Investment Advice

Last time i had some comments where i was asked “Which is the best product to invest?”

The question itself tells you the story. People have been only looking to buy products rather than finding a solution. I don’t even blame customers for this attitude. Recently India has seen a spectacular rise in Financial Markets, Real Estate and Globalization. All this has resulted in high incomes which has further led people buying products which might or might not be appropriate to their risk profile, liquidity requirement, asset allocation, etc.

We have never witnessed such a growth earlier and moreover our Indian Population is highly lacking the Financial Education. We are basically followers and most of us are not able to decide “FOR WHAT ARE WE INVESTING?”

I am sure that there is no Perfect Product for investment. Its a combination of Products which form a solution. We also need to classify whether we are traders (in real estate or Stocks) or we are investors. Speculation can give you small spikes of Income but not a concrete solution.

Also with the recent boom our expectation have also reached sky-high. People think that they can double their money in Property or in some stock for which they think have the complete information. Next time i will let you know the Historical returns for some asset classes, which would certainly raise some eyebrows.

I would not be able to give specific advice on this common platform. Anybody wanting specific advice can contact me directly on my email:- anilbudhraja@yahoo.com

Where can one invest??

Well the important question to ask now is “Where should i invest?”

One has a lot of options to choose from Post Office Savings Scheme, Fixed Deposits, Stocks, etc. There are Plenty of Products which could be classified as:-

1. Equity:- Means Taking share into a business. You can buy Equity through Direct Stocks or Equity Mutual Funds.
2. Debt:- “Debt” means “TO LEND”. Investing in debt means you are lending your money to someone. Examples are:- Fixed Deposits, PPF, Bonds, Post Office Savings Schemes, Debt Mutual Funds.
3. Real Estate: One can either invest in a Piece of Land or a Built up House or Flat.
4. Gold: Gold can be invested by buying gold in physical form/ buying Gold ETF’s (exchange traded funds) or also by investing in Gold Funds (which invest in Gold Mining stocks)
5. Art: Art has also become a important asset class.
6. Alternate Products:- We are currently witnessing emergence of new complicated products such as Structured Notes, Private Equity Funds, etc.

Does this look simple?………One having 100 rupees can divide 20 rupees in each Asset class and works over. I wish that it was that easy.

Lets catch up next time and understand how does one go about choosing the right asset mix.