During Navratri, Indian households empty their lofts, old newspapers finally leave the house, and someone always finds a box of things nobody remembers buying. It’s a lot of work, but by the first evening of the festival, the house feels lighter.

Now think about your investments. There’s probably a fund you bought because a colleague recommended it, a few shares picked up during a hot market and a SIP that’s been running since 2019 without anyone checking whether it still makes sense. Most portfolios collect this kind of clutter over the years, and unlike a messy loft, it can cost real money.

Navratri 2026 runs from 11 to 19 October. That gives you nine evenings, and a portfolio review fits neatly into them if you take up one check each night. No single step takes long. By Dussehra, you’ll know exactly what you own and why.

Table of Contents

Night 1: Start With What the Money Is For

Before looking at a single fund, look at your life. Has anything changed since you last checked your investments? A new job, a wedding, a child, an aging parent who now needs support?

Each of these changes your financial goals, and your goals decide everything else. Money you’ll need in four years for a house down payment shouldn’t be invested the same way as money meant for retirement in 2050. Write both the goal and the year next to each other. It sounds basic, but most people skip it.

Night 2: See How Far Your Asset Allocation Has Moved

Say you started with 60% in equity and 40% in debt. After a couple of good years for stocks, that split could easily be 72:28 today, and you never made a single decision to get there. The market made it for you.

That’s why asset allocation needs checking. If equity has grown well beyond its share, it may be time for some portfolio rebalancing. That means booking part of the gains and moving them to debt, or simply directing fresh investments to the side that has fallen behind. It feels odd to sell what’s doing well, but that’s exactly how risk stays under control.

Night 3: Ask Yourself How the Last Fall Felt

Questionnaires can tell you your risk profile on paper. Your behaviour during the last market correction tells you the truth.

Did you stay calm, or did you check your app five times a day and think about selling everything? If it was the second, your portfolio probably carries more risk than you’re comfortable with. That’s not a failing. People’s tolerance changes with age, a home loan or school fees. Your investment strategy should change with it.

Night 4: Judge Returns Against the Right Benchmark

A fund that returned 12% last year sounds good until you find out its benchmark gave 18%. On its own, a return figure says very little.

Compare each fund with its benchmark and with similar funds in the same category, and look at three to five years rather than the last six months. Every fund has weak patches. The ones worth questioning are those that keep trailing year after year with no clear reason.

Night 5: Count How Many Times You Own the Same Stock

This one surprises a lot of investors. You might hold four equity funds and believe you’re well diversified, only to find the same big banks and IT companies sitting near the top of all four.

Open the factsheets and compare what the funds actually hold. If there’s heavy overlap, a couple of them may be doing the same job and can be merged. While you’re at it, check whether too much of your money is riding on one sector or one stock. Proper diversification is about owning things that spreading your money across investments that don’t all move in the same way.

Night 6: Find Out What You’re Paying

Costs rarely get attention because they don’t show up as a bill. They’re deducted quietly from your returns.

Look up the expense ratio of each fund and check whether you’re in the direct or regular plan. If you use a managed portfolio, understand its fee structure, including any performance fee. A 1% difference sounds tiny, but over twenty years it can eat into a noticeable part of what you end up with. Paying for good management is fine. Not knowing what you’re paying isn’t.

Night 7: Plan Your Exits Around Tax

Selling a few weeks too early can turn a long-term gain into a short-term one and push up your tax bill. Timing matters more than many investors realise.

Since half the financial year is still left, there’s time to plan sensibly. Check the holding periods before you sell anything. Use the yearly exemption on long-term capital gains if it’s available to you, and see whether booking a loss on a weak holding could offset gains elsewhere. A tax-efficient approach won’t make headlines, but it keeps more money in your pocket.

Night 8: Check Your Portfolio Against Today’s Conditions

The backdrop has shifted this month. The RBI raised the repo rate to 5.50% in October and signalled that rate cuts are off the table for now. At the same time, a weak monsoon and a strong El Niño have raised worries about food prices.

When rates are rising, long-duration debt funds tend to have a harder time than shorter ones, so it’s worth checking which kind you hold. This is also a good moment to make sure your emergency fund still covers around six months of expenses and that your health and term insurance haven’t fallen behind your current needs.

Night 9: Sort the Paperwork and Get a Fresh Pair of Eyes

Last night is for the boring but important stuff. Check that nominations are updated on every account and that your KYC is current. If your investments are spread across several apps and platforms, try to bring them together so you can see everything in one place.

After that, it helps to have someone else look at the whole picture. When you’ve built a portfolio yourself, it’s hard to spot your own blind spots. Bonanza Wealth’s Portfolio Review service goes through your holdings against your goals and risk profile and points out what’s working, what’s overlapping and what may need to change.

Summing Up

Nobody expects their home to stay clean without effort, and portfolios are no different. Nine short checks, spread over nine festive evenings, are enough to bring most portfolios back in order. You go from your goals and asset allocation all the way to costs, taxes and the final paperwork.

You don’t need to overhaul everything. Often, a couple of small corrections, like trimming one fund, switching a plan or topping up the emergency fund, do more good than a dramatic shake-up. If you finish your portfolio review before Dussehra, your investments will be in good order for the rest of the year.

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