Equity Investment – Should one shy away

Earlier in the week I had gone out to purchase the groceries for the week. One of the items I purchased was ToorDal (Pigeon Pea) for Rs. 95/-kg. The week earlier, the price was Rs.70/kg. The price rise in a week was in excess of 35 % in absolute terms. Many of us will attribute this to drought effect and I also tend to agree. Recent newspaper report also point that indifferent climatic conditions are here to stay.

This took me to a new thought process. Does shying away from Direct Equity investment work in the long run. I do know quite a few people, totally refrain from investing in Direct Equity investments . ( This could be an understatement) The logic being shared varying from – It‘s a gamblers paradise or its difficult to track or the share price movement is like a see-saw.

There could be some truth in all the above but are they a sufficient reason to shy away from this investment avenue?

The interest rate on risk-free debt instruments are in single digits, coupled with inflation and the taxes, leaves one with a Return on Investment ( ROI ) in real terms to be between 2 - 3.5%.

As a financial planner and wealth manager, I do suggest my clients to have an equity exposure of 10 – 15 % at the minimum if the time horizon in excess of 3 years. India is one place to invest in. The growth opportunities presented by the Indian economy should be taken advantage of. Investments in Growth stocks could give an estimated CAGR return of minimum 18 – 20 % p.a. ( I'm being conservative here).

So folks, do not be averse to use this avenue as one of the Investment opportunities . A competent financial advisor and wealth manager could definitely suggest the right course of action in this regard.

Financial Planning – What’s the Ideal time

One of the frequent questions I encounter is what is the ideal time for financial planning.
Folks just out of college and working in their Ist job, want to enjoy the money now and generally state that they will start saving a year or two into the job.
A year or two into the job, some of them are into some sort of debt , majorly on account of spending beyond their means.
Another year or two down the road, its time to marry and settle down. The courtship period starts ( a beautiful time of our life and not be missed) and the expenses again start to hit the roof ( You all know the answer to this) .

Another year or two passes and its time to start a family .

Suddenly one realizes that nearly 5 - 6 years of the earning life has passed by and one is still at the starting block in wealth creation.

( There are definitely exceptions to this and I commend all those who have effectively managed to have a corpus by this time).

So what does this indicate.. Do we have a way out …How can we ensure that we’ve a corpus , howsoever small it is at every important events of our lifecycle

Is there a mantra – No
Is there a method – Yes

What is this method called - Financial Planning.

Financial Planning – It means to plan for the financial goals ( future needs) with the available financial resources and optimizing the same.

Is Financial Planning only about Investments?
Is Financial Planning only for the wealthy? Or
Is Financial Planning only about planning for post-retirement life ?

The answer to all the above is --- No

Financial Planning is for all and it has no ideal time.

The time is now. Right now.

If you’ve missed the bus during the early part of your earning career, you can still plan for the future .

The power of compounding always works in favour of the early starter .

However, with a systematic and disciplined approach one can always achieve one's financial goals.

One of my favourite suggestion to all my clients is to save a minimum of 10% of the income which one receives every month in to a financial product ( Mutual Fund/Debt/Equity , as per the risk profile and asset allocation) , which will ensure that wealth creation is not hampered.

This virtually means that you do not allocate funds for savings post the expenses, but other way round.

This way one is disciplined , without lowering the standard of living .

So folks, whatever your age group, there is no time barrier for initiating your financial planning process.

The time is now . Right now .