Hi everyone,
I’m a college student from India and recently started learning about investing and the stock market. I’m not looking for “get rich quick” trades or risky option gambling disguised as financial wisdom. Humanity already manufactures enough bad decisions for free.
My budget is very small right now, around ₹1000-1500 for this month , so I want to build good habits early instead of chasing hype stocks from Instagram reels with dramatic music.
I’ve started reading about:
SIP investing
Index funds vs individual stocks
Long-term compounding
Risk management and diversification
Buying fundamentally strong companies slowly over time
I wanted to ask experienced investors here:
What strategy would you recommend for a beginner with a very small budget?
Should I focus more on ETFs/index funds initially or start learning stock picking too?
Which sectors in India do you think have strong long-term potential?
What are some mistakes beginners usually make that I should avoid early?
If you had to build a starter portfolio for a student, what would it roughly look like?
I’m trying to learn properly before investing seriously, so any books, YouTube channels, or practical advice would also help a lot.
Thanks in advance.