India celebrates many festivals among which HOLI is one of the most colourful and loved festivals across the country. The day is filled with colours and fun and frolic and marks the beginning of spring, it symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. This festival of colours also gives us some money lessons – 

• Colours of HOLI – Holi is celebrated with diverse colours, imagine if we celebrated it with just one colour, it would not be as vibrant and colourful.  This reminds us to have a diversified investment portfolio. As the saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket”, invest in varied levels of risk basis the time horizon. This gives you growth and protection from the uncertainty of the market.
• Play Safe Holi – Adulterated colours can cause harm to the skin, eyes and if consumed by mistake other health hazards. It is always advisable to use organic, natural colours to play Holi and add joy to your celebration. This teaches us to approach investing cautiously, to make sound decisions based on what we know and not just hearsay. Always study the market and don’t take hasty decisions on the rise and fall of the market. One can even consult a financial advisor for guidance on investments.
• Holika Dahan – Triumph over evil – Holika Dahan signifies the defeat of evil and the triumph of good. The lesson that we can take from this is to do away with the bad debts. Get rid of your high interest loans like personal loans and  credit card loans. This needs to be done thoughtfully and should not be a hasty decision.
• Celebrate with Sweets – Festivals are incomplete without an array of sweets to consume.  These delicacies are prepared with weeks of planning, hard work and love and the family patiently waits for them to be prepared.  The takeaway from this simple pleasure of life is to plan your investment in advance with background checks and once the investment is done, give it time to grow and see the wealth build and reap the sweet benefit of your investments. More often than not, we fail to make profits in the market because our convictions tend to falter. 
• Rejoice with family and friends – Festivals are another reason to meet one’s family and friends and catch up with each other. In the same way one should frequently visit one’s portfolio and do a sanity check of the investments and take any necessary action required based on the market status.

The financial lessons that HOLI teaches us are to diversify investments, clear debts, invest wisely, have patience and keep track of your finances. If one takes a close look at life, there is a lesson to be learnt even in the smallest of things. With these takeaways, now enjoy the HOLI with colours, food, friends and family!