When I review investment portfolios, I often see two very different kinds of investors. Some have most of their money in fixed deposits, savings accounts and other very safe investments. Others have gone almost entirely the other way, with most of their wealth in equity mutual funds, stocks or other growth-oriented investments. These approaches look…

If you go to any Indian wedding or office party when the stock market is high, you will hear the same story. Someone will say, India is the next superpower! The market will only go up! Buy this small company share; it will double by Diwali. It feels good to think positive. But in the…

When investors discover the impact of distributor commissions embedded in Regular mutual fund plans, the urge to switch to Direct plans is immediate. The math seems obvious: saving 0.75% to 1.00% every year in expense ratios compounds into a massive difference over decades. Yet when long-term investors consult an advisor or open an Excel sheet…

In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the protagonist Arjun had a number. We wanted to hit the target corpus by 40, retire, and finally start living. It’s one of the most seductive ideas Bollywood ever put on screen, and it has quietly become the blueprint for an entire generation of Indian professionals. I meet Arjuns every…

“Can you suggest a good international fund—or include one in my portfolio?” I hear some version of this question regularly in my work as a SEBI-registered investment adviser. Usually, I respond with another question: “If I hid the last three years of returns from you, would you still want to invest internationally?” Take a moment…

Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22, was once at a party, and his friend told him that their host had probably made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his famous novel in its entire lifetime. Heller didn’t flinch. “Yes,” he said, “but I have something he will never have. I have…

In a previous article, I discussed building a portfolio and backtesting against the Nifty 100 or Nifty 500.  Investors don’t own just one fund—they own a portfolio. The real question isn’t whether Fund A beat Fund B, but whether your portfolio is actually delivering better outcomes than a simple benchmark like the Nifty 500. The…

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that whenever I talk about managing money, someone eventually labels me a miser. Apparently, if you speak about budgeting, investing, avoiding unnecessary debt, or controlling expenses, you must be someone who doesn’t know how to enjoy life. I disagree. There is a huge difference between being miserly…

When investors compare mutual funds, they usually look at trailing returns—1-year, 3-year or 5-year returns displayed on fund factsheets and research portals. While these figures are easy to understand, they represent returns over just one investment period and can be significantly influenced by the choice of start and end dates. This is why experienced investors…

I still remember the silence at the dinner table. I had just told my parents that I was going to keep renting for a few more years instead of buying a flat. I wanted to build my emergency fund first, let my investments compound, and stay flexible while my career was still finding its shape….

In India, parenting is often treated less like a responsibility and more like a long-term investment scheme. We pour everything we have—our savings, our gold, and our youth—into our children’s education and marriages. We tell ourselves it is out of love. But deep down, for many Indian parents, there is an unspoken contract: I sacrificed…

Every parent wants the best for their children. We work hard to give them a good education, a comfortable life, and opportunities that we may never have had ourselves. We worry about their health, safety, career, and future. But let me ask you a simple question: Are you preparing your children to manage money? Most…

Have you ever been convinced that you too could become a millionaire? I have been in your shoes. In today’s world, we are heavily influenced by social media, where a person is chilling on a vacation with their laptop and their trading setup on. We also think we can quit our jobs, do this, and…

Not every financial decision deserves the same amount of analysis. Choosing between Mutual Fund A and Mutual Fund B feels important. In reality, it isn’t. If six months later you find a better fund or your investment philosophy changes, you can simply switch. The decision is reversible. The cost of changing your mind is relatively…

There’s a moment in the movie “Life in a … Metro” where one character asks a simple question: “If you sat in your car and waited for every single traffic signal on your route to turn green before you left home, would you ever actually go anywhere?” You wouldn’t. Because that’s not how a journey…