In the world of investing, balance is key. Just as you balance out the flavours while baking those perfect chocolate chip cookies - a little sugar, flaky sea salt; your finances too, need that love and attention to detail.

Start with understanding your goals:

This depends on your age, your plans in life and what’s most important to you at the life stage you are in. For example, Akshata from the Basis community is 21 years old. For her the biggest priority is being able to save enough to go travelling once the skies open up.

Or another instance would be Divya, 27 years old and single. She lives on her own and wants to be able to buy herself a house in the next 4 years. Then there’s Vidya who is 34 and wants to start saving up for retirement.

Assess your risk tolerance

Your specific goals should be followed by an understanding of your risk tolerance. Individual risk often depends on our life situations, single but have financial dependents? You may not be comfortable exposing yourself to high-risk investments. On the contrary if you are a double income family you could have a choice to balance your risk and investments with your partner.

You can do a quick assessment of your risk profile on the Basis app →

Determine asset allocation

Financial goals and risk tolerance done, you should consider stocks (equities), bonds, and cash.

Diversify

One easy way to create a diversified portfolio is to understand what returns will help you get to your goals. For instance, you need to earn an 8% return to get to your financial goals. Your investments would need to be modelled accordingly.

Now you could stick with a larger part in risk-free investments

But if you identify that you need to earn a 12% return to get to your long term objectives, your risk profile might need a change. The portfolio will have a different combination of investments, invest in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. All of which are invested in multiple securities versus individual stocks.

Rebalance your portfolio

Do this regularly. The financial markets (and our lives) are in constant flux. While you should ‘set your money aside for the long term, also look at it regularly, and see if you see that you’d like to make changes.

This can be done quarterly, half-yearly or annually, depending on how the markets have fluctuated in the past. As you get closer to achieving a goal, you should move that money to secure assets. Depending on where you are in your financial journey, rebalancing accordingly is something you mustn't miss on doing.

What does this mean for you?

We all or at some point in our lives will be an Akshata, Vidya or Divya. Being prepared and having foresight can help you pick the right investment at the right time. Be prudent, don’t be afraid to go in for the mix to stay on top of your financial game!