One of the interesting things about writing this series every month is that after a while you stop looking only at the market. You begin noticing how investors behave.

This month, I came across several articles discussing whether investors should pause or stop their SIPs because markets have delivered very little over the past couple of years. Financial advisors, mutual fund houses and newspapers have all rushed to answer the question. Unsurprisingly, almost all of them say the same thing: don’t stop your SIPs. Stay invested. Be disciplined.

But I think they are answering the wrong question.

People are not asking whether SIPs work. People are asking whether they have the patience to let them work.

The Nifty spent another month doing what it has done for almost two years now. It moved within a familiar range, recovering from around 23,500 towards 24,000 without creating either panic or euphoria. Nothing dramatic happened. And perhaps that is exactly the problem. Markets are exciting when they are crashing. They are exciting when they are making new highs. Sideways markets are simply… boring.

And boredom may well be the greatest enemy of long-term investing.

The update –

Our three stalwarts, fortunately, don’t have that problem. As always, they invested their planned INR 22,000 this month, trusting the process rather than the excitement.

Let’s take a look.

Indu’s portfolio (The index fan) –

Mutual Fund Scheme	Existing Units	New Investment	NAV	New Units	Total Units	Value
ICICI Pru Nifty 100 ETF	15550.063	22000	27.81	791.082	16341.146	454447.26

Invested Amount	450000
Current Value	454447.3

Muthu’s portfolio (the mutual funds sahi hai guy) –

Sr No	Mutual Fund Scheme	Existing Units	New Investment	NAV	New Units	Total Units	Value
1	ICICI Large and Mid Cap fund	88.076	4400	1007.87	4.366	92.442	93169.12
2	HDFC Mid-cap Opprtunities fund	456.081	4400	203.41	21.631	477.712	97171.5
3	Parag Parikh Flexi Cap fund	1039.622	4400	82.13	53.574	1093.196	89784.18
4	Nippon India Multi Cap fund	301.031	4400	301.2	14.608	315.640	95070.69
5	HDFC Small Cap fund	650.393	4400	136.78	32.168	682.561	93360.72

Invested Amount	450000
Current Value	468556.2

Shekhar’s Portfolio (the stock picker) –

Stock	Existing Shares	New Investment	Buy Price	New Shares	Total Shares	Value
Aarti Industries	20.41	440.00	458.3	0.96	21.37	9795.118
Aarti Pharma	11.96	440.00	680.05	0.65	12.61	8574.716
Asian Paints	3.58	440.00	2635.7	0.17	3.75	9885.147
Astral	5.88	440.00	1335.6	0.33	6.21	8293.807
Axis Bank	7.59	440.00	1345.7	0.33	7.91	10649.39
Bajaj Finance	9.74	440.00	1004.75	0.44	10.18	10229.79
Bajaj Finserv	4.53	440.00	1780.2	0.25	4.77	8495.483
Bajaj Housing Finance	61.75	0.00	87.5	0.00	61.75	5403.51
Britannia	1.57	440.00	5146.5	0.09	1.66	8540.873
Chola Investment	5.80	440.00	1789.8	0.25	6.05	10829.62
Dabur	17.39	440.00	422.2	1.04	18.43	7781.478
Deepak Nitrite	3.50	0.00	1546.4	0.00	3.50	5407.489
Devyani International	42.07	0.00	111.37	0.00	42.07	4685.766
Divis Labs	1.40	440.00	6579	0.07	1.46	9631.692
DMART Avenue Supermart	2.17	440.00	4380.7	0.10	2.27	9944.117
Eicher	1.43	440.00	7073.5	0.06	1.49	10526.98
Garware Technical	8.86	0.00	765.65	0.00	8.86	6780.24
Havells	5.95	440.00	1159.3	0.38	6.33	7336.744
HCL Tech	5.66	440.00	1071.8	0.41	6.07	6509.671
HDFC Bank	9.72	440.00	797.95	0.55	10.27	8195.074
HUL	3.68	440.00	2118.2	0.21	3.88	8224.441
ICICI Bank	6.52	440.00	1375.2	0.32	6.84	9403.21
Indian Hotels	11.79	440.00	713.95	0.62	12.41	8861.023
Infosys	5.65	581.14	1000.4	0.58	6.23	6229.031
Jio Finance	32.67	440.00	236.44	1.86	34.53	8164.393
Kotak Mahindra Bank	21.31	440.00	392.25	1.12	22.43	8799.516
L&T Technologies	1.49	0.00	3139.8	0.00	1.49	4672.9
LTI Mindtree	1.67	588.18	3538	0.17	1.84	6505.95
Mankind Pharma	3.60	440.00	2545.6	0.17	3.78	9614.021
Manyavar Vedant Fashions	8.75	0.00	408.3	0.00	8.75	3570.915
Metro Shoes	7.67	440.00	1004.8	0.44	8.11	8151.597
Muthoot Finance	3.26	440.00	2997.3	0.15	3.41	10216.61
Naukri Info Edge	6.55	440.00	978	0.45	7.00	6846.117
Nestle	7.22	440.00	1405.2	0.31	7.53	10585.1
Nykaa	41.26	440.00	310.85	1.42	42.68	13265.58
Page Industries	0.16	0.00	41370	0.00	0.16	6575.685
PayTM	8.82	463.84	1141.5	0.41	9.23	10537.1
Pidilite	5.93	440.00	1592.7	0.28	6.21	9891.574
Reliance	6.36	478.15	1293.9	0.37	6.73	8704.129
SRF	3.12	440.00	2739	0.16	3.28	8978.577
Tata Consumer	7.90	519.04	1075.6	0.48	8.39	9021.006
Tata Elxsi	1.58	558.65	3829.7	0.15	1.73	6617.464
Tata Commecial	7.40	440.00	422.95	1.04	8.44	3569.83
Tata Motors	15.04	440.00	352.2	1.25	16.29	5736.67
TCS	2.78	526.04	2031.5	0.26	3.03	6164.421
Titan	2.36	440.00	4404	0.10	2.46	10841.15
Torrent Pharma	2.42	461.74	4620.1	0.10	2.52	11622.44
Trent	2.70	456.22	3282.6	0.14	2.84	9331.532
Tube Investments	2.96	440.00	3029.3	0.15	3.10	9394.084
Varun Beverages	17.55	440.00	507.55	0.87	18.41	9345.055
Zomato	34.45	440.00	264.6	1.66	36.11	9554.182
Kwality Walls	2.54	0.00	35.11	0	2.54	89.1794

