Given several weeks of high decibel discussion around the elections, the tendency to stay on the side-lines, till clarity emerges, is understandable.

The question is whether this is a rational expectation. Can the investor hope to have such expectations in the future?

A dollar millionaire is someone who has $ 1 million (USD) of wealth or Rs 7 Cr. With a million, one is assured of a comfortable life, irrespective of where you live.

Now that you have a lump sum, you're probably wondering what to do with it. Does it make sense to leave it in your RD or savings bank account or should you be making better use of it?

Many investors prefer to have direct ownership in stocks. Remember that this route has its risks, with companies like Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Reliance Communication, Unitech, etc being prime examples. Nearly 70% of companies ever listed have faded away. One needs to have reasonable expertise before investing directly in stocks.

While planning your retirement corpus, one needs to think through 2 very important questions.

Do you want to share your experiences or thoughts about personal finance? Do you want more people to benefit from your insights?

We are living in an exciting era, where one can embark on your start-up journey with reasonable chances of success. Even the society at large is supportive.

A few weeks back, investor Thiyagarajan Chandrasekaran posted on a popular financial portal ‘there is no dividend for the month of December-18 and February-19’. Thiyagarajan had put his hard-earned money in a top-rated balanced scheme of a mutual fund and was surprised to know that monthly dividends were not guaranteed.

Your '20s are the age of realization. You're an adult and slowly start to understand the intricacies of the new responsibilities of your "mature" life. College was all about living in the moment and dancing the weekend away. But it is now that you understand that partying every weekend is not such a good idea both for your health and wallet. 

In most cases, there are no free lunches, but once in a while there comes an opportunity where it is free. If it is a large amount, it is definitely worth considering. In this case, we are talking about your retirement income.

"How's the market doing? Is it a good time to invest? When will the markets turn?" People believe that there is a strong need to time the market. In our opinion, if you're asking these questions you are not investing - you are speculating, or worse, gambling.