Level 3 – Build Your Own Portfolio

What is a Portfolio?

When in school, you may have a portfolio which shows all your exam papers, your work and your assignments. A school portfolio is a collection of all the work you have done in that academic year.

An investment portfolio works the same way. It is a collection of all your financial assets like stocks, index funds, real estate properties, etc. The better the financial assets, the better your investment portfolio looks.

Now, let us look at an example:

Person A has 50 stocks; some are index funds and some are company-specific stocks.
Do you think they have a good investment portfolio?

Understanding Your Risk Appetite

Risk appetite is an investor’s comfort level with uncertainty and losses. It measures how much risk you are willing to take in exchange for potential rewards.

Factors like your money, age, goals, and emotional comfort influence your personal risk appetite.

Select a type of risk appetite below to learn more:

Select Your Industries

Choose any number of industries you want to invest in:

Renewable Energy

High growth, depends on government support.

Technology

Driven by AI, cloud and strong market demand.

Retail & Lifestyle

Steady growth, seasonal fluctuations.

Finance & Banking

Stable but sensitive to interest rate changes.

Entertainment & Media

High-risk, high-reward due to fast trends.

Beauty

Steady demand, trends change quickly.

Food

Low-risk, essential, stable demand.

Medicine & Biotech

High research cost but huge breakthroughs.

Manufacturing

Moderate risk, depends on raw material cost.

Transport & Logistics

Moderate risk, boosted by e-commerce.

Even if you are a student and cannot invest big amounts, you can still learn how to pick good stocks. The goal is to understand how companies grow, how the market works, and how smart investors choose where to invest.

How to Search for Good Stocks as a Student

Understand What the Company Does
Choose companies you already know — like Mercedes, Reliance, Apple, or Titan. If you understand their products and how they make money, you can judge if their business is strong and likely to grow.

Check If the Company Is Growing
Look for simple signs of growth: more stores opening, higher demand, new products, or expanding into new countries. If the company is growing, its stock usually grows too.

Compare the Company With Its Competitors
See how the company performs against others in the same industry. For example: compare Tata Motors vs Mahindra, or HDFC Bank vs ICICI Bank. A company doing better than competitors is usually a safer investment.

Check Past Performance (But Don’t Depend on It)
Look at the stock’s 3–5 year chart. If the long-term trend is upward, it’s usually a sign the company is stable. But remember — past performance does not guarantee future results.

Look at Simple Financial Indicators
You don’t need expert knowledge. Just check:
- Revenue (Is the company earning more each year?)
- Profit (Is the profit stable or growing?)
- Debt Levels (Companies with low debt are safer)
These simple checks help you avoid weak companies.

📘 Quick Level 3 Quiz

Test what you learned about staying calm during a crash and researching good stocks!

1. What is the FIRST thing you should check when researching a stock?

If your friend likes the company
What the company does and how it earns money
The colour of their logo

2. During a market crash, what should a student avoid?

Panic selling
Doing research
Learning new skills

3. Which type of company is easier for beginners to study?

A tiny unknown startup
A familiar company (Apple, Titan, Netflix, Reliance)
A random company with a complicated name