Financial Planning & Equity investments

First time ever I heard an equity expert advising investors to go the Mutual Fund way for dealing in investments and not trading. A seasoned investor in equity who has seen several ups & downs of the market emphatically has put it for Financial planners to pause and give it a thought.

At what levels of the portfolio one should graduate into equity investing?

So one needs to start looking at the stages through an Indian investor could possibly grow up. let us start from the lower rungs. The inverted pyramid shrinks something like this.

BPL
APL
Socially Affluent and Financially Viable class( gone by the Govt guidance as Civil Service Servants IAS etc.. and similar positions or having equivalent status in society)
HNI having assets more than Rs 30 laks (avoid personal assets)
Affluent HNI Net assets more than Rs 30 lakhs (avoid personal assets)
Super HNI Net Assets more than Rs. 1 crore

The BPL families are concerned with Roti/Kapada/Makan and live on 20:80 rule to reach APL stage.

What does the APLs do? Begnning stage, some may still be struggling to create funds to acquire livelihood, but most of them are in "I work, i work ...stage and needs to move to a stage where 'my money works' when I stop working.

Question is at what stage i can graduate to invest in equities?

When I am able to identify a surplus money is the answer. this has got other dimensions. what is surplus? quantum and time matters. Am I able to forget this money forever? or at least for 5-10 years? or even more? You can take a risk appetite test from the websites of any Mutual fund or Insurance company these days and figure out what could be your risk level. But still investors loose money. why?

it is here linking the investment with a life need matters. quite often investments are clubbed and needs are camouflaged leading to disappointment.

take care.