Do you live from one pay day to another

The millennials have been blamed for everything under the sun. Right from relationships, cinemas, and ownership of cars/homes to golf and not possessing a safety harness in terms of money.

Let's face it we are the generation with the most student loans on our heads.  We have virtually zero savings. We binge watching TV series online rather than the TV or go to the movies. We prefer an Ola / Uber to owning a car. We would rather have a fully furnished rented apartment rather than own a rundown flat. We find it more convenient to live in the present tensing free than to save for tomorrow. We still haven't grown out of our comic tees or pajamas.

But does it really matter? NO It's our life and there's not much use saving up for generation after generation if we live a sad existence. 

So what does an average person do, you can't have zero savings and hope to mend your ways once you get married/get settled in a way you have envisioned. The easiest way to look forward is mutual funds. We have been programmed to believe mutual funds are volatile and hence risky.

Yes, a part of it is true, if you don't plan and eye heavy returns you will most probably loose some money , but you could always choose balanced funds or funds which are debt oriented rather than eyeing the equity funds (I personally have invested in  a few equity oriented funds , I believe I am young and I am getting myself ready for an innings in the share markets ) .

Which brings me to the next best option the share markets (Better option if you get a hang of it) . I believe everyone should atleast buy one set of shares to see how the markets work and get a little Animal Planet lowdown on the bulls and the bears.  Understand how a push for electric buses can make you money if you had invested in Battery manufacturers ,Graphite suppliers (Do analyse the share price of Graphite India for a year ,just Google it) . Or how TRAI cutting down certain charges increased the value of Reliance Industries (JIO) mutlifold. Read about Warren Buffet , Dolly Ahluwalia , Porinju Veliyath , Rakesh Jhunjumwala . Read a business Magazine or paper (ECONOMICTIMES is my poison).

Then there are the FDs,  UTI,  PF, NPS, etc., which are safer and cut down on your tax returns.  But do make it a point to experiment now. A thousand rupees eroded in the market today would be the foundation for you to make thousands tomorrow.

I would like to end this with two quotes one cheesy for the filmy people and the other from my mind which is not well articulated. The quotes are not related and the first one is attributed to Mr. Bill Gates

Quote 1:  “If you are born poor it is not your mistake, But if you die poor it's your mistake.”

Quote 2: A  person should not be dependent on his/her salary but their investments made in their youth

Fact : Warren Buffet has tons of money in Apple Inc,a sizable chunk but he has never owned an iPhone

Update : 04-07-2021

https://technologysimplifiedforu.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-first-step-is-always-hardest.html 

The above is very useful for people who know and want to invest in the Stock market ,but haven't been able to start.

Update : 29-10-2017

For the people who found this interesting and are ready to plunge into D-Street or Wall street as we call it , I have written another article which is mostly responses to the comments on this article with queries pertaining specifically on how to invest . The said article would be informal & would be update based on your responses to this article . 

Update : 01-09-2018

A Third Article about the Bull run scenario in the Indian market has been published


Update : 18-02-2020

A look at the euphoria and the enigma of the current markets and the bubble which may burst in the recent future.