One Profile Many Goals

Cousin took a risk questionnaire on Sunday afternoon. It thought about him for a moment and gave one word back. Moderate.

He was pleased. Then he took that one word and pointed it at every rupee he owns.

Which is where it fell apart. Because he has two goals, not one. A flat he wants to put a deposit on in two years. A retirement pot he will not touch for twenty five. The quiz never asked about either. It asked about him, printed a label, and let him do the rest.

So I ran it. Rs 5 lakh for the flat, Rs 15 lakh for retirement, illustrative numbers, equity at 12 and debt at 6.5.

Under the one label, 50 pct equity on both pots. A 35 pct equity fall lands in the year before he needs the deposit and the flat money finishes at 4.66 lakh against a 5.00 lakh goal. Short. Meanwhile the retirement pot, which had twenty five years to sit through anything, crawls to 136.97 lakh.

Profile each pot by its own deadline instead. Near money at 10 pct equity finishes 5.47 and closes on the flat with room. Far money at 80 pct finishes 199.24 lakh. Same person. Same nerve. Rs 62.27 lakh apart, and a deposit that actually happens.

Here is the part nobody tells you. A blended label does not split the difference. It loses at both ends. Too much equity for money with a date on it, nowhere near enough for money without one.

Honest version, because it cuts both ways. If no fall lands in that final year, the 50 pct near pot finishes 24,035 ahead. That number is not a mistake. It is the premium for refusing to gamble on a date you cannot move. Worth paying.

You are not one risk profile. You are as many as you have deadlines. The quiz asks who you are. Your money only ever asks when you need it