coverage from the government. My mother is a homemaker.
- Financial background:
- We have a very conservative financial mindset. So much so that we had ZERO equity exposure at the time we made this investment. All our mutual fund & stock investments were also just starting at the time, and we were very skeptical about market linked securities. Before these, all our investments had been in traditional bank FDs and real estate. Thats it.
How we Discovered & Why We Chose High-Return FDs
When my father retired, he received liquidity from GPF and gratuity. We wanted to explore avenues offering better returns than traditional bank FDs (offering 6-6.5%). Online research and Google search results brought these FDs to our attention. The high-return FDs from Sriram City and Bajaj Finserv promised 8.5-9% returns, making them appealing.
Spoke to our financial advisor, who advised against these options. His reason was that FDs should be low-risk, and for higher returns, mutual funds or stock markets might be better options. I think it is very valid point. Despite the advice, we felt the risk-reward ratio was acceptable for us, which can vary from person to person, and hence we invested.
Decision-Making Process
I did more research. Mainly around how safe these FDs are. I found out that these FDs had never defaulted ever in their histories of over 40 years. There were a couple of negative reviews around poor experience for pre mature withdrawals.
Keeping this in mind. We registered online, but did not invest straight away. We thought of visiting them & meeting in person. After registration, both companies were equally proactive in contacting us back, and setup visits from their representatives to our home. They visited us a couple of times, answered our queries patiently, and did not pressurise us in any manner. So, we started small with ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 FDs and short termed.
Current Portfolio Status
- As time passed and our confidence with them grew, our portfolio with them have also grown to multiple tens of lakhs. These FDs now make up 5-10% of my father’s overall portfolio. We invested in shorter durations (12-18 months) rather than the highest-return, longer-duration options (3-4 years).
Overall Experience
- Overall, we are very satisfied with these FDs. We have had no complaints or bad experience on any front.
- That being said, we do not have plans to either increase or reduce our investments. As our understanding of personal finance gets better, and our risk taking ability grows, we plan to explore other asset classes more.
Conclusion
If you’re considering these high-return FDs from Bajaj Finserv or Shriram Finance, I hope our journey provides some useful insights. Remember, your decision should align with your financial goals and risk tolerance.
If you have any questions about our experience or want guidance, feel free to ask in the comments. I’ll be happy to help. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!