Conventionally real-estate in India is considered to be a safer and a productive investment option rather than other asset classes.  But it makes sense to buy a home or a commercial shop if you are using it for living or you have a business running in your shop. Which means it should suffice the primary need of shelter.  Equity based mutual funds in terms of investment option have performed well, compared to that of real estate, over the years. Lets see this with an example. My friend's dad once bought a flat for investment purpose in the year 2007 for 21Lakhs. It was a cozy little 1-bhk flat situated in the budding areas of Pune. He met me few days back, he said that "yaar, abhi mere flat ki value 50 lakh ho gayi hai, more than double in 10 years" he said it with a smile. I said okay. :) If you look at it closely then his flat in Pune has generated just 13.8% annually. If his dad would have invested the same amount in a good balanced fund in the year 2007 the...

He was 30. He decided to take a loan and buy a house like the rest of his friends. For the next twenty years he paid an EMI of Rs.50000.However, this EMI of his became an impediment in his investment path and because he failed to do an SIP. After 20 years, he at 50 is without a job. He lives in the same house and can’t sell it. Life has come a full circle as he stands at the crossroads of life wondering what to do. A wife, parents and two children with just a house to live and a few lakhs in the bank with a long life ahead. These are those rare moments when one wishes for a shorter life. As he stood there wondering what went wrong, he could see something very clearly. “His EMI had hurt his progress?” Had he lived in a rented house which in those days would have cost him Rs 20,000 and had he invested the balance Rs 30,000 in an SIP instead, the wealth he would have made would have been Rs 6 cr. instead of the few lakhs that he currently had. Even if he were to li...