Lesson 10 of 28 · Your equity and debt mix · 4 min read · Reviewed 15 Oct 2026
Your mix of equity and debt decides most of your return and most of your risk. On ₹1 crore with 70% in equity, a 30% fall in shares takes ₹21 lakh off. At 40% in equity, the same fall takes ₹12 lakh off, but the long-run return is lower.
Equity grows faster over long periods and falls hard in bad years. Indian shares fell about 38% in early 2020 before recovering.
Debt grows slower and moves far less. Holding both lets you pick how big a fall you can live through without selling.
Once a year, move money back to your chosen mix. This is called rebalancing.
Key idea: Pick the mix by the fall you can sit through, not by last year’s returns.
Try the calculator and the one-question quiz on this page to check your own numbers.
It is a rough starting point. Your goals, income stability and how you react to falls matter more than age.
No. Gold is its own asset. Many people keep 5% to 10% in it.
Once a year, or when your mix drifts more than 5 percentage points from the target. Selling can create capital gains tax, so new money can do part of the job.
For learning only, not investment advice. Designed and built by people who have worked at India’s leading wealth management firms.