Money Vichara

Sometimes, the best decisions look like mistakes… and the worst decisions look like genius. If you’ve spent some time in the Indian markets, you’ve probably experienced this. You study a company, stay disciplined, avoid unnecessary risk—and nothing happens. Or worse, the stock goes down. At the same time, someone jumps into a trending stock and walks away with quick gains. It doesn’t just feel unfair—it feels confusing. Because deep down, we believe something very simple: if I make the right decision, I should get the right result. But investing doesn’t always follow that rule. The Invisible Problem in How We Judge Ourselves Most of us judge our investing ability using a very unreliable scoreboard—returns. If we make money, we feel smart. If we lose money, we feel we made a mistake. But returns don’t just reflect your decision. They reflect timing, market mood, narratives, and sometimes pure randomness. What you see is not a clean signal—it’s a mix of many things, only one of which is ...

Recently, I tried a small experiment with my colleagues and friends. What made it special for me was not just the idea, but the way everyone participated — with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to try something new. For 15 minutes, I put them into a simulation where they had to make financial decisions under pressure. Time was running out, oxygen levels were dropping, temperature was rising, and the only way to “escape” was to solve a set of real-life financial challenges. What I truly appreciated was how everyone got involved. There was curiosity, some nervous laughter, quick decisions, second thoughts, and a lot of genuine engagement. It didn’t feel like a session or an activity. It felt like a shared experience. And more importantly, it gave me the confidence that this idea is worth exploring further, especially because of the thoughtful feedback I received from all of them. 🔗 You can try the simulation here: Mission: Financial Freedom — Money Vichara Watching this unfold ...

There is a very comforting belief most of us carry when we start investing. It doesn’t come from textbooks or research papers—it comes from conversations, YouTube videos, WhatsApp forwards, and sometimes even well-meaning advisors. “Just stay invested for the long term. Equity is risky in the short term, but safe in the long term.” It sounds so reassuring that we rarely stop to question it. In fact, many of us build our entire financial plan around this one idea. Market falls? We tell ourselves, “ I’m a long-term investor. ” Market rises? It confirms our belief even more. Slowly, without realising it, this becomes less of a strategy and more of a blind faith. But pause for a moment and think about this honestly. If time really made investing safe… wouldn’t every long-term investor be rich by now? This is exactly where a quiet but powerful idea from Paul Samuelson comes in. Samuelson wasn’t trying to scare investors away from equity. He wasn’t saying markets don’t work. What ...

  Let me start with a small question. Think about the last time someone — a friend, a financial app, an advertisement — told you that a particular mutual fund or investment gives "12% average returns." Or maybe you read somewhere that "equity gives 15% CAGR over the long term." Did you nod along? Most of us do. But here is something nobody asks in that moment. Average for whom, exactly? That one word — whom — changes everything. And for most of financial history, nobody thought to ask it. Until a physicist did. The Man Who Built a Different Kind of Model His name is Ole Peters. He is not a fund manager. He is not a financial planner. He does not manage anyone's money. Ole Peters is a physicist — the kind of person who studies how complex systems behave over time. Weather. Chaos. Stock markets. Things that evolve, shift, and surprise you. Around 2009, Peters was looking at some standard ideas in economics — the kind that appear in textbooks, the kind tha...

 I want to ask you something before we begin. Think about your portfolio right now. When did you last look at how your money is actually split across equity and debt? Not just the total number — but the actual proportion? If your answer is "it's been a while," you are not alone. Most investors check their returns. Almost nobody checks their balance. And that small habit — or the lack of it — quietly makes a bigger difference than most people realise. The Neighbour Who Never Sold You probably know someone like this. He bought Infosys in 2003 and never sold. Or maybe it was HDFC Bank, or a Bengaluru flat he bought for thirty lakhs that is now worth one crore. His advice, always given with great confidence at family gatherings, is simple: "Just hold. Never sell your winners." And honestly, there is some truth in that. Patience is real. Compounding is real. But here is the part nobody talks about. When you just let your portfolio run without ever rebalancin...

Retirement is something most of us dream about for years. No alarm clocks. No commute. No boss. More time with family, maybe some travel, maybe just slower mornings with an extra cup of chai. It sounds wonderful, and honestly, it is — in many ways. But there is one thing that quietly catches most people off guard when retirement actually arrives. The salary stops. And the expenses... just don't. They carry on as if nothing happened. Rent, groceries, electricity bills, medicines, the odd family function, the grandkids' birthday gifts — life keeps moving at exactly the same pace. The money going out stays familiar. But the money coming in? That's a completely different story now. And somewhere in that gap, things start to feel a little uneasy. That Monthly Credit — We Never Realise How Much We Depend On It Think about it. For 30-odd years of your working life, money has been arriving in your account every single month. You probably didn't even think about it much. Y...

 Let me ask you something. Why did you start investing? Most people I talk to give me answers like "to make money" or "everyone's doing SIPs, so I thought I should too" or my favorite – "my friend said this mutual fund is giving good returns." Look at it this way. Saying you invest to “make money” is like saying you study to “get marks.” True — but that’s not the real reason. Maybe you want to become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, artist, crack an exam, or learn something that helps you create a better future. Investing works the same way. Money by itself isn’t the goal. What that money helps you achieve — that’s the real goal. A home, your child’s education, peace in retirement, maybe even the freedom to work on your own terms. Your investments need that same clarity. They need a purpose. A destination. A dream they're working toward. That's exactly what goal-based investing is all about. What is Goal-Based Investing? Think of goal-based in...