Lesson 1 of 1 · 7 min
The test
Five questions that separate education from a sales pitch, whoever is talking — who pays them, what they are registered as, and what they refuse to say.
Most of the people you see explaining money online hold no registration at all. That is perfectly legal — as long as what they do is genuinely education and not advice. Anyone advising on securities for consideration in India must be registered with SEBI as an Investment Adviser or Research Analyst.
| Question | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|
| Who pays them? | Stated openly. If a broker or an AMC pays per signup, every recommendation is compromised. |
| Are they registered, and as what? | Either a real registration number, or a plain statement that they hold none and give no advice. |
| Do they show returns or portfolios? | A serious educator does not. Performance screenshots are the oldest device there is. |
| Do they name specific products to buy? | Explaining how a category works is education. "Buy this fund" is advice. |
| Do they ever say "it depends" or "I do not know"? | Certainty sells and is almost always the tell. |
Myth
“They showed a screenshot of their profits, so their method works.”
False
Screenshots are trivially edited, and even a genuine one proves nothing: in any large group, someone had a good month by chance. What you never see is the trades that lost, because nobody posts those. This is survivorship, and it is the entire engine of the category.
Match them up
Five words that decide who may say what
Pick a term, then pick what it actually means.
Pick a term on the left.
But the screenshots look real — I checked the dates
KabirTara
Kabirasking
Some of those screenshots look genuine to me. Dates, order numbers, the lot. If the profit really happened, why does it prove nothing?
Taraexplaining
Because you are seeing one person out of a very large number, and you are seeing them only because they won. Ask how many began. Nobody ever posts that figure.
Kabirasking
So even an honest screenshot tells me nothing?
Taraexplaining
An honest screenshot of one good month is honest about one good month. It says nothing about the method — and the method is the thing being sold to you.
Kabirasking
Then how do I judge anyone at all?
Taraexplaining
By who pays them, and by what they are prepared to admit. Someone who names no product, publishes no returns and says 'I do not know' when they do not know has nothing riding on your next decision.
Check yourself
1 / 3
Kabir asks
A creator explains index funds clearly and never names one. A broker pays them for every signup through their link. What does that payment change?
Done reading?
Saved in this browser — and finishes the course.