It is very important to keep writing..so start. Write down why you want to invest or why you need to invest. It can take various forms like:

• I need to retire and for that I need a corpus
• Subra says long term money should be in equity (what a joker Subra is)
• I have some cash lying in the savings account and do not know what to do
• Bank interest are low so I want to invest in mutual funds
• Mutual funds give good returns (which means this guy believes MF = Equity)
• My neighbor seems to have made a lot of money just like my brother in law
• You know my Father In Law is Dumb but he made a killing in Bharti Airtel

So find your reason why you want to save / invest. The truth? I think it is a sexy topic to talk about, so many people talk. Most of these people are NOT ready to understand why, what, when, how of investing. Professionals are the worst of course.

If you must invest, write down where you must invest:

• PPF – my father invested only in PPF
• Bank fixed deposits – it is the most liquid form of investing
• Equity – all my colleagues are into direct equity
• All my friends make money in equity
• Equity gave 10% return in March, my debt fund gives me 10% in one year..
• I want to invest in small cap stocks – i believe they do better than large cap stocks
• I have been in corporate India for the past 12 years I know markets work
• I work with the share registry, I know how markets work

If you invest in equities, you need to go a little more further:

• I have access to superior information
• I am confident that I can time the market
• I will join many Investor groups – and will have access to even more information
• I will open a brokerage account with Zekkloa brokerage firm which charges only 0.10 paise for delivery
• I will go to a broker who will find me the inside info to get superior returns
• My broker will time the market for me
• Subramoney.com writes about equity, I will read that and will know what to buy /sell
• I attended a session by Balakrishnan and I liked his valuation techniques.

Once you write all this down and you know whether to follow the Value, deep value, growth, momentum or whatever other strategies you can create your Investment Philosophy statement. This statement will tell you how much where to invest, what return to expect, why you are investing, etc. Making this jointly with your spouse is much better, because suddenly she will also know what you are doing and why.

Ha, equity investing is so simple, is it not?