'My 2-year-old son's portfolio outperformed mine': Edelweiss' Radhika Gupta reveals Rs 1 lakh SIP strategy for his education

Mutual Fund: Speaking in a recent podcast with content creator Kushal Lodha, Edelweiss Mutual Fund MD & CEO Radhika Gupta revealed that she started a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) for her son when he was just three months old. Today, her son's portfolio is outperforming her own portfolio. Yes, you heard that right. A two-year-old’s investment portfolio outperformed the Edelweiss Mutual Fund CEO’s investment portfolio.

Rs 1 lakh monthly SIP for a 3-month-old: Radhika Gupta shares her child investment strategy

For my son, we started investing in a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) when he was three or four months old. My husband and I decided that we would each contribute Rs 50,000 every month. So we started a Rs 1 lakh monthly SIP for him. Since then, we have increased the amount. His corpus has grown significantly, and he is only two years old.

When you invest for yourself, you usually think of a five-year investment horizon and may take relatively less risk. But a child has a much longer time horizon. Last year, during the bull market, my son's portfolio actually outperformed mine. One newspaper even ran the headline, "How a two-year-old outperformed an asset management CEO." But that should actually be the case because a two-year-old has much more time to stay invested.

How Radhika Gupta's son's portfolio outperformed hers

My son's portfolio is invested in US technology funds, small-cap funds, large-cap funds and mid-cap funds, whereas my own portfolio includes balanced advantage funds (BAFs) and other relatively conservative investments. So, my son's portfolio generally performs better than mine. His CAGR is much higher than mine. Last year, his portfolio was up 50-60 per cent.

Radhika Gupta's son has delivered returns of around 50–60 per cent, highlighting the power of starting early and allowing investments to benefit from long-term compounding.

Radhika Gupta's Advice to Parents: Start a SIP early for your child's education

We started this SIP primarily to fund his education. I always tell parents who think that studying in the US or pursuing higher education abroad is unaffordable: start a SIP. Calculate how much money your child will need in the future and work backwards. Invest whatever you can in your child's name.

Higher education is expensive. Even in India, higher education can cost Rs 20-30 lakh at a local institute. If you start planning and investing when your child is young, the amount doesn't feel overwhelming.