How can a college student save his stipend?

– Suyash

We appreciate your decision of doing investments at such an early stage of life. Considering your young age and assuming your long investment horizon, we suggest you build the portfolio in equity mutual funds as they have the potential to provide superior returns over a longer period. FD is a low-risk & low-return product and its returns are not tax efficient. The amount lying in FD i.e. ₹50,000 & the idle funds of ₹2.5 lakhs can be invested prudently into the combination of Large & Mid Cap, Mid Cap, Flexi Cap, Multi Cap, Small Cap & Value Funds. Suggested funds are ICICI Prudential Large & Mid Cap Fund, Nippon India Growth Fund, HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, Kotak Small Cap Fund and IDFC Sterling Value Fund. Further, you may start the SIPs with your monthly savings in these funds only.

My grandfather has some old shares that he purchased in the early 1980s. He is no longer alive, and since my father is the legal heir, is it possible to obtain information about the shares, such as the name of the companies and the number of shares, in some way? These details have not been found since my grandfather’s death. He did not leave a will or retain the services of a lawyer.

-SP Salunke

Corporates are required to report the details of all such shares where dividend has not been paid or claimed for more than seven years to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) governed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). You may approach the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and submit an IEPF form-5 in order to trace the details of the lost shares.

(Queries answerd by Rajiv Bajaj, chairman & managing director, Bajaj Capital Ltd. If you have any personal finance queries, write to mintmoney@livemint.com to get them answered by experts.)