Investment: Why and where to begin?

The only difference between rich and poor is mindset. Rich make their money work for them and poor work for money

A Sage Once Said

People often confuse investing with saving. Saving doesn’t make you rich we are gonna talk about why. More importantly people who are in their 30s mostly say that investment is for the super rich only. They stay away from stocks as it is volatile and they might lose all the money. Even though they are right to some degree but it is a foolish way to think. If there is a risk in investment it is because you choose to invest without knowledge. An investment made on informed decisions will flourish in the not so distant future. The average man choose banks for all its money needs and banks use that fear of these people to invest in those very stocks, debt and all the instruments that these people are scared of.

Why Invest?

Investment is not about defying banking institutions and betting against them. Investment is about protecting your financial future against inflation, market crashes, economic disasters and whatever the future holds for us. The Inflation rate on an average stands at 7% and most bank pay interest at 2.5% you lose almost 4-5% value of your money every year on your savings that are not invested. And Its’ not just that you miss out significant gains. Even if you take the simplest route of mutual funds. You could easily gain around 10-15% per year on your investment based on which fund you invest in. And yes all these funds are not 100% guaranteed but if you look at the track record of these funds its inexplicably better than bank FDs and RDs. So, the most important reason is jeopardising your financial future if you don’t invest.

Where to begin?

Financial Education is where we all should start our investment journey. Before starting to invest we must be aware of how the money works. What are stocks, bonds, commodities, alternate investments you should at least know the basics of all these. And then you should start investing in bonds and mutual fund units. I would recommend debt funds for beginners as they are highly secure just like bank FDs. You can read more about mutual funds in my other post here.

Stocks

That’s something I would advice most people to stay away from. Instead of stocks I recommend equity mutual funds. See, trading in stock market requires some market skills and is certainly not recommended for most people. However, the equity mutual fund is easy you give your money to a fund manager and the fund manager gives you good results. It’s simple and easy also saves time which is crucial for the average man. The average man doesn’t have enough time to research he is quite busy taking care of responsibilities. And this is the only reason why average man fall into the trap of investment tips. They invest into stocks based on tips from their friends or family or some non professional who claims to have earned handsome returns from stock market. That’s why I recommend the average person who bears a lot of responsibilities to stay away from stock market and let a financial manager take charge of his/her money in case of stocks.

Commodity

Commodity is any good that the man uses. Gold, Silver, Oil being the most popular investments. Commodities often act as hedge to your portfolio to safeguard you from market fluctuations or even crashes. Whenever the market crashes most commodities rise. Gold and silver are the most popular investments. Oil is too expensive and hence not everyone can’t afford it. There are ETFs that allow you to invest in commodities without actually buying them. The MCX market is just like stock market where commodities trades instead of stocks. Though Gold is not the best hedge available but for the common man i would recommend keeping at least 10% of their money in Gold and Silver.

Alternate Investment

Alternate Investment can be as simple as real estate and as complex as startup equity. The Super rich choose to invest in both real estate and private equity. But, the common man can invest in real estate as it more safe. And also in corporate as well as government bonds as they are just like FDs guaranteed returns.

That’s pretty much it for now. Will continue providing financial information so subscribe to the newsletter.