Hari Prasad Verma was an assistant to a renowned builder in his town Saharanpur. Hari was living a lower middle class life. One day, on the way to office, Hari bumped into his long lost friend, Vimal Singh Rathod. Vimal was running a successful business in Delhi and that meeting was all about Vimal's success story. Vimal talked about his business, his setup, his vision, his current life and so on. Hari was impressed by how Vimal achieved success in such a short period of time. Hari was overwhelmed with Vimal's success and that night when he went home, the conversation kept hovering in his head. Hari fell on the bed but kept thinking about Vimal and then his own work and his own future plans, etc. He starts imagining:

• Hari invests all his current savings into some stocks.

• Suddenly, he jumps to a scene when his money has quadrupled.

• Then, he has started a new business.

• Next he sees himself opening a big factory with many workers.

• In the next scene, he steps out of his Mercedes in front of his present office and his boss, the lawyer sees Hari and is by now fuming with jealousy.

Hari chuckles at his boss' misery and has a wicked smile on his face. Then suddenly his wife nudges him “What's is the matter? Why are you smiling? Like all other dreams, Hari's beautiful fantasy was also smashed! If wishes were horses, all us would have made great riders! The reality however is that no person can become successful overnight. As an investor too, it requires many years of demonstrated traits before one considers himself as successful. So before we start enjoying the fortunes made from selling the eggs of chickens yet to be hatched, purchased from money yet to be saved, let us step back and look at what it really takes for us to be successful investors first.

How to be a successful investor?

Those who have triumphed over all odds, and form the league of successful investors, share certain common characteristics. The article isn't about any secret investing tips, rather it aims to acquaint you with those basic human virtues which can help you in joining the success league.

1. Have Patience: Patience tops the list, it can not just help you in your finances, rather it can help you overcome many challenges in life. Because Patience helps you think with a mature mind, analyse the possible solutions, their pros and cons, and take an informed decision, which is mostly for good. Panic on the other hand leaves you at the mercy of the situation and you end up ruining everything. The idea is not to panic at short term volatility and having patience to hold on for long term gains.

2. Have an Investment Strategy: Those who have aced it, have an investment strategy and they stick with it. Different investors have a different history, they live in distinct circumstances and they have their individual preferences and goals, and on the basis of these factors, they have a different investment strategy. As an investor you should devise your own financial plan or investment approach, with assistance from your financial advisor. This strategy is the road which will take you to “your” goals and will make sure that you do not go astray or loose direction.

3. Be Decisive: Be a decision taker and not a trouble maker for your Portfolio. Successful Investors take the right decisions at the right time, which may be hard, but are right for their financial health. Being decisive is also about not being tentative and not procrastinating things or decisions endlessly. It is about taking decisions in time and not letting time put costs on you and your decisions. Being decisive is also about having clarity in thought, in your objective and the options available before you. Being decisive would mean that you take decisions with clarity and with conviction.

4. Have Conviction: We talked about conviction in making decisions but conviction is also required for you to stick to your plans and strategy over time and be committed to it. A successful investor is here for the long haul, he is not the one who gets scared of easily. If he stumbles in between, he'll rise, shrug off the mud and run as a stronger and a better person. Your conviction in your plan, in the underlying asset class of equity and the long term growth story of India is the primary foundation on which your future wealth will be created. Do not let this get diluted by any interim events and uncertainty.

5. Understand & Take calculated Risks: Successful investors are not the ones who refuse to take any risk, rather they are ones who take calculated and measured risks and whose worst outcomes are acceptable to them. You might not lose if you do not risk, but you won't win for sure. If your choice is to stay 100% invested in say bank deposits and PPF, then surely you may not loose money in nominal terms but also be sure that you will not again anything more. Taking risks is however not limited to your exposure to any asset class. It goes much beyond. It is also about you stretching yourself in business, exploring new ideas in your work, changing roles or jobs for growth and so on. Thus, pushing your limits, taking bigger responsibilities and growing yourself are much more important risks you need to take to be successful financially in addition to investing positively for long term wealth creation.

