Your investing journey and the story of Ajai, Sheru and Babbar

Ajai, Sheru and Babbar were college classmates. Coincidentally, all three of them got a job in the same organization after their graduation. And since they joined at the same time and at the same level, their salaries were also similar.

The first week at office, they attended a financial planning workshop where a financial adviser introduced them to certain concepts such as systematic investment plan (SIP), how to get rich over time, power of compounding and so on.

Start early and start right

While Sheru couldn’t completely understand all the concepts explained in the workshop, the key takeaway for him from the workshop was that starting investing early in life can go a long way in making one rich over the long term. Therefore, one should start investing as soon as he or she can, even if it’s a small amount every month. So he immediately started a SIP of Rs. 10,000 in an equity mutual fund and continued investing the same amount every month through SIP.

Ajai was a little sceptical so he decided to give it a pass and thought of starting investing later. However, after exactly an year, Sheru told him how easy it is to save through SIP and how it will also help him accumulate money. After hearing this from his good friend Sheru, Ajai also started a SIP of Rs. 10,000 in the same fund exactly a year after joining the job.

Babbar on the other hand always thought that he was the smartest and coolest of the lot. He decided to enjoy his frequent parties, spending a lot of money. He was also fond of gadgets and had a habit of buying the best gadgets for himself. That also meant there was little money left to invest.

But after 5 years of such a lifestyle and almost no investments, Babbar realised his mistake and followed Sheru and Ajai by starting a SIP of Rs. 10,000 in the same equity fund.

Investments grow over time

As time passed, they continued to see their SIP investment in the equity fund grow. While attending a college reunion event exactly 20 years since their graduation (they had also completed 20 years of their work life), they started discussing about their SIP investment in the said equity mutual fund and they decided to compare the value of their investment.

Here’s how the value of their investment stacked up:

Sheru was sitting on a neat Rs.1.04 crore of wealth. Ajai couldn’t quite reach the Rs. 1 crore mark but was somewhat close with Rs. 91 Lakh, thanks to that timely discussion with Sheru which made him start his SIP. Babbar on the other hand, had just Rs. 52 Lakh. That’s half of what Sheru had achieved. Babbar clearly felt poor compared to Sheru and Ajai.

Key takeaway from the story: Start regular investing as early as possible. If you haven’t started yet, the time is NOW. Else, you may end up with much less like Babbar.

Disclaimer:

A SIP in Nifty 50 TR Index started in January 2001 and continued till December 2020 would have fetched an annual return (XIRR) of 14.64%. However, we have conservatively used a return of 13% p.a. in the above illustration. Data source: ICRA Analytics. Past performance may not be sustained in the future.

Mutual Funds are subject to market risk. Please read the scheme information document carefully before investing.

PhonePe Wealth Broking Private Limited | AMFI — Registered Mutual Fund Distributor ARN- 187821.