Should You Just Invest Randomly Or Have A Goal? Expert Reveals How It Makes A Difference Over 10 Years
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Indians are shifting from FDs to high return assets, but only 9.5 percent invest in markets, experts tell News18 goal based investing beats random bets to meet long term goals
Why Most Indians Still Invest Without A Plan Despite Rising Market Participation
There is a growing tendency among Indians to allocate their money in high-return assets, unlike 10-20 years ago, when FDs and banks had been considered the safest and preferred options. This marks a shift in mentality where risk-taking is seen as a crucial step to creating wealth.
Net equity inflows as seen in Association of Mutual Funds in India stood at Rs 40,366 crore in March, up 55.5 per cent from Rs 25,965 crore in February.
Rising Interest But Persistent Gaps
An entire generation has been lured to begin investing in the equity market, with a barrage of advertisements including ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’. But the lacuna in investment in India persists among investors.
A 2025 Securities and Exchange Board of India survey revealed that only 9.5% of Indian households invest in security markets and even among them, most investments are done without any clear structure in mind.
This poses a challenge. While investing is important, the more important thing is to invest in a way that you don’t lose money. As we all grew up, we have heard stories from parents or relatives about a long-distance uncle who had lost all his money invested in the stock market.
Experts told News18 that the problem lies not in the bad markets, but in having no direction while investing.
What Experts Say About Goal-Based Investing
Nehal Mota, Co-Founder & CEO, Finnovate Financial Services says that the key difference between random investing and goal-based investing is the latter allocates funds separately for different goals.
“Based on the funds available, goals established and the time allocated, investment advisors will choose relevant tools to ensure that the returns are in line with your expectations,” she added.
The difference between random and goal-based investing isn’t just mathematical — it’s behavioural and structural, said Mota, adding that numbers do not lie.
Ajay’s Example Highlights The Risk
She has shared an illustration to get the idea on importance of goal-based investing.
Meet Ajay, an investor who knows that he wants to buy a car in five years and start a business in 10. He has a capital of Rs 10,00,000. He picks and chooses different instruments to invest in based on various factors, but none of them are mapped back to his two basic goals. He directly invests Rs 2,00,000 in stocks because his friend suggested it, reserved Rs 1,50,000 in gold on his family’s advice, he decided to park around Rs 1,00,000 into crypto because he heard all the chatter.
Break Down of Ajay’s Base Investments
Ajay made these investments and did not really focus on reviewing them from time to time. He parked his money based on his understanding of the market then, and just let it be. When the time came for Ajay to realise his first goal – to buy a car, he finally saw his returns and realised that the timing could not have been worse. The markets were down because of geopolitical tensions, the crypto market had crashed and his initial investment of Rs 10,00,00 had shrunk to Rs 7,00,000 – Rs 8,00,000. He could either take out the required funds, in a loss making portfolio or delay his plan of buying a car.
Impact On Long-Term Goals
If we assume that Ajay finally bought a car a few months after his goal time, his remaining funds were around Rs 3,50,000 to Rs 4,00,000 for his second goal. Even after the markets correct themselves, and the money grows accordingly, he only manages to raise around Rs 12,00,000 to Rs 14,00,000 for his business (as compared to his initial goal of Rs 20,00,000.
Mota said that the underlying reason is always the lack of paper, balanced and targeted plan in his investing.
“The same ₹10 lakh, the same person, two different approaches. In the random scenario, he misses his car goal and falls 6,00,000 to Rs 8,00,000 short of his business dream. In the goal-based scenario, both goals are achieved — with the business corpus even exceeding the target by ₹3.38 lakh,” she concluded.
April 30, 2026, 14:44 IST
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