6. Be Committed: Any successful person knows the importance of being committed to a chosen goal or target. For an athlete, it can be an Olympic medal and in the preparation for the same, he puts in lot of hard work, sacrificing all good things like comfort, entertainment, food, family ties and so on. Imagine, for an investor what can be the goal and the demands for achieving the same? To be truly wealthy for a middle class, service professional like me, I would imagine it would take commitment in the form of being austere, sacrificing luxuries, being disciplined and saving to maximum possible extent, down to the last rupee month after month. Thankfully, it will be much easier than the last drops of sweat an olympic aspiring athlete will shed in training in a day.

7. Keeps Emotions aside: Any investor would love his family, love his food, he would hate when someone spoils his evening tea, he cries in movies and he is proud of his kids, all because he is a human being. Emotions are what make us who we are. But an investor can only be successful if he keeps these emotions aside. He has to know and draw a circle around his money /wealth matters and not let his emotions enter that circle. You can image your emotion as Ravana to be kept outside the circle to protect your precious wealth at home. Every financial /investment decision you make – whether to buy, sell or hold, has to be driven by logic, facts and research. Bias, gut feelings, tips, hope, greed, etc. have no existence in numbers and they are left out in counting.

"Someone's sitting in the shade today because
someone planted a tree a long time ago"
~ Warren Buffet

The priests of investment preach the value of long term investing. You have to give time to the seeds of your principal to grow into a wealthy tree, so that you can relax under the shade of its elongated branches prospering with dense green leaves and fruits. Yet there are some investors who put money in a product, only to redeem it after six months and they divert the money to some other product, which they believe is the next big thing. And then the markets start rising, which tempts them to sell their investment and book profits. They pay heed to their peers who advise them to invest in a particular investment product and then the other peers who advise them to sell it and invest in some other investment product. These investors aim to build wealth but end up the other way round. If these investors don't do anything but invest, be patient and relax, they can actualize their wealth targets. Following is the example of an investor who invested but kept fidgeting with his portfolio as per the market movements. Lets see how his portfolio fared over 13 years.

Mr. Sunil Bhatia, a shopkeeper by profession, very aggressive in nature, wanted to make money through stocks. He studied a lot, read articles on equity trading, watched business news channels and then started investing in 1997. He invested R40,000 in stocks from diverse sectors. In the beginning of 2000, the value of his portfolio was R60,000. He kept timing the market, did a little purchase and sale here and there. By 2005, his portfolio was valued at R50,000 after selling stocks worth R15,000, when the markets peaked in between. In 2006, the markets skyrocketed, and he booked profits, he sold the remaining portfolio for R1,00,000. In the year 2007, the markets started rising further, but he had sold whatever he had, so at the end of 2007, he again bought stocks for R1,00,000, and then came the downturn, the value of his portfolio came down to R40,000 in 2009, he was disheartened and sold his portfolio for R60,000 in the beginning of 2010 when the markets picked up a bit. What he invested was R40,000 in 1997 and R1,00,000 in 2007.

What he redeemed = R15,000 in 2005, R1,00,000 in 2006 and R60,000 in 2010. Total profits on R40,000 over 13 years = R35,000 (Annualised Returns 6.23%) If he had invested R40,000 in 1997 And didn't touch it till the beginning of 2010, in spite of the turbulence in the markets, his investment value would have been around R2,25,700* Total profits on R40,000 over 13 years = R185,700 (Annualised Returns 14.23%)

*(Calculated on the basis of growth in Sensex. Transaction dates assumed as 1st. January for stated years.)

This story reveals how the investor, who kept timing the market, remained active in grabbing the opportunities could not make as much money as he would have made if he didn't do anything at all. The latter is called 'invest and forget'. Mutual Fund is a divine product which enables you to easily implement the 'invest and forget' strategy. A mutual fund is managed by professionals who direct your money in well researched and diverse stocks or debt instruments, in line with the investment objectives as agreed upon between you and the scheme. So your task is to discuss your goals and time horizon with your advisor, who will help you in selecting mutual fund schemes according to the discussion, invest in them and relax. You have to be patient and give time to your investment. Let's take an example of a fund, Reliance Growth Fund. It is an open ended equity scheme. If someone would have invested R10,000 in this scheme on the inception date (8/10/1995) and didn't do anything after that, let's see what would it be its worth now? R10,000 invested on 8/10/1995 in Reliance Growth Fund = R821,070 as on 30 June 16 (23.68% Annualised Returns) R10,000 invested on 8/10/1995 in Benchmark (S & P BSE Sensex) = R74,994 as on 30 June 16 (10.20% Annualised Returns)

