Small is big: learning the risk-free way of investing

Expense Account, Mint

The BlackBerry is active but basic banking is not. I’m at Gaula, home to only 150 people across 27 families. It is also the regional office of Chirag, a 21-year-old non-profit based out of Sitla, Uttarakhand.

Why am I here? The chief executive of Chirag is concerned that his staff of 133 is getting misled into buying financial products that just don’t work for them. He thought of getting me over to conduct financial literacy workshops after the sales push of life insurance agents got to a level that had him worried.

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Equity investing is safe: just follow the rules

Expense Account, Mint

Everybody knows that roads are unsafe, people get run over and cars smash into each other. Yet we continue driving, riding, walking and crossing these roads because there’s a set of rules that defines road use and works 90% of the time.

Equity investing is no different. There is a set of rules out there that allow long-term wealth creation. But you’ve got to look at both sides of the road before crossing it.

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How an arranged marriage is so much like a financial product

Expense Account, Mint

Buying a financial product in India is a bit like an arranged marriage: you don’t know what you are getting into. And once in, divorce is a costly affair.

The matrimonial ads describe the prospective brides and grooms in detail: gori(fair), very beautiful; tall, large income, own house. And of course, a religious and pious mother. These seek to describe in 30 words attributes that aim to snare a partner for life.

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The macro mess and how you will ride it

Expense Account, Mint

The bad news is now an unending scream. From the newspapers, the television channels, the hushed office talk of layoffs each month—20 people at a time. From home loan rates that reached 13-14% last year and are yet to fully come off. From our investments that are down horribly, and in the pay cuts that some of us have had to digest. And the anticipation that increment time March brings is muted. The question all of us wish we had the answer to: How much worse can it get and should we really be worried in India?

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