One of the best ways to develop wealth and save for your financial objectives, from retirement to your dream house, is to invest. Investing, simply described, is putting your money into something with the expectation of a financial return.
While most people begin investing as adults, starting as a teen can help you begin saving for the future and learning important financial principles. In this series we aim to understand the views of students and young working professional on investment and saving.
Tisha Kapoor of Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, New Delhi tells MintGenie in an interview about how very person has the potential to earn passive income through the stock market, provided they are willing to invest. As a learning investor, she has an inclination towards stock markets.
Apart from that, technology has always fascinated her in every possible way. She is constantly in awe of the technology innovations and is always eager to jump in and partake in the next cool tech experience. New phone, new consumer device, new app, new service – she’s all over it!
Edited Excerpts:
What does money mean to you? Is it the most important factor when it comes to your life decisions like what to study, career and so forth?
Money to me is a powerful asset which is an important part of our lives. When I think about money it is just not about the amount or the cash available with someone but is also the amount of respect that a certain someone has gained. As a financially dependent student, major part of my life decisions revolve around money. Being an undergrad student, if I wish to pursue further education abroad, investment is what I’ll think of in the first place.
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
My monthly expenses include travel, food, shopping and stock marketing. Being a junk foodie addict, 20% of my allowance is spent on food. Travel is something which cannot be compromised.
My college is not that far from my home so the travelling cost is minimal and comes around to 20% of my remaining allowance. Shopping has always been my thing so I spend around 20% of my pocket money on shopping. 30% is what I invest in stock markets and I try to save the remaining amount.
What are the things you want to spend money on?
Rather than spending money on avoidable expenses I would want to save at least 50% of it. Being a market enthusiast, I would also want to invest more in the market.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
I do save money but not as much as I wish to. The exact amount varies every month depending on my monthly expenditures. I hope to save more when I start working.
What does having a job mean to you? What are the top two factors you will want to think about when deciding a company to work for?
Having a job is something I perceive to be stable, though this differs from person to person. I am not a working professional yet but I would love to work for a firm which has a good work life balance and tremendous growth opportunities.
What do you think about investing your money? If you have a certain amount of money set aside, will you want to invest it in the stock market, mutual funds, or do you just keep it in your bank savings account?
I would invest in the stock market because, as a young investor, I believe that ‘Stock Market is the future.’ Every person has the potential to earn passive income through the stock market, provided they are willing to invest.
Do you think you have an understanding on how to save and invest? If yes, how did you learn? If not, are you trying to learn?
I do have an idea of investing but I surely do not save much. I try to learn the fundamentals of stock marketing from my father as well as Youtube.
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
I do not recommend going by the tips for investment but there are influencers whose tips are a great deal. So, I do look at the advices but I choose wisely.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
Yes, it is always great to talk with my parents about all the investments and the savings I do. The discussions are a great deal as it has always benefited me and as stated above my father has always been a great source of my investment learning.
