Radhika Gupta warns investors: "The biggest wealth destroyer is often not poor performance, it's..."

Radhika Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund says the biggest wealth destroyer may not be poor performance, but the constant search for something better.

She has flagged a common behavioural trap among investors: abandoning an investment strategy that is meeting its objective simply because another fund has delivered higher returns.

In a recent post on X, Gupta said most investors begin with an “absolute goal”, whether it is targeting 10% returns, planning for a comfortable retirement, or ensuring their money beats inflation and grows over time.

The problem starts when investors begin comparing their performance with the latest market winner.

“Suddenly, what was good enough isn't good enough anymore. Absolute becomes relative,” Gupta wrote.

She said this shift can trigger a cycle in which investors move money into newer, hotter funds, while fund managers come under pressure to outperform their peers. As the chase intensifies, portfolios can become more aggressive and investors may end up taking risks they did not originally intend to take.

“The irony is that the investor's goal may not have changed at all,” Gupta said.

In her latest post, Gupta also cautioned investors about extraordinary returns.

“Too little performance is a problem. But too much performance should also make you ask questions,” she wrote, adding that markets rarely offer a free lunch.

Her message is ultimately about keeping investment decisions anchored to financial goals rather than peer comparisons or recent performance.

“The best investing is not about finding the fund that wins every year,” Gupta wrote. Instead, it is about finding an approach that can get investors where they need to go and having the discipline to stay invested.

She summed up the risk of performance chasing in one line: “The biggest wealth destroyer is often not poor performance. It's the constant search for better performance.”