A very common SIP mistake made by investors is that they invest for a shorter while. Quite often, investors do not understand that the value of their SIP does not rely solely on the amount that is invested, but also on the time period – the longer you stay invested, higher will be the value of your investments. For instance, if you choose to invest Rs. 5,000 every month in a SIP for 5 years, the total value invested would be Rs. 3 lacs; while the total value created from those investments would be Rs. 4.12 lacs in 5 years at an assumed rate of 12%. By investing in SIP, you have created over Rs. 1.12 lacs in a span of 5 years. And if you had remain invested for another 10 years, the total value invested would be Rs. 9 lacs; while the total value created in 15 years would be Rs. 25.23 lacs at 12% per annum. The investment value is created by the time period of investment and thus benefits from the power of compounding. The ideal way to invest in a SIP is by staying invested for a longer period of time.