In these troubled times, smart long-term investing has become more important than ever. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Study the Indian market
Start by reading more about Indian markets and investments so that you are more confident while taking your investment decisions. You might imagine that stock market investing involves spending hours studying the universe of stocks and carefully deciding which one to buy and when to sell them. In reality, it is not so complicated as it appears to be.
2. Patience is Key
Stocks such as Reliance, HDFC Bank, etc have grown manifold over the years, but that's not the usual scenario and even those stocks didn't rise in a straight line. Being patient is a key aspect in investing; your fortune in stocks is most likely to be garnered over years, not in days or months.
3. Have an Emergency Fund
You need to keep an emergency fund ready before investing. You need to stock about six to nine months’ worth of daily life expenses as Emergency Fund to be used in case of any setbacks.
4. Invest only Surplus Income
With the pandemic still looming large, uncertain market drops can be expected in the near future. Occasional drops are inevitable, but remember that pandemic or no pandemic, you should never invest in the stock market with any money you might require within the next 2-3 years.
5. Timing Matters
You might not want to sell stocks once they've crashed, as the market's performance in the short term is totally unpredictable. But, over the long run, it always tends to show an upward trend.
In fact, this pandemic period is a great time for beginners to start investing. You just need to keep your bigger financial goals in mind and make sure that you're prepared for both good times and tough times ahead.