Invest and chill

The hare and the tortoise were two old friends, Just like the hoomans, they liked to cash in on red-hot trends, So, they decided to try their luck with investment funds, Because why shouldn't animals have some fun? Back in the human world, investing in equity has been the key to riches. Every few months or years, stock markets scale uncharted peaks. From 100 points in 1979, the Sensex - an index that measures the Indian markets - has climbed Mt 75,000 in a span of 45 years. That's a 750-bagger, growing at a solid 16 per cent annually. The story of Nifty, Sensex's cousin, is no different. The post-Covid years have been exceptionally strong. The market has grown 15 per cent annually for the last five years - and with it has swelled the number of investors. In March 2019, there were roughly 3.6 crore demat accounts and two crore mutual fund investors. Fast-forward five years to 2024, the demat number is around 15 crore and mutual fund investors at four crore. The simple reason for this flurry of new investors is the easy access to equity markets. All you need is a smartphone and internet. Download an investing app, complete the basic formalities from the comfort of your home and you are ready to go. That's what the friends of old, the hare and the tortoise did, too. From the comforts of their zoo, they got on a broking app to enrol. Then, off they dashed to get decked in cash. The story now moves to five years later. The hare is here, there and everywhere. Full of money, yet grumpy, he decides that his life needs spice. So, he rolls the dice. Little did he realise that it was the beginning of putting his hard-earned riches on ice. In the name of entertainment and to his friends' amusement, the loaded-with-money hare had a series of nightmares. Only if he could wake up in the future, would he realise the error. The error. Error 1: Trading The hare had never heard of Warren Buffett, the doyen of investing. Hence, he never heard his famous quote - "The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient" - either. So, when his famous social media guru waxed lyrical about the quick money that trading stocks can make, the hare dared to learn the technicals and the charts. He learnt the art of bu

This article was originally published on May 15, 2024.