Way to Invest

We all want to invest our hard earned money as properly as possible. What stops us from investing is not lack of information but too much of information which makes us confused. Lot of newspapers, TV channels and of course investment professionals from various firms with lot of data and products will surely confuse you.

What to Do???

The best way is to put the money in a product which gives the highest return, but its not easy as fixed deposits give 10-11% taxable, bonds give 8% taxable, mutual funds around 18-20% uncertain, structured products and PMS around 20-25% uncertain, gold has given 19.7% in last 5 years, real estate has given more that 80% in certain pockets in not even a year and in other pockets its negative. Even the volatility in the stock market has gone up substantially due to the rising liquidity from local and FII's. So how does one plan for the hard earned money.

I would say take the help of the experts when you are investing for the first time.

Some of the below steps make lot of sense when investing

1) Speak to a qualified investment planner (QIP) who knows what he is speaking about and not anybody who tries to force you to buy any product. Its definitely tough to find somebody like that but yeah the best way is if some of your friends or relatives can refer someone. They will know how their money was invested with what process (that's important) and how frequently the QIP was keeping them posted about the developments in their investments. That's important.

2) Once the plan is made taking your age, savings potential, goals, investment horizon, exposure to equity etc STICK to it and ignore whatever happens to the markets and your investment in short term. Short here means monthly to six months.

3) Keep safely the step by step plan with the probable returns on them and how it will help in achieving your goals given by the QIP (If not ask for it ) probably as an excel file or a hard copy.

4) Inform your spouse/concerned person about the file and its location as if something happens to you, your family should know what was planned, where its been invested, contact numbers etc.

4) Keep a tab on the reports sent to you on each product and try speaking to the QIP as to why some funds are not performing to the other. Ideally you should do it every month.

5) Keep the QIP in constant touch and try understanding from him as to what is happening with the markets. This will help in learning as well as keeping a tab on QIP.

6) Review the plan every six months along with the QIP as your needs and goals change accordingly your plan should also change. If yes re plan and keep it in your investment folder.



These are the steps which should ideally be taken when investing. Its not tough but yes it should be strictly followed to get the best benefit of investing.

I will be writing on the planning method and the areas of investment soon. Keep blogging..