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Layer 3 · Industry Domain MasteryMutual Funds

Mutual funds — a working professional's deep dive

Beyond the NISM syllabus — fund construction, factor exposure, expense drag, tax efficiency, and the realities of distribution in India.

30 hours of content8 chaptersFree during Phase 1

Quick info

Layer
Industry Domain Mastery
Track
Mutual Funds
Estimated hours
30 hrs
Chapters
8
Cost on Trustner
Free
Full course material live

Every chapter below has Foundation, Deep Dive, and Advanced material — read in any order, expand each chapter to see the full content.

About this course

Beyond NISM, beyond the syllabus — this is mutual funds the way working practitioners actually think about them. Fund construction, factor exposure, expense drag over decades, tax efficiency, and the realities of Indian distribution economics.

Who this is for

  • CFPs and CFAs working with retail clients.
  • Mutual fund distributors levelling up beyond NISM 5A.
  • Self-directed investors who want an honest view of the industry.

What you'll learn

  • How portfolio managers actually construct equity, debt, and hybrid funds
  • Factor exposure (size, value, quality, momentum) hidden inside Indian funds
  • How fees, churn, and tax compound away returns over decades
  • Direct vs Regular plan economics from both client and distributor side
  • When index funds win and when active management still pays

Course material — 8 chapters

Each chapter offers three tiers — Foundation for the core concept, Deep Dive for worked examples and practitioner depth, and Advanced for edge cases and exam tips. Click any chapter to expand.

  1. 1
    Chapter 1

    Fund construction up close

    • How a typical large-cap or flexi-cap fund is built
    • Concentration limits, sector caps, single-stock caps
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  2. 2
    Chapter 2

    Factor exposure inside Indian funds

    • Size, value, quality, momentum, low-vol
    • Reading a fund's factor signature from holdings data
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  3. 3
    Chapter 3

    Cost drag — the 30-year view

    • 1% TER vs 2% TER over 30 years
    • Compounded cost of churn and capital-gains taxes
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  4. 4
    Chapter 4

    Direct vs Regular — economics

    • Distributor commission structure
    • Where the difference goes for the client
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  5. 5
    Chapter 5

    Active vs Passive in India

    • SPIVA India scoreboards
    • Where index funds dominate, where active still earns its fee
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  6. 6
    Chapter 6

    Debt funds — the harder asset class

    • Credit, duration, and liquidity risk
    • The post-2024 tax change and what it means
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  7. 7
    Chapter 7

    Hybrid, balanced, and asset-allocation funds

    • Which behave like equity, which like debt
    • Equity tax advantage and the 65% threshold
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
  8. 8
    Chapter 8

    Selecting funds without falling for marketing

    • What rolling returns actually tell you
    • The four red flags before you buy
    FoundationDeep DiveAdvanced
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