It is always better to buy stocks and bonds over a period of time, it averages out the cost.

It depends on the instrument you have invested in. Generally there are few clauses in the instruments to restrict investors from early withdrawals. Also there are tax implications if someone withdraws the money and incurs gain on that. It is always better to keep aside a part of your income into contingency funds like liquid funds which can be capitalised in case of emergencies and we don't have to touch the investment for the same.

Out-Living your resources possesses a very high risk during your retirement years, choosing you're a correct asset allocation is critical for a successful retired life. There are many products one can choose from to start receiving immediate income (annuity).

Some of the products that can offer you immediate annuity include bonds, FDs, Post office MIS, tax free bonds, annuity plans from life insurance companies. Factors such as product specific risks, lock-in-period, taxation and liquidity should be considered along with your asset allocation strategy before finalizing a product or a basket of products.

Yes, one can as parent invest in their child's name and starting early also gives you the benefit of compounding. Traditional options such as Public Provident Fund and FDs and the most popular saving tools amongst majority of parents due to assured returns and tax rebate associated with these products. However, given that the cost of education is escalating at a pretty high rate in India, products such as Child Unit linked Insurance that offer cover of education cost in case the parents expire.

These plans are bound to generate higher returns over the traditional plans given their market participation. The risk associated with these plans is similar to that of mutual funds schemes. Lately the central government has also introduced schemes to save for girl child offering 1% higher rate than that of 10 year government security. While, investing it is always recommended to invest in a combination of products.

Several financial instruments are available in the Indian money market. These are government securities, or G-sec, preference shares, commercial papers, equity shares, certificate of deposits, call money market and industrial securities.

Government Securities: In India, mainly the institutional investors buy the government securities. Both the Central Governments and the State Governments issue them. Commercial banks are the biggest investors who buy the G-secs.

Preference Shares: These carry a fixed dividend rate and a special right to dividends over the private equity holders. Currently, all the preference shares in the Indian market are redeemable, that is, they have a fixed period of maturity.

Commercial Papers (CP): These are issued mainly by the corporate businessmen to fund their working capital needs. Commercial Papers are issued generally for short-term maturities.

Equity Shares: It is a "high return risk" instrument. Equity shares don't have any fixed return rate and thereby, no period of maturity.

Certificate of Deposits (CD): These are very similar to the Commercial papers. But the CDs are issued mainly by the commercial banks.

Call Money Market: The loans made in the call money market are mainly short term in nature. Call money market mainly deals with the interbank markets.

Industrial Securities: Normally the big corporate bodies are used to issue this to fulfil their long-term requirements regarding working capital. The debentures and equity shares fall under this category.

Pan Card is mandatory for investing. Adhaar card can be submitted as an additional proof.

Yes

1. By way of transfer or
2. In case of their death, thru legal proceedings or
3. Through a will / gift

SIP: or systematic investment plan is a mode of investment, wherein the investor makes periodic investment (monthly, quarterly, yearly) in the particular investment instrument. The major benefits of SIP are to average down our investment (Rupee cost averaging) to reduce the volatility in the portfolio. Also salaried individuals can opt this option to invest from their monthly salary.

ELSS: equity linked saving schemes as the names suggested is one of the type of mutual funds scheme. These funds offer tax benefits under Sec 80C of income tax, according to which investment up to Rs. 1.50 lakhs is deductable from taxable income

FMP: Fixed maturity plan are type of debt fund where the investment portfolio is closely aligned to the maturity of the scheme. FMPs are somewhat different than a fixed deposit in a bank. FMPs are debt schemes, where the corpus is invested in fixed-income securities

If the applicant is below 18 years of age then Guardians signature is required otherwise not.

Investing is a long-term process and one should not expect immediate returns for the product. The typical investment horizon for an investment in equity and equity linked products ranges from a minimum of 3 to 5 years.

There are many reasons why you should stay invested for a longer time such as erratic market movements during shorter periods which can lead to equity markets giving negative returns, long business cycles, government and regulatory changes, global and local events, micro and macro events and to benefit of power of compounding etc. If you have an investment horizon below this then you should park your money in to safer asset classes such as debt schemes from mutual funds and Bank FDs