Costly cardinal errors for 2026

Individual investors should allocate assets more consciously, take risks cautiously, and invest after analysing stock carefully

- DEVINA MEHRA

WHETHER YOU ARE a rookie investor or a veteran, I can guarantee that you are likely committing several of these cardinal errors.

The first of these mistakes is not allocating assets consciously.

Quick, can you tell me how your assets are allocated right now-how much in equity, debt/ fixed income, real estate, gold/ silver?Is it, give or take, 5% in each category? I know many of you will flunk this test. And that is really step one of doing anything sensible or systematic with your portfolio. After all, even in Google Maps, you have to put in your starting point before it can guide you to the destination. Take a couple of hours on a January weekend and figure this out.After that, getting to where you want to be will be much simpler.

Another common pitfall is being on either end of the risk spectrum. For some, this means spending a lifetime in fixed deposits and tax-saving instruments because they wanted to study everything before dipping their toes in the stock market. But time is passing and your money is not working hard for you. On the other hand, others plunge straight into day, crypto, and derivative trading, which can land you in the financial ICU.