Beyond the Raging Waves

Most investment options look foggy with the markets reeling under the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Experts suggest restraint and measured steps for investors, but push them for building an emergency fund with at least three months’ salary

- Vishav

In the last ten years, investing has become like a second nature for Ankush Sharma. A little bit of balance in income and expenditure and disciplined spending helped him make some savings every month. He was happy with the traditional investment options like fixed deposits, gold and public provident fund until he decided to dabble in mutual funds a year before a crisis rattled the world and changed almost everything.

Ankush (name changed) wasn’t happy with the funds because of their poor performance. After the containment measures against the Covid-19 pandemic brought businesses to a screeching halt, markets went into a tailspin. The Sensex fell from the peak of over 42,000 to almost 26,000, a correction of around 18,000 points that pushed most investors to the edge. Panic reigned in the markets.

The civil engineering graduate in his mid-thirties, however, stayed put with his systematic investment plans (SIPs). With the green shoots of economic recovery showing up and the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine restoring confidence among people, Sharma’s investments began turning around. He was not wrong to expect a bull run in the markets around the corner.

But, somewhere in his calculations, Sharma did not factor in the second wave of the pandemic. The second wave began swirling in March, and by the middle of April, it stormed the nation with nearly three lakh people being infected every day.