Devina Mehra: Six investment rules that help grow wealth but not complicated

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Devina Mehra 4 min Read 24 Sept 2025, 11:28 p.m. Here are six simple areas to focus on while investing in markets. (Pixabay) Summary Too much Indians reach retirement just to realize that their money hasn’t worked hard enough for them. However, building real wealth is not about chasing fashions or knowing it all; This amounts to six simple investment rules that can quietly transform modest savings into a life -changing corpus. A few months ago, I addressed the employees of a large, old company, and the organizers told me that some of the employees who are now approaching the pension age have never invested in anything other than fixed deposits, their provident fund and tax -saving schemes. They kept thinking that they didn’t know enough about markets and would start as soon as they understood a little more, and the years just passed. Many people now regret that they did so because their retirement corpus is much smaller than it should have been. It reminded me that the secret of wise investment is that it is not as complicated or as simple as it is made. On the one hand, what I love markets is that, even after you have learned them for more than three decades, you learn every day. There will never come a time when you will know it all – if you can say with confidence that you know what this market or the next day will do. On the other hand, to make your money work hard for you, what you need to do is pretty simple, almost boring. Make sure you get the basics right and that you are most of the way. Here is a very short undercoat on how to do it. First, focus on what is ‘good enough’ – which means it is a reasonable return on your capital and not the best; Not 100% optimal and not something you will make the most popular person at cocktail parties. Two, asset allocation determines 80-90% of your returns. This means that the mixture between how much you are invested in equity (which includes direct fairness as well as investments through mutual funds, portfolio management services, etc.) and fixed income (ranging from fixed deposits and a provident fund to determined income subject), gold, real estate, etc. In addition, the geographical distribution of India should be considered to different countries. The trick is not to have an all-or-nothing approach. Even if you are young and in a good job, you should not put 100% of your money in shares, as money in fairness should be something you do not need at least the next 8 or ten years. You must have some of your investments in easier accessible forms for any expected or unexpected expenses in the meantime. Conversely, at the time of retirement, you should not invest 100% of your money in fixed income instruments. Life expectancy has increased and you can live thirty years after that. Therefore, your money must also be compiled over that period. Three, do not be on either side of the risk electrum. For example, if you have everything in bankproof deposits, and you invest £ 1 Lakh each year, you will have something like £ 75 lakh in 30 years. But if you have invested in a multi-asset portfolio, even with a 9-9.5%compilation, you may have £ 1.7 crore. If you have a little more stock closure and it is at 12-12.5%, you will end with £ 3 crore. This is a difference of four times! Therefore, it makes sense to make careful asset allocation, but not to be at the extreme points of the risk electric. Do not go from zero shares to dabble with derivative day trading or crypto trade. Four, start investing simply. Many young people think they have to learn a lot before they do. Others tell me that they deserve too little to save 20% of their salaries. In such cases, you can start by saving 5% of your salary. But set up things so that you save 70% of your incremental income if you get a raise. Invest this before you increase expenses. If you start saving £ 10,000 at the age of 25, by the time you are 60, you will have a conservative return of 9.5%. To reach the same corpus, you must save £ 20-30,000 a month if you start investing at 30-35. Five, the question of whether you should invest yourself whether professionals such as fund managers and financial advisors should use. The short answer that is true for most people: Since you have a day job, you are unlikely to get results as well as professionals can deliver. If you want to learn or just talk markets, you must keep 10-20% of your portfolio to invest yourself and leave the rest for professionals. More about this another time. Six, the most missed part of most Indian portfolios, is global investments, and that means much more than a handful of American and Chinese shares you’ve heard of. Why? Just two points. You have learned since childhood not to put all your eggs in one basket. The investment in India, which is less than 5% of the world market cap, is therefore simply not good or safe enough. The other data point: At the beginning of my career, the dollar of hands changed at £ 12. Today it is £ 89. If you are planning to be 20 or 30 years away, don’t forget it. However, very little in India has expertise here. So be careful about how to do it. I know it firsthand, because ours were the very first Asian (Japan-exclusive) firm to go to the UK, at the beginning of the century. These are six simple areas to focus on while investing. If you do, you would have done the right thing for your portfolio. The author is founder of First Global and author of ‘Money, Myths and Mantras: The Ultimate Investment Guide’. Her X Handle is @devinamehra, catches all the business news, market news, news events and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. 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