“No Thanks, I’m Good.” … But Are You?

Life, in all its astonishing variety, had to start somewhere.

It all started more than 4 billion years ago, when the primordial soup on our nascent Earth gave birth to a single-celled organism, fondly named LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor.

LUCA, in the palm of its non-existent hands, held the spark that would ignite the epic story of life on Earth. Within its microscopic form resided the potential for the staggering diversity we witness today – the towering redwoods, the flitting butterflies, and yes, even ourselves, the humble Homo sapiens.

But life on earth did not flourish smoothly. Our planet has experienced five mass extinction events. Each one of them wiped out 75-85% of all life on earth. In its wake, the extinction left the planet in the hands of those species that had the adaptability to survive it. In simple words, life survived through genetic diversity.

About now, you might be wondering: Where are they even going with this?

Granted they are no mass extinctions, but economic collapses throughout human history have left many feeling that way. Whether it was the financial crises 33 CE in the Roman Empire, Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) that followed, Indian economic crisis of 1991, the Dot-com bubble (2000–2002), or Global Financial Crisis (2007-08), each downturn resulted in tens of millions of investors losing their hard-earned money.

The only way to counter the ill effects of financial crises?
Having alternative form of investments to rely upon.

The moral of the story is: Diversity isn’t just the consequence of evolution; it’s the very crucible within which life is created and tested. Even within our own species, Homo sapiens, we carry the faint silhouettes of multiple human lineages that once walked the Earth – Homo erectus, Homo habilis, all ghosts in the evolutionary machine.

We may be the sole human species remaining, but our journey, from humble hunter-gatherers to world conquerors, is a story of diversity in adversity.

Case in point: The story of how Indians invest

In the ancient ages, the concept of investing for future generations was through buying gold or buying a piece of land to build their home. This investment was a safety net – a tangible rainy-day fund or a legacy to pass on to their heirs. As income grew, people started buying more gold and more real estate as veritable investment options. During the colonial era, the British introduced new financial instruments like government bonds. Around the same time, when modern banking was introduced, Fixed Deposits (FDs) emerged as an option to deposit savings and gain a percentage of return. Post-Independence, the Government of India constituted the National Savings Organization in 1948. This started a wave of investment instruments being introduced such as Post Office Savings, Government Savings Certificate, Public Provident Fund, et cetera. India witnessed the rise of the nation’s first mutual fund establishment in 1963. Since then, Mutual Funds (MFs) have grown to become increasingly investor-friendly. So much so that by 2017, MFs saw an influx of more than INR 5,000 Crores/month into public funds through systematic investment plans (SIPs).

Naturally, the investment options expanded, and investors forayed through angel investing, seedfunding, and high-value equity investing in private markets.

Ask yourself: If land and gold could suffice all the needs of the future generation, then why the need for other forms of investment? These other forms came into the picture because different needs are emerging, and the very assets that were once considered generational are also changing. The investment evolution has been afoot for a while, and the next asset class for the future is here – private markets.

The ascent of private market investing in India does not mean the descent of public markets. Private markets were never in competition with public markets to begin with, exactly the way public markets were never in competition with traditional investments such as gold or real estate. In fact, this diversity in investment avenues elevates the wealth generation capabilities of an individual.

Humans, by their innate nature, are compelled to seek variety in everything we do. Prosperity, to us, lies in the diversity of possibilities.

How do we know this?
Because our history tells us so.

Take our species for example. Early Homo sapiens were masters of survival. They were the “wise humans” of their time, foraging for plants and hunting or scavenging food, evolving behaviors to face the challenges of a volatile environment. From basic stone implements, they crafted a diverse arsenal of smaller, intricate tools – fishhooks, bows and arrows, even sewing needles! Tools advanced from stone to bronze to iron, to make hunting, making, and storing food easier.

For hundreds of thousands of years, this relentless search for food defined the human experience. And then, within a mere blink of the evolutionary eye, our species discovered agriculture, the ability to control the growth and breeding of plants and animals.

This discovery, born from the need to diversify our food sources, completely transformed Earth’s natural landscapes. From local patches of cultivated land, agriculture spread globally, altering ecosystems forever. It also allowed humans to settle down, as food production became a central focus. Villages sprung up, becoming towns, and eventually, cities.

In our modern world, the need to diversify has transcended the realm of basic survival. We diversify our ideas, our economies, and our cultures. We explore different approaches to science, art, philosophy, and investments. This relentless exploration, fueled by the same drive for variation that propelled our ancestors, is the engine of human progress.

Little did our single-celled, venerable ancestor know life would evolve to become so complex and diverse. Whether it’s the act of living or investing, true stability is not found in familiarity, but in the dynamism of diversity. Perhaps the illusion of stability lies in clinging to what is known, to the tried and tested. But nature doesn’t cling to a single, safe option. It doesn’t favor uniformity. Instead, it thrives on experimentation, on a million different ways of being.

Diversity is not just a quirk of nature; it’s the very essence of existence.

After all, isn’t this what LUCA did 4 billion years ago?
Then why shouldn’t you?