A surplus lands in your bank account. Not life-changing money, necessarily, but enough that spending it on a phone or a holiday feels faintly irresponsible. You could do that. Or you could invest it and let compounding do its magic. Delay the gratification.

The problem is not intent but choice.

Should the money go into equity, debt, gold, or property? Into stocks or mutual funds, fixed deposits or bonds, gold funds or small-savings schemes? Should the approach be active or passive, short-term or long-term? And hovering over all of it is a harder question: do this investor’s personal situation and today’s market make any of these choices sensible right now?

This is also where views begin to differ. Less on principle, more on context. Here’s a brief poll below to understand how you, dear reader, approach investments.

Scale, in practice, is the differentiator here. A Rs 1 lakh surplus poses a different problem from a Rs 10 lakh surplus. A Rs 1 crore surplus changes the conversation altogether. Never mind novice investors, even seasoned investors struggle to reconcile these variables.

So The Ken spoke to four Sebi-registered investment advisers (RIAs) and a wealth manager who advises family offices, people whose job is to sit in front of these questions all day. Their solutions are logical and counterintuitive, all at once, with a dash of the unconventional thrown in. We crystallised these insights to try to answer the million-rupee question: how to invest Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, Rs 1 crore?

The unconventional shots

Real estate, selectively

Most financial planners wouldn’t touch real estate as an investment with a barge pole. Not Deepesh Raghaw, founder of financial-planning website PersonalFinancePlan.in. 

Raghaw thinks rich investors with a high surplus, say Rs 1 crore, can consider commercial property that offers good fixed-income-like returns from rental yields and capital appreciation. “Plots can also be a good option for capital appreciation,” he added. 

But hasn’t real estate shot up like crazy? Also, isn’t it cumbersome to manage?