If you were sitting out of the market thinking a big correction will come, you would be feeling a sense of regret. The only way to manage investments in equity assets is to focus on asset allocation.

The withdrawal of the circular, on small savings scheme interest rates, on March 31 brought a lot of cheer but, we cannot ignore that small savings rates have been falling for nearly two decades now.

While this is a priority even before you start investing, it is not a one-time affair, you need to revisit your emergency fund, at least once a year.

The market trend over the last few months, clearly underlines that equity market returns are nonlinear. While many had given up on long term returns at the end of March, it also shows that patience in the market is what gets rewarded rather than panic.

Each individual will have their own solution to achieve this distance between emotion and decision, but there are some standard measures you can take to ensure a good start.

The future trend in the stock market will finally get defined by the aggregate earnings expectations from individual companies in an economy.

Risk shows up infrequently, but it is high impact. This is why one must always be aware. In the current set of events, it’s the risk attached to bond investing which has had a greater impact than equity investing. Understanding both the risk of bond investing i.e., credit risk and the risk in equity investing i.e., risk of quality, are important.

It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement. As the saying goes, you can retire from work, but you needn’t retire from life. Managing your daily expenses and lifestyle desires, like travelling and spending on grand children is a part of what planning your retirement finances can help with.