June is year end closing for mutual funds. This is when funds pay out profits as dividends. And every year I see people happily waiting for that dividend. Here is what most of them don't know. Dividend from a low risk mutual fund gets taxed at 25%. The same profit, if you book it yourself by selling units, gets taxed at 15% as capital gain. Simple example. You invested 100k. Made 10k profit in a year. Wait for the dividend, you get 7,500 in hand. 2,500 gone in tax. Sell before the dividend and book the profit, you get 8,500. Only 1,500 in tax. Same fund. Same profit. 1,000 rupees difference just based on how you take it. And one more thing. Capital gain tax can be adjusted against losses. Already sitting on a 10k loss in stocks or another fund this year? Then your tax is zero. Full 10k comes to you. Dividends give you no such option. This is exactly why we built Capital Gain Tax tracking into Zar by Sarmaaya. You can see your gains, losses and tax impact in one place and plan your exits smartly instead of guessing. Small decisions like this add up to real money over the years. So before the June payout, look at your fund and decide. Most people lose money here simply because nobody told them. For tracking investment smartly, visit zar.sarmaaya.pk

A few days ago, our CEO Laeeq Ahmad shared a personal investment story on LinkedIn that blew up across Pakistan's finance community. Thousands of shares, hundreds of comments, and one very simple lesson that most people overcomplicate. Here's what he posted: In 2020, he bought 15,000 shares of Faysal Bank (FABL) at Rs 21 per share. Total investment: Rs 315,000. No trading, no panic selling, no watching the screen every day. He just held. Fast forward to today, here's what that patience looks like in numbers: - Entry price: Rs 21 → Current price: Rs 88 - Total dividends received: Rs 352,000 - Current portfolio value: Rs 1.67 million - CAGR: 32% per annum - Current dividend income: Rs 19,500 The headline of the whole story? His dividends alone, Rs 352,000, have already exceeded his original investment of Rs 315,000. He got his full capital back in cash. And he still owns all 15,000 shares. The Strategy Was Really Simple: No fancy indicators. No margin trading. No timing the market. Just three things: 1. Pick a fundamentally strong company. Faysal Bank is a major Pakistani Islamic bank with consistent earnings and a reliable dividend history. Not a speculative stock, a real business with real profits being shared with shareholders. 2. Buy during fear. 2020 was a crash year. COVID had shaken markets globally. Most people were running away from stocks. Laeeq walked in. That's where long-term wealth gets built, when others are panicking. 3. Hold. Just hold. Pakistan's economy went through multiple tough patches after 2020, inflation, currency devaluation, political uncertainty. He sat through all of it. And the compounding did its job quietly in the background. The deeper point he made in the post: once your dividends exceed your original investment, your entire relationship with the market changes. You stop fear-selling on dips. You stop obsessing over the price. Because the game has already been won. The money is now making money, and that Rs 19,500 in dividend income now covers his petrol tax. A real expense. Fully funded outside his salary.

Your salary will end one day. Your expenses won't. The only question is, are you building something that pays you when you can't work anymore? Every big fortune started with one small, boring, consistent decision. Invest a little. Every month. Without fail. That's a SIP, Systematic Investment Plan. No timing the market. No waiting for the "right moment." Just you, a fixed amount, and time doing the heavy lifting. Here's what ₨5,000 a month builds at 18% annual return 📅 10 years → ₨ 16.7 lakh 📅 20 years → ₨ 1.07 crore 📅 30 years → ₨ 6.5 crore You invested ₨ 18 lakh. The market gave you back ₨ 6.5 crore. That's not magic. That's compounding at work, and it only works if you start. Starting at 25 with ₨ 5,000/month will make you wealthier at retirement than starting at 35 with ₨ 15,000/month. Time is the ingredient money can't buy back. You don't need to be rich to start a SIP. You need to start a SIP to get rich. Now we want to hear from you 👇 Are you doing a SIP right now? Which fund are you investing in, and how old were you when you started? Drop it in the comments. Your answer might be exactly what someone else needed to finally take the first step. 🚀 We recently did a video on SIP and how you can continue with your regular investments every month irrespective of markets going up or down. Watch Now: https://youtu.be/AMF9z97FnfM?si=KyAmiUXRJiOFR9HH Disclaimer: 18% is based on historical average returns of high-risk equity mutual funds in Pakistan. Past returns do not guarantee future results.

Did you guys like the Session on Pakistan Stock Exchange? Those who were unable to participate can view the recording in Class Room Section under Q&A Webinars

Here's the timeline: Jan 2025: Market starts at 115,127 points. May 2025: Pakistan-India war. Index crashes 12% in 4 days. Circuit breakers triggered. People panic-sell. Ceasefire announced. Next session? +9.2% in a single day. Jan 2026: New all-time high. 191,032 points. March 2026: US-Iran war breaks out. Strait of Hormuz blockaded. Oil hits $120. KSE crashes 16,089 points in one session, worst single-day drop in PSX history. Pakistan brokers a ceasefire. Next session? +14,137 points, biggest single-day gain in PSX history. Today ~168,100 points. Up 48% from where we started. Both times, the news was terrifying. Both times, the market felt broken. Both times, the people who acted on emotion lost. The people who acted on fundamentals won. This is the oldest principle in investing, and the hardest to follow: "Separate the noise from the signal." Noise is what's on the news. Signal is what's in the numbers: earnings, interest rates, macroeconomic direction, valuations. In both crashes, Pakistan's fundamentals hadn't changed. Rates were still falling. The IMF program was intact. Corporate earnings were solid. The signal was still bullish. Only the noise had turned deafening. Your daily practice: every time you feel the urge to make a move based on a headline, stop and ask one question: Has anything changed in the fundamentals, or just the sentiment? If only the sentiment changed, the answer is almost always: sit tight. Were you holding, selling, or buying during either crash? 👇