Spend, Save Or Invest!

All three! That's what I would love to do this year. But I will be happy if I can achieve any one of the three.

The first one, I am sure I will be very successful and happy to do. Look at the road ahead and you will know why. The finance minister first gave you some money to spend, but took away a lot just when you thought you could open your purse to do that extra shopping. The RBI Governor will make it that much more expensive, even if you have some left in your account. He will force you to save to achieve the goal he and his MPC fellows have set for themselves. The country, actually!

That's in conflict with what the finance minister wants—let the government spend and not the wealthy. So, she will take away from the rich and spend it to ensure it reaches the underprivileged.

The conflict of interest is not just for the finance minister and the RBI Governor. It's for all those who invest, in debt or equity. You invest in debt, you will earn a percent or so less. That lovely acronym called LTCG is gone! Long term capital gains to be specific lest it be confused with a similar acronym that's being debated.

Well, why not equity? The pitch is slippery, the wicket tough to defend. So, the bets are off! Trade. No, it's scary. There's this talk of 90% of traders lose money with advisors like me and other fellow journos trying their best to keep you off the ring.

Go to the bank. Bank FDs are the safest and returns assured. No, no way! I screamed. Even after the SVBs and Credit Squeezes, sorry Suisse. Don't worry, we don't allow our banks to fail. Your money is protected up to Rs 5 lakh. But you will not get any if you had invested in AT-none bonds. Oops, typo again.

Arre yaar, kya karoon bolna!

Make no mistake. Keep cash. And, you know all too well, cash is…

Someone in the newsroom whispered some ABCD. Oh, you are talking about CBDC. Let me check ONDC to get an idea of CBDC on chat-GPT.

I am told to fold the tray table and shut my laptop…