Life (including investments) is not about not making mistakes, but to learn from them. A wise person quickly learns from his mistakes - and those of the others too. Given below are 7 do’s and don’ts which we can follow to avoid mistakes commonly made by investors in MFs. Rule 1 : Don’t look at NAV I would be repeating this maybe a 100th time – Rs 10 NAV does NOT mean that the fund is cheaper than an existing fund with say Rs 200 NAV. Therefore, never look at NAV when you are making an investment decision. Rule 2 : Do systematic investment The market valuations today, despite the recent correction, are still not cheap. Also, there is risk of a possible slowdown in the economy. Therefore, averaging one’s investment by doing SIP is a safer route to investing in equity markets. Lump-sum investment is advisable only at very low market PE levels, when the risk of markets going down further is low and the probability of appreciation high. Of course, this does not apply so much to debt funds