Riding the stock market roller coaster

Markets are risky! Markets fell by 10% today! Markets have risen by 8% yesterday!

These statements will not worry you if you are a disciplined investor. How do you become one? The three basic fundamentals of investing are:

1. Decide a time frame/goal of investing
2. Devise an apt strategy- emergency fund, suitable instruments, diversification and indicative returns. Lxme does this for you.
3. Invest, tighten your seat belts and review your strategy only occasionally.

Time frame/goal: The first step is to ascertain the time that you can put your money away for. Your goals may or can be a mix of ultrashort term, short term, medium term and long term goals. Setting goals becomes the first step towards starting your investment journey.

• Ultra Short term goals would include having an emergency fund to meet immediate and unforeseen expenses like medical expenses, break from job etc.;
• Short/Medium term goals would include education, a Holiday, marriage, tax planning among other needs.
• Your long term goals would take care of your Buying a house, retirement, corpus to meet your children’s future needs like education and marriage etc.

Strategy: With a variety of mutual funds to choose from, it is important to have the right strategy, for you to achieve your financial goals. One thumb rule is to diversify your investment between various kinds of funds. Your strategy or your advisor should include understanding various types of mutual funds (equity/debt) and their indicative returns and then create a suitable investment portfolio based on your investment goals.  With LXME, while we design your portfolio, we also encourage you to gain insight from time to time. Having a strategy helps you develop financial discipline and meet your aspirations in a structured and timely manner.Review: While having goals and strategy lays foundation for your financial well-being, reviewing them is like checking for cracks or faults like we do for our house or car. Reviewing your portfolio once in a while would give you an idea, if you are on track in terms of achieving your set goals and also, if you could invest more and have additional goals added to your existing ones. While the stock markets and the news may make a lot of noise, it should not stop you from thinking for your financial well-being. If you are yet to begin with your investment journey, then this is the moment. LXME is here to help you.