Risk, Return, and Portfolio Construction Basics

A ground-up, India-specific guide to the two ideas every investing decision actually rests on: risk and return. Built for college students, first-time demat holders, salaried professionals, homemakers, and retirees who can quote a stock's return but have never been taught what risk really means, why a 15% FD-beating return can still be a bad outcome, or why one hot stock tip is not a portfolio. Covers the real difference between risk and volatility, the main types of investment risk, CAGR versus absolute returns, real versus nominal returns after inflation, post-tax returns under India's current STCG and LTCG rules, and the basics of asset allocation and diversification, using real NSE and BSE examples, screener.in data, Zerodha statements, and SEBI-relevant rules throughout.