Throughout his life, APS Sandhu’s, 55, investment trajectory explored many paths. Though initially for 28-29 years he had invested only in traditional investment instruments, later he did not hesitate to diversify.

For a substantial period, Sandhu has invested in fixed deposits (FD) only. “FD consisted almost 80 per cent of the whole corpus that I had invested. I did not even invest much in life insurance,” he said.

He realised that the return from those investments were not really attractive. Sandhu also avoided investing in stock market because of time constraint and lack of in-depth knowledge. But he got a golden handshake after working in a multinational company for 30 years and hence got a lumpsum amount.

Recently Sandhu met a financial advisor on whom he has entrusted all his investment moves. Thankfully with her guidance, he realised the benefits and drawbacks of mutual funds and stock market investments.

He has followed the advice of diversifying his portfolio. Currently, his portfolio is 60 per cent in FDs, while the rest of his investments are in mutual funds. However, till date his exposure in the equity market is very limited.

Sandhu had earlier invested in real estate as well, but his experience of returns from that sector was also not satisfactory. But now he is very happy with the composition of his present investment portfolio.

Now, Sandhu feels that his current mode of investments will help him to achieve his future goals meant for himself and his family rather smoothly.