Money ? you have it enough or you don?t have it. In both cases, you are in a dilemma. In the former case, you are spoilt for choices and, in the latter, you struggle for necessities. In the investment journey, too, your attitude towards money determines your wealth creation besides income generation.

Are you a spendthrift seeking instant gratification or you want to hoard it all for future use or you take the middle path? Whichever category you associate yourself with, your investment portfolio would reflect it in some manner. Now, if you go back a little to your formative days, you will realise that the initial framework (on your money attitude) was based on your experiences since your childhood days. The environment you grew up in. The money management methods you noticed in your parents. All these factors influence you in your investment journey.

To buy, sell or hold

Let us now consider this often-experienced occurrence. You bought a stock at R40. What would your reaction be if the value dips to R20, when in fact the stock had risen to R60 and only greed stopped you from selling? Sounds familiar, right? This is plain greed and not to be confused with your attitude towards money.

Now, let?s consider another scenario, which you can easily recall. In late 2011, when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) stated that the minimum public holding in listed company has to be 25% by a certain period, you found many of the identified stocks in this space, moving up and, then, going down based on the news flow.

Where delisting happened, the prices zoomed up. In cases where offer for sale was the option, the stock price retreated. How did you fare? Did you go with the newsflow or did you set targets for sale and followed in meticulously.

The execution would have happened based on your ?money attitude?, besides the greed.

In the current market scenario, where there?s uncertainty, coupled with a falling interest rate scenario and with the equity markets wanting to display an upward move, your behaviour would display your attitude towards money.

A majority of us carry out investments in a very adhoc manner. The favourite medium of advisors being friends, colleagues and family members. This medium has worked well in the past, making it still the preferred choice. However, the time has now come to revisit this medium.

With the plethora of investment products and investment avenues, specialised recommendations tuned to your requirements are the way forward.

Transformation

With this insight into your existing ?money attitude?, can it be tuned in a manner that your investment journey does not fall prey to your current situation? The answer is a big ?yes?. Investing is a process and understanding your investment style based on your mental makeup and goals should form your investment policy statement.

This is a primary document that you should visit and revisit before embarking on the investment journey. This document will put in place your investment framework, which will guide you in the investment journey.

Your apprehensions, risk appetite, investment goals, expected rate of return, portfolio review and rebalancing periods can be defined in this and you can accordingly embark and continue the investment journey. By doing this, you are actually disciplining your ?attitude towards money? in a more structured and measurable form. Anything that can be measured is always welcome and so should be your investment processes and the emotions which go along with it.

Use your emotion and your ?money attitude? as your friends and tools in the investment journey. Remember, decisions are made in real time and if the tools are known and appropriate, you will enjoy the journey. In the investment journey, what you know is important. At the same time, what you don?t know and how you have ring-fenced it to your advantage is more important.

The author is founder and managing partner of Zeus WealthWays LLP