(Source:Company Website: https://www.reliancemutual.com/FundsAndPerformance/Pages/Reliance-Growth-Fund.aspx)

The above figures clearly state that if the investor invested in this scheme, not only would he have had gigantic gains, but also he would have outperformed the benchmark. People do not invest because the investment process is alien to them or they do not have the time to manage their investments and it seems complicated for beginners who don't have the requisite knowledge. Following is the story of an investor who didn't do anything but forgot about his investments. Lets see how the investments fared. An old woman walks in a Mutual Fund Office in Amritsar on a sunny June day, perplexed, she manages to take out a small purse from her jute bag. She mysteriously opens the purse and unveils a four-folded piece of paper covered in dust and asks at the reception desk "Bhaiya iska kuch milega?". The receptionist sees, it was a Mutual Fund transaction slip, so she directs her to a representative. The representative looked at the slip and then at the woman, awe-struck, and asks her after taking a deep breath, "Mataji, ye apko kahan se mila?" The old hag replied, "Mere pati ka pichle 2 saal pehle dehaant ho gya, badi musibat mein hain hum log, yeh paper mujhe kuch din pehle almaari ki safaai karte samay mila tha". The representative congratulated her and said "Mataji aj ghar Mithai leke jana, ye paper 1.5 lakh rupay ka hai". The Lady elated with joy took out 8 more papers from the magic bag and the total worth of those papers was 17 Lakh rupees. The lady walked back home drenched in tears of happiness. This anecdote reveals how ignorance proved to be a bliss for the poor old lady. Her husband invested in mutual funds and kept the slips inside the cupboards and not informed anyone, neither did he liquidate. While this lady was lucky enough, it cannot be that lucky for everyone else. We have modified the ignorant investment process to a "invest and recollect" one. It goes as follows:

Go to a Financial Advisor
Every man does his own business best. Devising the right investment strategy, the right fit as per your goals, investment horizon, age, risk appetite, is the job of your financial advisor. An investor may not have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform this task, so its best to handover the job to the expert.

Stick to your plan
Once you and your advisor have concocted your investment, do not fiddle with it, do not panic when you are losing since this phase will pass by, do not be excited and sell when you gain, do not pay heed to any investment mantra professed by your friend. Just keep in mind you are here for the long run, the markets will fall only to rise again, and your portfolio will endure all the storms.

Meet your advisor regularly to incorporate any changes as advised by him The investment plan though requires a long span, yet it calls for modifications, additions and subtractions to ensure that you are following your vision. For this, you must meet your advisor regularly. Say your ideal Debt Equity bifurcation is 30:50, but due to market movements, it has become 60:40, so the advisor will modify your plan to bring it back to 30:50. Or may be, you were unmarried at the time of designing the plan, but now you have your wife with you and you are expecting a child soon, so necessary modifications will be required to encompass the new members of your family. Your advisor will check for any holes in your pocket and stitch them for you.

Keep it Simple
If you are new to investing, or do not have the knowledge or time to keep track of your investments, keep it simple. You should always ask your advisor to include simpler products like mutual funds, since you are assured that there are professionals who are doing their best to protect and grow your money. You should never invest in something which you do not understand.

" Invest and recollect strategy will work wonders. "
" Make the right choice and relax. Patience will pay. "

When mankind created technology, it didn't know that the latter would be the most irreplaceable 'organ' of the former. Technology has changed the way we work, the way we rest, the way we shop, the way we read, the way we play, indeed the way we live, and mostly for good.

