Wasted 15 years of my life. What is the way forward?
I'm a 37-year-old IT gurl from Bangalore. I recently had a massive freak-out session because I realized my entire savings were locked up in fixed deposits (FDs). I felt like a complete fool. You know how FDs are; they don't even keep up with inflation. My parents had forced me to put money in FDs when I started my first job and I kept doing that over the last 15 years.
I always wanted to invest in property, dreamt of buying plots or an apartment. I even came close a few times, but it never panned out. Now, I'm sitting here thinking, "What have I done with my life?" I'm married for two years, no kids yet, and my husband works in accounting, so she doesn't contribute much.
I know, I'm quite late to the investment game. My goal is to create some serious wealth now. What's the best way forward? Stocks, mutual funds, real estate? I need a strategy to make up for lost time.
Please don't age-shame me. Life took over, and I couldn't plan my finances well. How do I make up for it now? Any advice is much appreciated!
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21 lakh is hardly much amount to worry over. At any point, you should keep that kind of amount in FD, definitely about 10 lakhs at least. I would suggest that just take out 10 lakhs of that and distribute into a few good mutual funds. And then start sip ing every month from your salary.
If you don’t know about mutual funds, index fund / etf is a good place to start blindly. Like NiftyBEES etf which just follows nifty50 companies. You can choose best mutual funds just by comparing them on any comparison making sites, look at last 10 yrs return in xirr. And choose 3-4 types of funds, like small cap, mid cap, largecap, flexi; and then by researching and comparing a bit on those sites, come up with 3-4 good mutual funds. Even if you choose bad ones, that too will provide 9-10% return in long run, and anyway, you can always observe them and stop and change the SIP at few yrs interval if you observe something wrong about them.
For ex, I had started and stopped these two fund houses mutual funds- Axis mf’s midcap and elss, and Tata AMC’s Digital India fund.
But 21 Lakhs in FD is a good. Atleast you have saved something. Now you can invest lumsum in a MF and start SIP.
Is your husband also a woman?
FDs are one of the safest assets, so don't worry, plan on allocating some money towards more riskier instruments (MF, equities, etc).
Think of breaking it in a good split (maybe 60-40) and put some money in growth oriented assets.
Property rates are so inflated atm, think of your future and invest. Most of the REs are tough to sell, so plan well and invest.
All the best 👍
It's all ok. Dont worry. Invest some part of that money in index ETF like NIFTYBEES and some in flexicap Mutual fund like PPFAS. Keeping money in FD is not that bad. Just allocate some amount in FD as well.
- Ppf - 1.5L
- NPS - 1L
- Buy a elss for atleast 10 lakhs
- Set up a regular sip for 40% of your salary
Start investing in mutual funds and don't touch it for the next 10 years. Since you've already invested a lot on FDs which are safer , I'd suggest you invest in equity funds which are more risk prone but also give better returns.
Oh wait. Now I remember, you're the person who sent me a cryptic dm and just went poof
Don't freak out.. I'm almost 40 and my liquid savings are a lot lot less. I can get your point about our generation of parents who knew only RD and FDs to put away the money. I'd say if you don't have any fixed obligation like childbirth and education, start with Mutual funds. They are relatively safe. Give a minimum of 3 years. For land investments try some semi-planned plot development or layout plots near the outskirts (else it is unaffordable). Also. Invest in yourself. Skills, health, art or hobbies. We always deprioritize this but for women once you become a mother (if you are planning to) it'll be minimum of 5 years before you refocus on yourself
Ill suggest plan a retirement now
you should moving towards SWP
conditions if you did need your money next 5-10years
What's your total net worth rn