Save, But To Invest
India remains a country of savers and it ranks the highest savers nation in the world. At the same time, it is also a country of bad investors, and hence the wealth they generally deserve, eludes them. Traditionally, the choice of an asset for Indians have always been precious metals and real estate, which apparently have failed to generate enough returns and create wealth for investors. What's worse than this is many Indians, especially, housewives store cash in the home as savings, which is actually a wealth destroyer as idle cash won't bear any earnings.
Saving money in cash is not enough; your money should grow according to your needs, and investment must remain your first choice. The amount, which you have been saving should multiply with appropriate investments while you're busy saving more. Your investments should at least be earning enough to beat inflation.
There are various avenues where you can invest, some traditional, some are not so traditional. Government sponsored investments such as public provident fund, national saving certificate; Kisan Vikas Patra etc. are some of the traditional investment avenues. Whereas the non-traditional ones such as mutual funds have started gaining ground, especially after the government decided to scrap high denomination currency notes in 2016 that constituted almost 86% of currency in circulation.
Demonetisation forced millions of citizens to put their savings into financial systems and mutual funds have remained one of the primary beneficiaries. The total asset managed by the domestic mutual fund industry almost doubled post demonetisation till date.
There is no all-weather investment. You can choose from the above instruments based upon your, age, goal and risk profile. The cover story of this issue will help you in picking up investments wisely.
An investment in the equity-dedicated mutual fund is now being preferred by many, however, there are few basic factors that you should follow to make your investment experience smooth. One of our special report this time dives deep to give you a checklist before investing in equity mutual funds.
SHASHIKANT