*This month we had dividends coming in from Infosys, L&T Tech, LTIM, Page, Reliance, Tata Consumer, Tata Elxsi, Tata Motors, TCS, Torrent Pharma and Trent. We are assuming a reinvestment of the dividends in the same stocks except for L&T Tech and Page. We have stopped investments in those two and the dividend was redirected to LTIM and PayTM respectively for them.

Invested Amount	450000
Current Value	426581.2

Looking at the numbers, there isn’t much to celebrate this month. Equally, there isn’t much to worry about.

Indu’s portfolio continues to hover around the invested amount. Shekhar’s portfolio has been tracking the market as well. Though he has started having doubts about the IT sector picks. Muthu’s mutual fund portfolio continues to lead comfortably, having benefited the most from the recovery over the last couple of months.

The comparison and the graph

Month	Indu	Muthu	Shekhar	Investment
Jan-25	100000	100000	100000	100000
Feb-25	117247.7	115538.4	116557.2	120000
Mar-25	142363.5	140184.6	138494.2	140000
Apr-25	165366.2	162416	163500.4	160000
May-25	192137	191789.2	189153.7	180000
Jun-25	217175.4	217913.8	213291.5	200000
Jul-25	232075.9	236487.7	229127.7	220000
Aug-25	251337.4	255466.6	249919.1	240000
Sep-25	270980.7	275483.7	266187.4	260000
Oct-25	304457.6	304522.5	295892	280000
Nov-25	325694	325651.9	313676.1	300000
Dec-25	344596.2	341517.5	332826.2	320000
Jan-26	351311.2	347628.1	335923.3	340000
Feb-26	378748.3	378656.9	355547.2	362000
Mar-26	364801.9	369107.5	341042.7	384000
Apr-26	408022.7	416609.5	387260.3	406000
May-26	431203.3	444583.3	409661.4	428000
Jun-26	454447.3	468556.2	426581.2	450000

Looking at the comparison, it feels that nothing dramatic happened. Ironically, that is probably the biggest challenge for investors.

We are conditioned to believe that investing should constantly reward us with excitement. New highs, sharp recoveries, multibagger stocks, spectacular returns. But real investing spends most of its life looking rather ordinary. Markets consolidate. Portfolios move slowly. Months pass with very little to talk about.

That is precisely when discipline matters the most.

It is easy to continue investing when every month brings good news. It is much harder to keep investing when month after month appears uneventful. Yet, history suggests that those uneventful months are often where the foundations of long-term wealth are quietly laid.

Perhaps the purpose of this series is not to find the next market prediction. It is simply to document what disciplined investing actually looks like.

And, more often than not, it looks rather boring.

Disclaimer: I hold all the stocks and mutual funds mentioned on this page in my personal portfolio.