India 
Difficult Roads often lead to Beautiful Destinations
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A man asked a shopkeeper, “Sir, how far is the next village and how long will it take to reach?” The shopkeeper started to walk along with the man to show the way. The man said, “Please don’t trouble yourself. I just want to know the distance. I can go alone.” Still he continued to walk with the man. After 15 minutes, he said, “It will take you 2 hours to reach the village.” The man said, “You could have told that earlier! There was no need to walk with me.” He replied, “How could I estimate the time before I knew your walking speed? Time to cover the distance isn’t decided by the length of the road but by the speed of the walker. You can also run to arrive sooner.”
When you invest, the distance to travel is the investment horizon or time to reach your goals. Your speed is the amount of money you invest and the condition of the road (market) decides the returns you generate. Very good roads (markets) can help you reach on time or earlier. Bad /hilly roads (volatile markets) increase the risk and time taken to reach your goals. If you don’t know the road and the weather is unpredictable, then start early to reach on time. Starting late and driving fast in bad weather to cover up the time lost just adds to the risk. For example, if you want to reach a goal of Rs.50 lakh, you can start a SIP of Rs.5000 per month and invest for 20 years assuming a 12% return pa. But if you want to achieve this goal in 10 years, you need to invest over Rs.21,000. So if you have a long journey ahead, start as early as possible, beat the traffic, enjoy the sunrise and morning fresh air. It’s not just about reaching the destination but also about enjoying the journey.
Note: The returns are indicative and for illustration purpose only. It shall not be construed as actual returns and may not be achieved.
About the author
Satish Prabhu is an avid blogger and has written close to 300 blogs on the basics of investing. He prefers the short story-telling format for his blogs and writes motivational life stories which are then weaved to give a message on investing. While content writing is his forte, financial literacy initiatives are close to his heart. He feels that investors can create wealth not by investing more money but by improving their behaviour with money. His stories give the message of patience, perseverance and resilience, the keys behavioral traits to be imbibed by investors. He is greatly inspired by the book ‘Psychology of Money’ by Morgan Housel. You can read all his blogs on his LinkedIn page.
On the professional front, Satish is the Vice President & Head of Content & Direct Customer Engagement at Franklin Templeton (FT) Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd since December 2013. Prior to FT, he worked for 8 years with CRISIL Ltd. (a Standard and Poor’s Company) and for over 7 years with the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL).
He speaks at various investor education forums, conducts knowledge sharing sessions, webinars, podcasts for investors, advisors, relationship managers, corporates, among others.
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