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Advice
Why Some Investors Want Their Money Locked Away
Shankar, our long-time domestic staff member, wanted to secure his daughter’s education. When she was born, he asked me to deduct ₹2,000 from his salary every month, invest it, and not return the money to him—even if he asked—until she turned 18. What he needed was simple: automatic monthly saving, long-term growth and a meaningful lock-in. For people with limited financial resources, saving before the money reaches their bank account and restricting access afterwards can be extremely valuable. Emergencies, family obligations and everyday spending can otherwise gradually consume the amount. Automatic saving turns a monthly decision into a one-time commitment, ...
Advice
When timing the market hurts more than it helps
Markets usually call those instincts fear and greed. Fear protects what we already have. Greed, unfairly named, is the desire to improve one’s future. Years of accumulated capital become today’s rabbit. A rising market offers the deer. Investors naturally want both. Since markets do not allow certainty and upside together, they look for a third magical option: market timing. Stay invested while the market rises, sell at the highs, and buy back after the market has reached the bottom. The rabbit remains safe. The deer is captured. Problem solved. Except it isn’t. Market timing demands the opposite of human behaviour. ...
Advice
The Retirement Risk Most Plans Miss
A few of us from college went to meet our batchmate Ashok, who had been through a serious illness. We gathered around his bed and, as old friends do, spoke of hostel canteens, professors and ridiculous nicknames until the illness briefly disappeared from the room. Then someone remembered a story from Ashok’s younger days. “Arre, what happened to that bottle of wine you bought on your first trip to France?” Ashok had brought back an expensive bottle from France in the 1980s and said he would open it only on a truly special occasion. He smiled wryly: he still had ...
Advice
EGRs Can Unlock Household Gold at Lower Cost to Taxpayers
In 2001, our client Mangal bought one kilogram (kg) of gold coins for ₹ 4 lakh savings held in a form she trusted. By 2015, they were worth ₹ 27 lakh, sitting in a locker, earning nothing. She asked us what she should do with them. Mangals story is not unusual. For Indian families, gold is security, tradition, emergency money, and peace of mind. But what makes sense for a family like hers hurts the nation. Almost all new gold bought in India is imported, using foreign exchange and locking savings into an asset that protects families but builds nothing ...