Patience is a virtue

Do not touch your investments; don't react to the prime sentiment of the day. Compounding only works if you allow your investments to grow over a longer period of time. It is exactly like growing a tree to bear fruits. The results will seem slow at first, but persevere.

We quoted earlier that numbers look good when tabulated. However, transforming them into reality could be a Herculean task. Well, not quite. An investment of Rs 10,000 per month for a period of 10 years has yielded an average of 12 per cent on a year-on-year basis even after a huge market fall as the adjacent table illustrates.

Most of the magic of compounding happens only at the end. It's time you planned on how to be a millionaire and maybe not theSlumdog way!