IPOs in Nepal: What I Check Before Hitting "Apply"

In Nepal, applying for IPOs is almost a national hobby. A new issue opens, the family WhatsApp group lights up, and everyone applies for 10 kitta on Mero Share without really knowing what the company does. Some families apply in five or six names.

I get it. It's cheap (Rs 1,000 for 10 kitta at Rs 100 each), it's easy, and for years IPO shares often listed well above Rs 100. Getting an allotment felt like winning a small lottery.

But that habit has taught many people the wrong lesson: that IPOs are free money. They're not. Here's how I think about them.

Demat, Mero Share and Broker Account: Which One Does What?

When I first wanted to buy shares, someone told me, "Just open Demat and Mero Share, and get a broker." I nodded like I understood. I didn't. I thought they were three names for the same thing.

If you're in the same spot, here's the plain version, plus the steps to get set up and the mistakes to avoid.

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.

How to Build an Emergency Fund When Your Income Isn't Fixed

"Save three to six months of expenses." Easy to say if you get the same salary on the same day every month. Much harder if you drive for a ride app, run a small shop, farm, freelance for foreign clients, work in construction, or depend on remittance that doesn't always come on time.

Most people in Nepal fall into that second group. A huge share of the workforce is informal, seasonal or self-employed. So this post is for them: people whose income goes up and down and who still want a safety net.

A Monthly Budget You'll Actually Stick To

I've started and abandoned more budgets than I can count. The ones that failed had one thing in common: they described the person I wished I was, not the person I actually was. Rs 3,000 a month for food? Sure, on paper. In real life, by the 12th I'd already gone over and given up on the whole thing.

A budget that works is boring and honest. It's built on what you really spend, it includes the things you'd rather forget about (hello, Dashain), and it leaves a little room for fun so you don't rebel against it.

Here's how I build one now, step by step.

Managing Money in Nepal: Where I'd Start If I Were Starting Over

Most money advice online is written for people in the US or India. It talks about credit scores, 401(k)s and investing apps we don't even have here. So I'm starting this series with the basics, written for how money actually moves in a Nepali household: a salary or a small business, remittance from a brother in Qatar, a loan from the cooperative, Dashain shopping, and relatives who need help when something goes wrong.

None of this is complicated. The hard part is doing it in the right order. Plenty of people open a Demat account before they have even Rs 10,000 set aside for emergencies, and then they're forced to sell shares at a loss the first time someone in the family gets sick.

If I had to start from zero again, this is the order I'd go in.

SIP in Equity Shares: How to Build a Long-Term Stock Investment Strategy in Nepal

When most people hear the term SIP (Systematic Investment Plan), they immediately think of mutual funds.

The idea is simple: invest a fixed amount at regular intervals—usually every month—and continue investing for the long term. Instead of trying to predict the perfect time to enter the market, investors build discipline by investing consistently.