Simply Money

'Mutual funds Sahi Hai' is a campaign that I have always been puzzled about. It deceptively gives the viewer an impression that Mutual Funds are the holy grail of investing. I have got numerous calls from my friends, clients and acquaintances panicking when their share and mutual fund portfolios dropped by as much as 60% bringing their losses to a level which, if realised, will wipe out all profits made in last 5 years of investing. Of all the degrees I accumulated, experts we consulted and charts we read, my investment returns was beat by my simpler parents who invested in Gold and Real estate. Even after my repeated sniggering to them in the past claiming that their returns are meagre and not noteworthy.  They have beat my portfolio and there is no shame in admitting this. Wherein my stocks portfolio is expected to recover from present losses in next 3 years, the people I know who had real estate heavy portfolio are not expecting any losses. Even in Covid-19 times the Real es...

We as humans are always taught how to celebrate, enjoy the brighter side of lives. Be it celebrating the various festivals or minor family achievements, since early child hood we are taught how to process happiness. But we lack the fundamental exposure to stress, loss and mental pressure. Most of us who have not been exposed to grief are always dumbfounded when unprecedented situations arise in our lives. I write todays article as I was genuinely shocked to read the news of a 35 year old software engineer committing suicide allegedly due to huge losses in stock market. Its easy to call this a stupid decision. Most readers will not even be sympathetic to this decision and refer to such an individual as weak or to great extremes a loser. But what is essential to treat depression as a disease, same as you would treat Covid 19 or Cancer. No sane man would take such an extreme step unless he looses all his logical faculties. Whats the difference between a farmer committing s...