Don't have enough cash to invest? Even Rs 75 per day for next 20 years can get you Rs 33 lakh

Karthik RangappaZerodha

At Zerodha, we were keen to find out the reasons why people still hesitate to trade and invest in the markets. What really bothered us was the fact that, a vast majority of Indian families are still hesitant to accept equities as a source of serious long term investment.

This is despite the fact that the Indian equity markets have generated the best returns viz- a-viz any asset class over a rolling 10-year window basis.

In our quest to gain an insight into the people’s mental framework, especially while making investment decisions, we decided to conduct a survey.

The survey was targeted at people who had not explored the markets yet. Fortunately, a large number of people participated in the survey. Post survey, we tabulated the results to find out the top three reasons that prevent people from participating in markets, and they are –

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Karthik Rangappa

Vice President - Education & Research Services|Zerodha

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1) People expect an assured return from the market
2) They believe they lack the required knowledge to invest/trade in the markets
3) Most people believe they do not have a sizable corpus to invest.

Here are some of my thoughts with respect to the above three points.

Expecting an assured return from the market is as good as expecting Rahul Dravid to smash continuous sixes in a test match. While we know he is unlikely to do that, we also know Rahul Dravid is a steady performer!

Likewise markets in the short run may not give assured returns; however, if you give it time, the short term volatility outbursts can be digested and a certain amount of return can be ‘expected’. In fact, time is an antidote to market’s volatility.

Lack of knowledge is understandable and it is easily solvable. If one wants to invest today and reap its benefits tomorrow, one has to do at least a bit of hard work today. Thanks to the internet, there is abundant information available online that will give you sufficient knowledge to get started.

Lastly, the argument of not having enough corpus/funds is perhaps the biggest mistake people do. Let me illustrate why.

Assume a young 24-year-old guy, has just started earning. His job pays him Rs 20,000 per month after all taxes. He is a lavish spender and spends all the money he earns.

Looking at his lifestyle a good friend of his advices him to save some money for the future. Not wanting to save much, reluctantly he decides to set aside just Rs 75 per day for his future needs.

Further, considering his good friend’s advice, he decides to save Rs 75 every day for the next 20 years. They decide that the money is best invested in an equity mutual fund since historically a good equity mutual fund has generated an annual return of 15 percent upwards.

Now here is my question to you – Can you take a guess how much Rs 75 invested at 15 percent annually could grow to at the end of 20 years?

In fact, I asked this question to a colleague of mine and he made a simple calculation which goes like this –

“The guy saves Rs 75 per day or Rs 2250 per month. He invests for the next 20 years, which means he invests close to Rs 540,000“ i.e Rs 2250 per month x 12 months x 20 years.

After considering the 15 percent return he simply declared “At the most his money would have grown to Rs 900,000 definitely not more than that.”

The reason I asked this question to my colleague was to observe how he would treat the 15 percent annual return number. He easily missed the point that the money is ‘compounding’ at the rate of 15 percent.

If you are wondering how much Rs 75 per day would grow to when invested at 15 percent per annum for the next 20 years, then hold your breath – it would grow to a whopping Rs 33,68,789!

Can you imagine that? At just Rs 75 per day, which, by the way, is less than a movie ticket at a multiplex you can amass wealth close to Rs 34 lakh! How easy is that? This is what compounding does to your money, it starts growing exponentially!

So dear friends, you ought to believe in the power of compounding and start investing today, no matter how big or small.

There are many of you who can afford to save more than Rs 75 per day, so I would suggest you take the plunge towards long term wealth creation. Investing is not just good for you but for people dependent on you.

Disclaimer: The author is VP, Educational Services, Zerodha. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions