Test your investing instincts

What the games test, and why

Investing IQ is ten questions on the mechanics — what a SIP actually is, how long money takes to double at 8%, whether a ₹12 NAV is cheaper than a ₹240 one, which way the expense ratio pulls your return, how short-term equity gains are taxed, what diversification does and does not remove, how fast 6% inflation halves purchasing power, what an index fund is for, and what the riskometer's top band is called. These are the facts a first factsheet assumes you know. Myth or Fact is ten statements people repeat — “a lower NAV is cheaper”, “a SIP guarantees a positive return”, “IDCW is extra income”, “a five-star fund will outperform”, “debt funds can't lose money”, “you need a demat account” — and you call each one, then see the rule that settles it. Spot the Red Flag is the one that saves money: twelve pitches, some legitimate and some not — a guaranteed 24% a year, a personal UPI to send money to, a Telegram group with tomorrow's buys, an NFO sold as cheap at ₹10, “limited slots” in an open-ended fund, daily-credited returns at 1.5% a month — mixed with the things that only sound alarming: a Direct plan's lower TER, a small-cap fund labelled Very High, a fee-only SEBI-registered advisor, a KYC request before the first purchase.

Every answer carries its reason and, where there is one, a link to the glossary term or guide that goes deeper — so a wrong answer is worth more than a right one. Scores are not saved and nothing is submitted; the games are practice for holding a plan through the next fall, not a test of anything else.