5 investment resolutions for the new year to help you make money and avoid risks

Investing isn’t synonymous with stock exchange floors crowded by chaotic men in corporate attire, now digital portals have offered a window for geeks and Redditors to enter the game. Now young Indians can go beyond BSE and NSE to buy stocks off NASDAQ through fintech apps, and are investing in electronic gold. After crypto emerged from the shadows with the Bitcoin’s 2016 surge, the allure of an unregulated virtual asset attracted Millennials and Gen Zs.

But the past year saw tech stocks shed value, social media giants facing headwinds and dramatic acquisitions, geopolitical tensions hitting every sector, and crypto exchanges crashing. In a world where a single tweet by Elon Musk can drive stock prices and turn a cryptocurrency meant to be a meme into a serious digital asset, it’s easy to fall prey to an information overload. Too much data floating around can have the same effect on an investor, which Googling diseases has on netizens trying to self-medicate.

To avoid losing money to scams, eccentric yet dubious crypto entrepreneurs and market fluctuations as recession strikes, here are some investment resolutions to live by for 2022.

Limit your media intake

Elon Musk makes cryptic or alarming statements everyday, financial influencers with little to no qualification are doling out investment advice, while some economists predict a catastrophic downturn, government officials try to rule out the recession’s impact. The incessant chatter in the media can lead to confusion and hasty decisions, which often result in bad investment decisions. So switch off the TV, get off social media for a bit, and look up accurate updates from qualified experts.

Step out of your bubble

If you are in the same crowd, with people from the same age group, a similar risk appetite and probably not enough experience, it prevents you from looking at a comprehensive picture of the market. Old school investors may not be as enthusiastic as young players about new age investment options, but they bring the required pragmatism to the table. Millennials and Gen Z may take more risks, but their zeal is essential for striking gold. So absorbing inputs from all sections, makes for a balanced portfolio.

Don’t invest out of FOMO

The Fear of Missing Out is just an expression for peer pressure, which exists in every sphere including investment, especially when social media trends influence public behaviour. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are some of the investment options which have been hyped up on the internet, but the past year showed that they aren’t the most stable and secure ones. Hence its wise to clear the clutter, resist the temptation of being swept away by the buzz on social media and making informed, calculated investments.

Expand your horizons

Now all the noise about crypto imploding and online scammers on the prowl can be intimidating, but caution shouldn’t turn into too much restriction. Look at the performance of each asset and investment vehicle, start the year with a budget which you can allocate to mutual funds, stocks, FDs, and maybe even cryptocurrencies or NFTs, based on the risks and benefits involved. Diversity is shaping the new world, and it is good for business as well as investments.

Read as much as you can

There are those whose shelves are walls of shame with too many unread books stacked up, and there are others who meet their targets of reading 300 books a year. Even investment app Zerodha’s CEO has made a new year’s resolution to read everyday, and investors should do the same. Reading books about investment, from qualified economists and market experts, is far more helpful than reading viral threads or tweets from eccentric billionaires.