Nischala Agnihotri, Bengaluru, marketing associate Age: 21 Income: Rs 15,000 a month Age at first investment: 18 First investment: Direct equities Investing strategy now: Invests all savings in equities. Classifies stocks for long- and short-term goals “I want to pursue my MBA after a couple of years. My short-term goal is to finance a large part of the course fee from my investment corpus”

Ashwini pandey, 25 Varanasi, territory manager “I am doing an MBA through correspondence. Career and finance are both equally important”

It is an era of employment security. Earning opportunities have widened manifold, especially for the youth. But job security has reduced. This wasn’t the case for the older generation. Their first job was usually the last and they knew their pensions from the first day of work. All that has changed. By compulsion and by choice, a career now has quite a few job switches and sabbaticals.

Which makes it even more important to align finances with career and prepare for the possibility of a few weeks without pay. Today’s youth understand the job market perfectly. Which is why most of the investors we spoke to have factored in career goals when creating a financial plan. Says 25-year-old Ashwini Pandey, territory manager with Ceat Tyres in Varanasi: “I have a good job, but to expand my skill-set and hence my choices, I am pursuing a part-time MBA from IMT Ghaziabad.” Alongside, he is also managing an elaborate portfolio.

“I save about 60% of my salary and invest it chiefly in equities. My aim is building a retirement corpus of at least Rs 3 crore,” he says. Through regular investments in some mutual funds topped with blue-chip stocks Pandey is sure of getting there. Other young investors are also investing in order to finance higher studies. For instance, 22-year-old Prasun Bhowmik, a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, was planning to take a home loan to buy an apartment in Mumbai.

“The EMI fit snugly into my investment plan. Real estate has been on my radar for some time,” he says. However, Bhowmik realised that his savings would not stretch to covering the EMI as well as finance the MBA programme that he wants. “So I have postponed the purchase. My MBA is more important to me now,” he says. Bhowmik’s new objective is to avoid an education loan and fund the entire MBA fee from his investments.

Such a close alignment between finances and career is the norm among informed youngsters. They realise that their career is perhaps their most reliable asset. Nischala Agnihotri, who started investing at the age of 18, plans to fund part of her MBA fee from her investments.

With an equity portfolio of about Rs 1.3 lakh, she is on course to her goal. Meanwhile, she is also scouting for a real estate investment. “I invest primarily in stocks. Property will add both diversity and depth to my portfolio,” she says. Other young investors admit that meaty portfolios heighten their sense of security.

It also gives them the freedom to pursue their interests in the near future. Bhowmik wants to try his hand at advertising some time. “I understand the pay is not very good initially,” he says. That doesn’t deter him. He is betting on a good investment strategy to act as a saviour when he takes time off from his current technical field.

Investing with the job in mind

Financial decisions and career moves must be in sync. Else you may have to make compromises

Higher studies A mix of fixed-income instruments and balanced funds will ensure that you have the funds on time
Home loan Before taking on a liability for 10 or more years, make sure there are minimum chances of being without income for six months or more
Irregular income If you don’t have a fixed income, invest a higher proportion of your income in safe debt instruments. Maintain an emergency fund
Between jobs With high job mobility comes high job insecurity. Make sure there is enough in liquid investments for those rainy days