It is now hard to imagine our lives without email, internet banking, online trading, WhatsApp, Facebook, Paytm or simply without a smart phone. If technology vanishes one day, it would leave us all in a haywire and would leave us handicapped to a large extent. Yes, technology has made our life comfortable but then at times, how we use technology can tarnish the good things if offers. With greater usage of technology, there also comes the responsibility to be more careful and avoid risks associated with technology.

You may have heard stories of someone's bank account getting hacked and he got robbed of his money or a Facebook account getting compromised with offensive content then posted form it, or someone getting an offer letter from a company asking for R 50,000 for the placement facilitation process. These are a few instances on how technology is also being misused by people to hurt or rob other people. We often hear such instances but then what do we do? It is for us to understand the risks and also follow some practices to ensure that we do not fall prey to such traps.

How to be Safe?

So, what should you do? How to ensure that you and your digital content / information is secure? You don't have to be a tech geek to protect yourself from cyber frauds, it's simple, 'you should be careful'. Think and act like a fish – don't bite into baits thrown at you, do not swim into nets spread out and avoid areas where the predators / bad fish swim. We have listed down few things which can help you in the process:

1. Always use passwords: Keep all your computing devices and machines, including mobiles, password protected and keep it a secret. This will keep all your personal information and content safe.

2. Use Strong passwords: While keeping a password for any device or online /digital account, always make sure that you create a strong password with a combination of alphabets, numbers and special characters. Be careful in not using obvious passwords like names, nick names, date of births, etc. as passwords. This is very important and can prove to be very effective although it might seem inconvenient to you.

3. Physically protect your devices: If you are using a smart mobile / tab then you should be extra careful of its physical security. You have your world on your phone and someone might pick up your device and start exploring your world, may even take note of your passwords, or may simply put your world in his pocket and run away. If you have your phone's identification info like the IMEI number then you may have better chances of tracking your phone.

4. Protect your connections / networks: Many of us may use wifi at home but how many of us protect it with strong passwords? It is also critical that you do not keep wifi hotspot / blue tooth or other connectivity features of your mobile devices open and not password protected. Always keep them off and password protected, especially when you are at public places.

5. Be extra careful using public networks: It is very important that one should be extra careful while using free or public networks available in spaces like hotels, stations, airports, etc. This is also true when you are using Internet at unknown places like for eg. cyber cafes. Unless critical, always avoid logging into personal accounts and doing financial transactions using such public /unverified private networks of any sort. They may be tempting but they might be very risky if you are not careful.

6. Do not choose save / auto-login options: Many websites and mobile applications, even the secure ones, might ask you to save your passwords. It might reduce your few seconds when you have to login the next time, but if your phone goes into the wrong hands, you are giving the key to all the secret gates decorated on a platter. A few extra seconds on manually entering passwords every time is totally worth it.

7. Never share OTP / Debit / Credit Cards details: Never ever share any OTP number you receive or any confidential information like personal details, card details, etc. with anyone either on phone or even if someone physically visits you and asks for the same. Any credible bank or card service provider would never ask you for such information and there is every possibility that such calls or visits are by fraudulent people.

8. Do not let your cards go out of sight: It is also important that you do not hand over your card and let it go out of your sight. There is every possibility that a person may copy all the card info and misuse the same later. Thus when you are eating out in hotels or shopping, always make sure that you pay with your card at the counter yourself, especially if it is an unknown place.

9. Clean your device before selling: If you are looking to sell your phone or your laptop, wipe out everything. Be careful in removing all browsing history, even softwares, applications, bookmarks, etc.

Double check for any data residing in anywhere. It is very likely that your new buyer will be curious to look for such data or traces of any information /content which he can use.

10. Do not fall prey to Scams: There are many instances where one may receive messages or emails asking for some personal information or messages promising jobs, money, etc. Do not fall prey to such messages which incite or threaten or request you to share any information or financial support for any reason whatsoever.

11. Other important things to do: √ Be careful in visiting proper websites of banks / social media accounts. Sometimes very similar looking pages may be sent in emails or listed in Google but they are not original sites. √ Be careful in downloading or installing any file from any unverified website. It may carry a harmful program. √ Be careful in connecting any third party device like usb / hard-disk or mobile etc. to your device as it may be infected. √ Always logout from your accounts after using the same from any browser at any place, especially outside home /office.

