Why market corrections gift later entrants an advantage
There's a cruel paradox in investing: those who enter earliest often enjoy the best returns. Early investors buy at low NAV, watch the fund compound undisturbed. Late investors buy near peaks, watch their returns compress. But volatility shatters this rule.
When markets correct, fund NAVs reset. A fund that climbed smoothly to ₹150 under perfect conditions collapses to ₹120 in a downturn. New investors don't buy at ₹150. They buy at ₹120. Same fund, lower entry price, better future returns.
Volatility also revitalises fund managers. A smooth market starves them: capital piles in at peak valuations, forcing deployment into second-tier opportunities. A volatile market does the opposite. It forces valuations down, widens mispricings, refreshes alpha opportunities. Managers stay sharp because markets stay dislocated.
Discipline compounds this advantage. A systematic investor (one who buys monthly via SIP rather than in one lump sum) captures the full volatility benefit. They buy cheap in downturns, expensive in peaks, accumulating at the true average. The market's chaos becomes their tool.
For new investors, volatility is not a risk. It's a gift. The simulator below pits two funds against each other: one that climbs smoothly to its end NAV, and one that climbs to the same end NAV through a correction. Same start, same destination, but very different outcomes for the SIP investor.