Time makes the rate predictable, not the rupees. A long horizon pulls your return per year toward the average. It does not pull the ending amount toward one number. The longer you hold, the wider the spread of where you can land.

Safe in the long run is a sentence about the rate, not a promise about the result. Equity has paid for patience, so the median climbs. A high median is not a floor. Plan for the band, not the middle of it.

Match the horizon to the goal, then size for the worst tail you would have to live with. A 20 year goal earns the right to hold equity. A 3 year goal does not get safer just because you call it long term.