Smart Equity Invest

Start here

14 guides, in the order they build on each other. The first 7 are all you need to start investing, and the next 3 keep your portfolio on track once you have. The last 4 are for when you want to read a company for yourself.

Before you invest your first rupee

7 guides, about 39 minutes. Enough to start investing without a mistake you'd pay for later.

  1. Stock Market BasicsKnow what a share is, what compounding is worth, and what waiting costs.6 min read₹50Lwhat ₹5,000 a month becomes in 20 years
  2. Insurance Before InvestingHave the cover in place that stops an emergency forcing you to sell.6 min read₹31Lwhat an endowment policy costs you over 20 years, against term cover plus an index fund
  3. SIP PlanningWork out how much to invest each month for a goal with a date.3 min read₹31Lwhat ₹1 crore in 2046 buys in today's money
  4. Direct vs Regular Mutual FundsBuy the version of a fund that doesn't pay a salesperson, and switch without a tax bill.7 min read₹11.6Lwhat a regular plan costs on a ₹10,000 SIP over 20 years
  5. How to Choose an Index FundPick the index, then the fund that copies it most cheaply.5 min read76%of active large-cap funds that trailed their index over the ten years to December 2025
  6. What a Trade Costs, and How to Choose a BrokerKnow every charge on a trade, and choose a broker by what you'll pay.5 min read₹238what buying and selling ₹1 lakh of shares costs at a zero-brokerage broker
  7. Tax on Shares, Mutual Funds and CryptoKnow what you'll owe when you sell shares, funds or crypto, and how to owe less.7 min read₹31,850the cost of selling at 11 months instead of 13, on a ₹2 lakh gain

Once you've started

3 guides, about 17 minutes. Keeping the portfolio you built doing the job you built it for.

  1. Asset Allocation: How Much in Equity, Debt and GoldSet how much goes into equity, debt and gold, and know in rupees what a crash would take.6 min read−34%the worst fall of 60% equity and 40% debt since 2008, against −60% for all equity
  2. EPF, PPF and NPS: Three Retirement Accounts, Three Different JobsKnow what your EPF will pay, and when PPF or NPS does a job it can't.7 min read₹22,441a month, in today's money: what EPF alone pays a 30-year-old on ₹50,000 basic pay when they retire at 60
  3. Rebalancing, and When to SellSell only for a reason that holds up, and bring your mix back once a year.4 min read23%of the holding lost by selling in the 2020 crash and buying back once the market recovered

Reading a company

4 guides, about 24 minutes. Optional if you only buy index funds. Essential before you buy a single share.

  1. PE Ratio AnalysisTell whether a share's price makes sense for the profit behind it.5 min read−27%Hindustan Unilever's share price, five years to September 2026
  2. Balance Sheet ReadingSee what the owners' money earns and where the debt sits.5 min read₹51,800what each ₹1 lakh of TCS shareholders' money earned in FY26
  3. Reading a Cash Flow StatementCheck whether the reported profit ever arrived as cash.7 min read₹201cash Reliance's operations brought in for every ₹100 of FY26 profit
  4. How to Read a Quarterly ResultRead a results filing and tell a business that grew from a headline that only looks like it.7 min read6%how much TCS's operating profit grew in the quarter its headline profit grew 15%

Keep open while you read

  • Investment Terminology Guide: 44 terms, each with a worked example. Terms in the guides also show their definition when you hover or tap them.
  • How we calculate: the assumptions and formulas behind every figure.
  • SIP calculator: every SIP figure in the guides reproduces here to the rupee. Each guide’s “Run these numbers yourself” links open it with that guide’s inputs already filled in.