Young kids: Portfolios created by oldsters!
When I see today’s youngsters – I of course find them restless. Yes, young and restless you have heard…but why young and so called ‘riskless’ ?
Well for those who took up a job in 2007/8 (means born in 1985 or later) markets have not been a great – at best it has been lukewarm. All those who started a SIP in 2009 or later are still waiting to see some returns over the bank fixed deposit rates.
Those who listen to their ‘psu’ or ‘government’ oriented elders in the family even starting a SIP must have been difficult. Now they must be facing the wrath of the family saying ‘see your portfolio is down by 30% – in the bank you would have earned….’ blah blah blah.
So these kids are under tremendous pressure -on one side from parents who do not understand equity investments, media which loves action, and other classmates saying ‘see I told you not to listen to Subramoney (take your pick) see what has happened.
What should they do?
1. Remain calm: if you are investing for a long term (let us say for a goal 5 years away) just continue your SIP.
2. Remember if you look at equity on a daily basis, you could get scared – just stay away from the idiot box or the pink paper whichever is your mode of poison.
3. When somebody asks you to buy a Pension Plan, ask for the asset management charges. Recently one mutual fund has launched a Retirement Plan – and I have seen websites and ‘advisors’ doing a detailed analysis WITHOUT talking about the asset management charges. Did I say ‘It is difficult to make a person understand something if his livelihood depended on ‘not understanding it’ ? well here that is another problem…
signing off for now…:-)
Ashish
Oh you forgot – “i told you insurance is the best investment”
Vishal Khandelwal
I believe the first thing all young and new investors must do is to assess whether they ‘themselves’ are a stock or a bond. One is a bond (riskless) if he has a stable job that is unaffected by the volatility of the stock markets, and also has a many years left to work (which the young do).
On the other hand, one is a stock if he works in a volatile and unpredictable field that could decline quickly with little notice (like the stock markets itself!).
What this stock/bond question answers is how a new investor looks to the idea of integrating his ‘human capital’ with his ‘financial capital’.
It answers how he can integrate his work outlook into our investing and financial plan.
If you are a stock, make sure your savings and investments are tilted toward bonds (even if you are young and restless). On the other hand, if your job is secure and you are a bond, make sure your savings and investments tilt towards stocks.
A simple but very important first step for a new, young investor.
naveen
“stay away from the idiot box or the pink paper whichever is your mode of poison.I like this subra”. But with constant bombardment of high intensity free advice, it will be a challenge for investor to keep calm. Hope they listen to you..
CodeRed
Keep the faith!
Saurav Sinha
I am Bond … Saurav Bond … so Im continuing & even adding more to my existing SIPs … prefer Mid-cap funds … this article reinforces my belief in my country’s growth projections …