How do I ensure better returns from my investment portfolio?

I am a 41-year-old employee of a PSU bank and make a gross of 1.8 lakh a month. My housing is provided by the firm, and my monthly perks amount to about 30,000. My family consists of me, my 13-year-old son, and my parents, who are both retired and over the age of 65 and have no source of income. My company pays for both of our health insurance premiums and all of our medical bills.

My monthly outlays average around 25,000. I have 30 lakh in a fixed deposit, 2.5 lakh in a savings account, 65,000 in a USD checking account, 10 lakh in shares and a sovereign gold bond, 21.57 lakh in mutual funds (5,000 in SBI Consumption Opportunity Fund, 10,000 in SBI Small Cap, 2,000 in SBI Magnum Global Fund, 1,000 in focused equity fund every month), and 16 lakh in the public provident fund. One of my apartments is worth about 50 lakh (possession awaiting), while the other, which I rent out, is worth about 65 lakh and brings in monthly rent of about $15,000. I owe 18 lakh on my home loan and 10 lakh on my car loan. My term plan covers me for 1 crore. Please advise me on how I may maximise the return on my investment.

Real estate and debt account for almost 88% of the total assets. Even if you have a long way to go before you can retire, a rethink of your asset allocation could help you create a more robust retirement portfolio. Since you are collaborating with a financial institution, you may have qualified for preferential loan terms. A high interest rate on a car loan, however, may provide you reason to negotiate for a lower rate.

If you don't need the funds right away, keeping them in a fixed deposit or in US dollars may be a waste of money. After setting up a buffer in a safe place like a fixed deposit, you can diversify both of them into equities mutual funds to increase your returns.

Right now, you're only putting away $18,000 per month, but there's a lot of room to grow those SIPs. At this point, you may begin.

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Since all of your SIPs are now held by a single asset management firm, you are free to diversify your mutual fund investments across firms. As a result, you won't have to worry as much about the success of any single fund house or fund management team.

A few funds worth considering for SIP investments are the Parag Parikh Flexicap Fund, HDFC Flexicap Fund, 360 One Focused Equity Fund, Kotak Equity Opportunities Fund, and PGIM India Midcap Opportunities Fund. If you intend to invest a large sum of money from a fixed deposit or in US dollars, you can do so progressively.

You can also consider re-evaluating your current insurance coverage of 1 crore. When compared to your expected retirement income and age, this coverage is significantly low.