u/Important_Mountain56

Wanted some feedback on my current SIP allocation plan. Total monthly SIP is around 4 lakh.

Current thought process is to keep a mix of core domestic equity, some mid/small cap exposure, international diversification, and a relatively stable bucket for rebalancing opportunities.

Allocation:

• Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund - 1L
• UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund - 30K
• HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund - 80K
• Nippon India Small Cap Fund - 50K
• US S&P 500 ETF (VOO) - 80K
• Tata Arbitrage Fund - 60K

Risk appetite: Aggressive

Investment goal: Long-term wealth creation and FIRE

Investment horizon: 5-10 years, likely staying invested closer to 10 years.

Platform used: Paytm Money and INDmoney.

Why these funds: Selected after my own research.
PPFC: Retained this as my core domestic for obvious reasons. Adding an Index find to support this but I'm worried a bit on the overlap here.

Nippon small cap and hdfc midcap : Consolidated my fragmented small/mid-cap holdings into these two because Nippon historically seems to me offer better protection and Moving to hdfc since Motilal Oswal midcap performance has been really bad.

US S&P 500 ETF - Since my current direct US stock portfolio is heavily concentrated in mega-cap tech and semiconductors (Nvidia, AMD, Alphabet etc), want to diversify global exposure while staying under the 10 Lakh remittance limit

Arbitrage Fund - Reserve for rebalancing during market correction

PS: I do have some additional EPF and NPS contribution of couple of lakhs per year

Currently holding DCB Metal and pretty happy overall. Recently moved my salary account and will be getting HSBC Premier as well, so now I’m wondering if I should also push for an Infinia upgrade since I’m eligible.

My yearly spends are usually around 12-15L. Last 6 months on DCB crossed 10L, but honestly that was inflated because of some payments, so not a “normal” spend pattern every year.

My usage pattern:

• Max out Amazon vouchers regularly and some Flipkart - mostly between 20k to 40k monthly (Not very heavy on the other SmartBuy vouchers. But I am planning explore using it more for groceries as well.
• I do have decent flight and hotel spends every year
• Dineout, Shopping, Entertainment the usual. -No Rent as I stay in my own home

Now trying to decide between:

• Stick with DCB Metal + HSBC Premier
• Upgrade to Infinia + HSBC Premier

Things making me hesitate about Infinia:

• 18L annual spend requirement is a bit uncomfortable
• DCB milestone benefits are actually nice. I have been hitting thr 10k in the last two quarters.
• My voucher usage is mostly Amazon/Flipkart and under 40k
• DCB has the same reward rate for Flights/hotels via SmartBuy

Things tempting me toward Infinia:

• Better acceptance offline/online (DCB acceptance has been generally good. But still fails in some cases, especially on some Federal Bank POS machines)
• Fear if DCBM getting devalued as more folks get into it after leaving infinia. For obvious reasons Infinia seems relatively safer from devaluation going forward (and possible revaluation.)
• Better voucher reward rate.
• There’s a decent chance my spends naturally touch 18L in an year or so anyway
• Infinia has been kind of an aspirational card like many since I started the poins journey. Feels like it may become harder to get later. Worst case, I can try it for a year and downgrade back to DCB if it doesn’t make sense

PS: Also have an option to get ICICI Emeralde Private Metal, but not very excited because the miles/hotel transfer ecosystem seems weak compared to HDFC.

Do you actually feel the upgrade would be meaningfully better? Or would you suggest I pursue another card stack