When I meet somebody for the first time, they are normally pure savers. In fact I would put all the people in 3 categories:

1. Savers
2. Savers who invest also
3. Those who do nothing.

I think we are all told that we should save money, we are encouraged to put some money in a piggy bank. We remember seeing our first passbook, our first cheque book,etc. However, our first investment feels a little fuzzy. Was it a fixed deposit? was it an equity share? or…we are not really clear, right?

For many people savings are the way to meeting our goals. Sorry Rip Van Winkle, the rules have changed. If you do not invest, the chances are that you may not meet your goals. You may work much longer than you actually need to. Or you may have a lower standard of living than what you could have had. Mostly people think of savings as a means to a goal, but investing as something risky. The inflation risk that will keep you away from achieving your goals is normally not visible. They younger gen is too much into cash, and that is not a very sensible thing to do. Invest you must. See if the following steps help

Think of the following:

1. Being unable to meet your Goals: whatever goals you have regarding a house, vacation, children’s education, or the most important of them all – Retirement. You may / will surely run out of money. That cannot be a great thought, right?
2. Inflation is eroding your wealth: If not investing means leaving your money in the bank, and getting 3-4 percent return, inflation is eroding your networth and you are slipping backward from where you are.
3. Savings and Investing are similar: Seriously, if you are a savings bank only kind of a person, maybe you are scared of volatility. Start doing a Recurring Deposit in a bank. Sign up for a 5 year RD and a 5 year SIP in a good quality large cap fund. Promise yourself that you will compare them only 5 times in a 5 year period.
4. Make the investment and stick to it for 5 years, preferably 10 years.

This will be a good way to start. A small beginning of say Rs.5000 per month with a Rs. 1000 increase every 6 months…will see you slowly increase your comfort level.