The financial year 2017-18 is drawing to a close. It's time people start looking into the tax planning process, reviewing their existing tax investments, and evaluating various options to fill in the gap, if any. Although the lion's share is occupied by conventional tax saving options like, PPF, NSC, Bank FD, traditional insurance policies, etc., yet over the years, the uncustomary, Equity Linked Savings Schemes(ELSS) in Mutual Funds has started gaining traction.

What is ELSS?

ELSS is a Mutual Fund scheme, which predominantly invests in stocks, has a lock in period of 3 years and is eligible for tax deduction of upto Rs 1.5 lacs u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act. An investor can save tax of upto Rs 46,350* by investing in ELSS. (*For a resident individual falling under the 30% tax slab)

Why ELSS?

Coming to the point, the factors behind ELSS' consistently rising popularity, the reasons why you should invest in ELSS for saving tax.

So, there are various aspects which has led the entry of ELSS into the investors preferred tax zone, like:

> Drawbacks of Conventional products: The primary reason behind ELSS' developing fame is the traditional products are gradually loosing their sheen. This phenomenon can largely be attributed to the consistently falling interest rates, apart from the high lock-ins and other issues. With falling returns and that too taxable in most cases, the net interest received is small. And if you deduct the inflation rate, the return is negligible or may even run into negative. So, the investors are on the lookout for tax products with better returns.

> Superlative Returns: The conventional products give fixed returns, but may not be able to withstand the inflationary pressure. ELSS do not guarantee returns but has been able to generate superior returns in the past, due to its underlying asset class 'Equity', which has potential for high growth.

Following are the performance stats of ELSS schemes over the past 15 years

(*Average of 30 ELSS schemes; Returns as of 31^st Dec 2017)

The growing inclination towards ELSS do not require any explanation, the numbers alone do the talking.

> Tax free returns: Secondly, though all tax savers help the investor save tax, but not all of them offer tax free returns. It's just ELSS and PPF where not just the investment amount, but also the gains are exempt from tax. But in the case of PPF, the investor has to wait for 15 long years to savour the tax free returns.

> Tax Free Dividends: Not just returns, but the Dividends received from investing in an ELSS scheme are tax free in the hands of the investor. So, basically ELSS schemes enjoy the Exempt, Exempt, Exempt tax status. The Investment, the Returns on the Investment and the Dividends from the Investment, are all tax free.

> Lowest Lock in: Another major reason behind ELSS' popularity is it offers the lowest lock-in of 3 years amongst all tax saving investments. Here, you must note that the ELSS after all is Equity, and hence it is subject to short term volatility, and so the 3 years lock in should not be construed as the investment holding period. You must give it a long time, at least 10 years, to be able to exploit Equity's potential. An earlier withdrawal should be done in acute circumstances when you are in dire need of money. The low lock in of ELSS is intended to provide flexibility to the investor, to provide liquidity in emergencies, which is not available in other tax products like PPF or NSC, etc. It's only under certain specified extreme circumstances and/or on payment of a penalty, that the investor may be able to withdraw from the traditional products.

> Helps in Goal Achievement: Lastly, ELSS is not just about saving taxes, it helps investors in creating massive wealth and achieving their life goals. The ELSS investments of the investor can be linked to a life goal, and the superior returns generated, as seen in point 1 above, can place them multiple steps ahead on their goal achievement path.

Here is a table to explain the impact of superior returns on goal achievement.

Investment for Retirement Goal

(*Average of 16 ELSS schemes; Returns as of 31^st Dec 2017)

The investor who invested Rs 5 Lakhs in the average of ELSS schemes in 2003, would have got a whopping Rs 95 lakhs on his retirement, as compared to an investor who chose PPF and has to settle down for just Rs 15.86 lakhs. That's the Magic of Equity being gorgeously pulled off by ELSS schemes, and empowering the investors with massive wealth to achieve their goals.

So the bottomline is, the tax bell is ringing, and rather than randomly picking up any conventional product for saving taxes, it's ideal that you sit with your advisor, study the alternates, consider the benefits being offered by ELSS and make a wise choice.