Mutual funds in India are skyrocketing this month – since the first of September, the country has seen over 88.10 billion rupees worth of net sales from government debt bonds. That number rises to 168.82 billion rupees since July. Last week, 47.23 billion rupees were spent on governmental debt mutual funds in under six days; on Friday, rates were raised by the country’s central bank.

Mahendra Jajoo, overseer of the fixed income department at Pramerica Mutual Fund, said of the rise in fund sales and rates, alike: “Mutual funds have been reducing (portfolio) duration over the last one month…the selling is on a combination of the market view and redemption pressure.”

Amid all the talk of India’s mutual fund sales’ being on the upswing, many Americans are left wondering about their own stocks and bonds; Market Watch author Jonathan Burton published an article recently pointing out that while just putting money into some form of investment is easier for most employees than investing it on their own, target-date bonds can be detrimental. Employers typically have a default 401(k) option for employees through a company specializing in target-date mutual funds.

According to Burton, target-date mutual funds can be good options for retirement planning and saving; however, in some cases, the company your employer aligns with can be overly expensive – especially for what you’re getting.

Target-date mutual funds are sort of a one-size-fits-all choice for investing; when money is invested with a company, that company then moves those funds into both stocks and bonds, moving to primarily bonds when the client reaches retirement age.

Image courtesy of Parvathisri via Wikimedia Commons.