Hi my definition of a youngster – for this post – is those people born say 1980 and later. This post was triggered by a comment on the annuities post.

Let me enumerate:

1. Most of these people started their working lives say from 2002 onwards. So from 2002 to 2007 they were told by their bosses that Mr. Risk has not gone on leave, but died, so if you put all your money in equities, it will keep going up and you cannot lose money.

2. Sadly Mr. Risk came back from leave in Dec 2007 and decided that since his place in the office was taken away, he would sit in equity portfolios.

3. A little cruel thing to say but if you invested in the peak (and invested ONLY in the peak) your equity return till 2012 is STILL negative.

4. Your salaries sky rocketed during this period, but if you are in the BFSI space, you realise that you WERE lucky to be in this space, and you need to look desperately for the next space.

5. You will be caught in a vicious tailspin of the realty bust – we are only wondering when PC will have the guts to provide for the NPAs of the builders. That will rip the balance sheets of the topmost banks. If SBI, Hdfc and Icici make a 40% provisioning of their real estate portfolio, the index will be in a spin for a few years.

6. When you are 39 there will be pressure from 24 year olds willing to do YOUR job at half the price. Remember we are a YOUNG nation?

7. Government saving schemes will not keep pace with inflation.

8. Equity investing will become more difficult – forcing you to go to mutual funds – they are not making it easier either.

9. You will be used to a standard of living – which will be difficult to alter.

Sorry to sound so cruel, but your gen started off with a great promise, and somewhere when you are in your late 30s India slowing down and a world recession will hit you hard.

How to protect yourself?

Professionally: learn skills like meeting people, enjoying sales, communication (written, spoken…) multi skills, multi contact modes – phone, social media, etc….learn, learn, learn……keep learning….

Personally: improve fitness levels dramatically, maybe play a sport, keep expenses at 20-30% of income levels, SIP in equity funds, take a term insurance, medical insurance, …and hope for the best.