Mutual Funds Become the Investment Choice for Beginners, Starting from Rp 10,000
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Investment has long been perceived as requiring substantial capital and complex knowledge. However, recently, parts of society have begun discovering simpler ways to get started.
Not through shares with their sharp ups and downs, but via mutual funds, an instrument that allows investment to begin from small amounts, even Rp 10,000. This option is increasingly eyed because it is relatively easy to access and managed by professionals. For many people, mutual funds serve as the initial step into the investment world without needing to understand the entire dynamics of the financial markets.
Chair of the Presidium of the Indonesian Mutual Fund Players Association (APRDI), Lolita Liliana, explained that mutual funds are a vehicle for pooling public funds which are then invested into various instruments, such as shares, bonds, and money markets. She likened it to “gado-gado”, a single product with various contents.
“If you don’t yet know how to choose shares or bonds, you can go through mutual funds. Just select the product, and the management is handled by professionals,” said Lolita during the APRDI Mutual Fund Socialisation and Education event 2026 at the Seminar Room, Tower 2 Level 1 IDX Jakarta, on Monday (20/4/2026).
In practice, the management and storage of funds are handled by different parties. The investment manager oversees the portfolio, while investors’ funds are kept in a custodian bank.
This scheme ensures that funds are not mixed with the investment manager’s assets or the custodian bank’s. Additionally, every mutual fund product must obtain an effective statement and be under the supervision of the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
Investors can also monitor their investments through periodic reports, from monthly reports to net asset values (NAB) updated routinely. The ease of access is one of the drivers of mutual fund growth. Currently, investments can be made online through various platforms and started from small amounts.
“If we want to reach more of the public, it must indeed be affordable,” said Lolita.
However, public participation levels remain relatively low. New capital market investors are around 7 to 8 percent of the total population.
Head of the Investment Management and Capital Market Supervision Department Regional Financial Services Authority, M Maulana, stated that the contribution of mutual funds to gross domestic product (GDP) is still about 4 percent.
“That means our opportunities are still very large,” he said. As a comparison, contributions from similar industries in Thailand and Malaysia have exceeded 30 percent of GDP.