How can a college student save his scholarship?

– Suyash

We appreciate your decision to invest early in life. Keeping in mind your young age and your long investment horizon, we suggest you to build a portfolio in Equity Mutual Funds as they have the potential to give better returns in the long run. FD is a low risk and low return product and its returns are not tax efficient. Amount lying in FD means 50,000 and idle fund 2.5 Lakhs can be prudently invested in a combination of Large & Mid Cap, Mid Cap, Flexi Cap, Multi Cap, Small Cap and Value Funds. Suggested funds are ICICI Prudential Large & Mid Cap Fund, Nippon India Growth Fund, HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, Kotak Small Cap Fund and IDFC Sterling Value Fund. Also, you can start SIP with your monthly savings in these funds only.

My grandfather has some old shares which he bought in the early 1980s. He is no longer alive, and since my father is the legal heir, is it possible to get information about the shares, such as the name of the companies and the number of shares, in some way? These details have not been found since my grandfather’s death. He did not leave a will or engage a lawyer.

-SP Salunke

The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) governed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is required to report details of all such shares where dividend has not been paid or claimed for more than seven years. You can approach the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and submit IEPF Form-5 to find out the details of the lost shares.

(These questions are answered by Rajiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Capital Ltd. If you have any personal finance queries, write to mintmoney@livemint.com to get expert answers.)