A 22 years old investor asked me last week, “What should I do to compound at 40%?”
I paused before answering, because the honest response is rarely the one people want.
I told him this. If you are okay with roughly 13-14% CAGR. Systematic investing into good mutual funds, patience, and time will quietly do the job.
If you want 20% CAGR, the game changes slightly. You still rely on funds, but you become opportunistic. You add more when markets fall, when headlines feel uncomfortable, when SIPs test your conviction. You learn to lean into fear instead of avoiding it.
At 25% CAGR, effort becomes unavoidable. You start tracking what HNI investors are buying. You study small-cap/microcap stocks, read annual reports, and try to understand businesses instead of just owning tickers. You begin forming opinions, not just allocations.
But the moment you say you want 40-50% or more, you should understand what you’re signing up for.
You are leaving the comfort of consensus.
You will buy when others doubt. You will sit through volatility that feels unnecessary and unfair. You will look wrong for long stretches of time. There will be no templates, no ready-made lists, no perfect screeners to hide behind.
At that level, copying stops working. Original thinking begins.
Higher returns are rarely about better information. They are usually about stronger conviction built from your own work.
And very few people truly want that life once they see the price attached to it.