With the imposition of excise on jewellery and the passage of the Real estate (regulation and development) bill, investing will never be the same again. The controversy on the PF has also only mixed things up. In this scenario, personal finance and financial planning assume a very serious role in our lives. We can no longer hope to make a few decisions that will swing things big for us. When industries organize, they eliminate the scope for us to get accidentally rich. Wealth has to be consciously created. To achieve that we need concerted actions, reviews, course corrections and methods. One simply won’t be able to get rich by buying cheap suburban plots or by avoiding payment of taxes. Cash will struggle to be invested and keeping income outside of the tax network simply becomes unviable as they can’t create wealth for us. Paying taxes and then deploying the money sensibly is the only option. It will never be the same again for realty and gold investing. The stock market will play a deeper and far more serious part in wealth creation. Regulation, prevention of money laundering and strict enforcement of consumer rights will reduce scope for manipulation. This changes the return expectations of other asset classes like real estate and gold. The fact that only tax paid money can be invested in gold makes it less attractive as an investment. All this only points to one thing. Every individual needs to revisit his investment beliefs, rework his personal finance and re-orient it with meticulous financial planning. Without a plan, one may not be able to reach his goals. Success will now cease to be accidental.
You never get the high and you never get the low. – Walter Schloss