Whenever I’m doing chores like paying my bills or making a budget, I feel nostalgic about how finance came to be such a big part of my life. Growing up, I was always interested in economics and accounting classes and looked forward to them every day in school. I even remember annoying my parents with numerous questions about how the stock market works.
Finance also filtered into festivals my family celebrated like Akshaya Tritiya, an auspicious day usually celebrated in late April or May by many Jain and Hindu families. As someone interested in finance, I was fascinated when family members told me of the connection between Akshaya Tritiya and finance; they said this festival was believed to mark the ?golden age? in Hindu mythology and buying gold on this day guaranteed wealth for the rest of your life.
Real estate investments have amazing prospects in both housing and commercial use. Surveys show that 40% of all wealthy Indians will be investing in property in 2019 and 25% of them will be buying real estate overseas. Owning property can give you passive income like rent and diversify your investment portfolio. It is resilient and steady against fluctuating market forces as well. Data also says that the value of real estate in major cities like Mumbai and Bangalore has increased by almost 8%, making it a lucrative sale in the future.
I’ve found that another popular way to increase wealth in India is by buying mutual funds, a financial instrument where professional traders manage a pool of money that is used to invest in stocks and bonds. 31% of Indians invest in mutual funds because they come with lower risk and cost less than if you were trying to invest on your own or through stockbrokers. You can invest in mutual funds every month for as low as Rs. 500 or even higher than Rs. 5,000 and still feel secure.
Investing in a Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a good idea. In fact, I started my investment journey with a PPF because it is a sound, low-risk, and tax-free investment with a high rate of interest. Even investors who like to gamble and take risks in the stock market pad their portfolios with PPFs to ensure some stability in case they lose big. You can invest in them with a mere Rs. 500 and gain interest at a high rate of 8%.
Gold is one another sturdy investment and one of my favourite options, especially around Akshaya Tritiya because you can take advantage of special discounts on jewellery and coins.
India is the world?s second largest consumer of gold, most of which goes into weddings. This means that many investors choose to acquire physical gold in the form of jewelry, coins, and bars. Even 75% of rural Indians prefer to invest in gold this way. When accumulating physical
gold, you will also need to make arrangements for safe and secure storage facilities like a bank locker.
I?ve found that there is so much confidence in gold that people are also investing in it digitally, through gold savings schemes and bonds.
You can buy gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) that give you high returns and are very cost effective with extremely low transaction charges such as 60 paise per unit every month. Because gold is being traded on the market with ETFs, there?s a lot of transparency in the price of buying and selling as well. ETFs also allow more flexibility when buying gold ? you can buy just 1 gram and either pay in full at once or periodically.
Tech-savvy investors have even ventured into digital gold. Mobikwik, Phone Pe, Paytm, and Me-Gold are some of the best mobile apps investors use for digital gold. All you have to do is use the e-wallet to buy and sell gold through credit or debit cards or netbanking. You can buy tiny amounts like 0.1 grams for less than Rs. 300. If you want to spend even lesser, you can buy 0.001 grams for just Re. 1.
I?ve had a superb experience investing in digital gold because it has no transaction costs and removes middlemen. All the gold I buy is also protected in a vault and I can later convert it into coins, liquidate into my bank account or sell off.
Young investors often believe that a portfolio is too expensive or complex to maintain, but that couldn?t be farther from the truth.
With digital facilities, we don?t need to rely on traditional financial instruments? we can use cost-effective digital wallets to increase our wealth. Akshaya Tritiya is the perfect opportunity for investors to start thinking about how they can strengthen and diversify their portfolio. That gold is so central to this festival also gives us the chance to think about how to leverage gold investments for more wealth creation. Investing in digital gold has worked wonders for me and my investment portfolio and it?s something I recommend to all my friends and family.
Live News Daily is a trusted name in the digital news space, delivering accurate, timely, and in-depth reporting on a wide range of topics.