What a Share Trade Really Costs: Commission, Fees and Capital Gains Tax

 

You buy a share at Rs 500 and sell it at Rs 540. That's Rs 40 profit per share, right? Not quite. By the time the broker, SEBON, the depository and the tax office have taken their share, a fair chunk of that Rs 40 is gone.

None of these charges is big on its own. But if you don't count them, you'll overestimate your returns, and if you trade often, they can quietly eat most of your profit.

Buying Gold This Tihar? Jewellery Isn't the Same as Investing in Gold

 

In most Nepali families, gold isn't really a financial decision. It's a wedding gift, a mother's security, something you buy on Dhanteras because it's auspicious. I'm not going to tell you to stop doing that.

But I hear the same sentence every year: "Gold is the safest investment." Sometimes it's true and sometimes it isn't, and the difference mostly comes down to one thing. Are you buying gold, or are you buying jewellery?

Bonds and Debentures: You're the Lender Now

When you buy a debenture, you're lending money to a company. They promise to pay you interest regularly and return your money at the end. Simple enough.

The question is how sure you are that they'll keep that promise. And whether you'll be able to get your money out if you need it before the end.

Risk Tolerance: How Much Loss Can You Really Stomach?

Everyone is a brave investor when the market is going up. In 2021, when NEPSE crossed 3,000, it felt like nobody could lose. Then it fell, and plenty of "long-term investors" sold everything at the bottom.

Risk tolerance is what you find out about yourself when your portfolio is down 30%. It's better to think it through before that happens.

Diversification: Ten Hydropower Shares Isn't a Diversified Portfolio

I once saw someone's Mero Share portfolio with 14 different companies in it. They were proud of how "diversified" it was. Eleven of them were hydropower companies.

That's not diversification. That's one bet split into eleven pieces.

Compound Growth, Explained With Real Rupees (and Its Limits)

Compounding gets talked about like it's magic. There's even a quote, wrongly credited to Einstein, calling it the "eighth wonder of the world". It isn't magic. It's just maths, but it's maths that rewards patience more than almost anything else in personal finance.

In this post I'll show how it works with real rupee numbers, and then I'll be honest about where the neat examples fall apart in real life.

Saving or Investing? It Depends on When You Need the Money

People often ask me, "Should I save or invest?" My answer is always another question: when do you need the money?

That one question settles most of the decision. Not your age, not what your friends are doing, not what the market did last month. Just the date.