Below are my investing snippets / thoughts since January of this year, put out chronologically. This was shared with some of my investor friends over Whatsapp initially; thought of reproducing the same below.
| DATE | INVESTING THOUGHTS / SNIPPETS |
| April 28, 2020 | Trust the accumulation is on!! in case there are any queries, feel free to reach out!!! |
| April 21, 2020 | I have often been asked, especially now: is it a good time to invest now? Money gets made in selecting the right businesses with good solid cash flows, zero or low debt, stable management, and optimal price. Timing the stock market does not enable to make fortune!! Stay put, stay Invested, Stay Safe!!! |
| March 26, 2020 | Hope you have been loading up!!! Gradually of course!! |
| March 20, 2020 | While the stock prices are plunging, another way of look at it is: “It’s on SALE“. Need I tell you what’s to be done!!😝 The only thing which needs to be borne in mind: The SALE may last long (actually, no one knows!!) So, stagger your purchases!! |
| March 13, 2020 | Time to buy again today😁 |
| March 9, 2020 | While markets have been in the turmoil mode including today, it also brings in Pessimism. There are 2 ways of looking at it: 1. Moderating Expectations: The returns which you had expected (based on historical returns) may not pan out. 2. Opportunity Build-up: Lower the stock prices because of greater pessimism, greater is the chance to get a good asset / company at lower price. Choice is yours: Obviously, if you were to look at the screens / stock price movements daily, you may end up pressing the panic button and sell, rather than moderating your expectations or keep building up!! Building up for a long period will enable you to win the marathon, rather than short sprints!! This needs to be done gradually, no one knows how deep the prices would correct!!! Build up gradually!!! |
| March 9, 2020 | Deploy only around 5% of your investible surplus in every fall!! So, you would have at least 20 trading sessions to get to your desired value!! |
| March 6, 2020 | Today, the markets may take a severe beating!! Please don’t panic and sell!! Start becoming greedy 🤫when Mr. Market is nervous and vice versa!!! |
| March 3, 2020 | Too much has been said and written about Coronavirus. Yes, it is dangerous and it’s a fact!! With 2 cases getting reported in India yesterday, the market took a beating once again!! I can observe that some of you are tensed, considering that the stock prices of your investments are in the RED or tending towards that territory. Couple of thoughts: 1. As Jeff Bezos said: “Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can engage in endeavours that you could never otherwise pursue” The moment you start thinking about your investments from a long-term horizon perspective, the oscillating market price will not mean anything to you. 2. As Benjamin Graham, father of Value Investing said, “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” Votes are largely driven by sentiments which are highly susceptible to rapid changes, however, it is the weighing machine which throws accurate results!! 3. The stocks recommended thus far are typically Boring stocks and each of them have survived for close to couple of decades; so, they are not shutting shop anytime soon, with Coronavirus or without it!!! 4. Time to Invest, however, Gradually. After 3 years, you may realize that perhaps, this was the best time to invest!!! 5. Don’t panic sell!! That’s fundamental. In case you have any specific queries, feel free to reach out!! |
| Feb 28, 2020 | What can go wrong? This is one of the most important questions when making an investment. In fact, this is more important than what can go right. One must avoid errors that would wipe out the entire capital, mostly on account of imprudence and error. You don’t know anything’s worth until you know what can go wrong!! Think!! Think!! Think!! |
| Feb 27, 2020 | 3 broad Timeless Investing Principles which have boded well for me: 1. As Howard Marks, one of the investing legends said: “ Investing is a negative art”, if you are able to filter or exclude the ones which you don’t wont in your portfolio, what would be left would be good or great. 2. Time plays a very important factor in investing – What I mean is not ‘timing’, i.e. trying to time the market, but time duration or waiting period. If the investment were to be held for a long-term, despite some oscillations along the way, it becomes friend of a good business. 3. ‘Suno sabki, karo apni’ – “Listen to all, however, do you own homework’. While I may listen/read about what other investors are betting on, I always conduct my own independent research in individual stocks or industries before making any decision. |
| Feb 15, 2020 | What we do at Berkshire is simple. We sit on our ass waiting. The key is to prepare while you wait with extreme patience and discipline. And then act with extreme decisiveness. You won’t find this in finance books because these principles are hard to teach. – Charlie Munger Charlie is Warren Buffett’s partner since 50+ years and has voracious reading habits!! |
| Feb 5, 2020 | Unless you buy a stock at the exact bottom (which is next to impossible), you will be down at some point after you make every investment. Your success entirely depends on how dispassionate you are towards short term stock price fluctuations. Behaviour matters more than many other things, not only in life, but in Investing too!! |
| Feb 4, 2020 | To investors, stocks represent fractional ownership of underlying businesses. The idea is to try and take advantage of the Perceived Value vs Market Value, which at times has a huge divergence. If Perceived Value > Market Price, you should buy the stock and vice versa. The only challenge which now remains is to know that your Perceived Value is correct, rest is easy!! Isn’t it? |
| Jan 30, 2020 | Hi, Hope, you are investing well…the mere fact that you have taken upon yourself to invest in equities is great!! The difference between investing in Equities 10 years from now would be conservatively 50% higher than what you would get by putting in Fixed Deposits!!! If, however, the investment horizon is doubled to 20 years, Equity value would be 2.5X the FD value, again conservatively. Patience has its virtue after all!!! (Re) Start Investing, Be Patient!!! |
| Jan 28, 2020 | “The mere knowing of the assassin’s name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying our hands upon him.” – Sherlock Holmes in Study in Scarlet Similarly, knowing the name of the company to be invested is no good unless you execute the trade. Also, the quantity or value of investment is equally important. I have myself had situations wherein despite having conceived of an investment idea, failed to act upon it; also known as Opportunity Cost However, the 2nd mistake of not putting enough on the Investment idea is more fatal. I had invested in Voltas at a price of around INR 75 per share (yes!!!). Thankfully, it trebled in 1.5 years. I felt very happy, but it was short lived since the amount of money invested was less than 1% of my networth ☹ Good opportunities are hard to come by, when they do arise, bet on it, provided you have done your homework!!! Stay Invested, Opportunities galore, Homework is the key!!! |
| Jan 11, 2020 | “It’s extremely hard to make hundreds of smart decisions throughout the year. In investing, like many aspects of life, less is actually more. One or two great investment ideas in a year are plenty. You need to get rich only once.” Words of wisdom from Mr Buffett!! Need I say more!!! Keep your Investing universe small and concentrated, since it is focus, rather *extreme focus* on a few things/stocks which will make maximum money. Stay focussed, stay invested!!! |
| Jan 9, 2020 | A small quiz: Do you know what’s common between Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes Benz and BMW? Well, some of the answers were: 1. They are cars 2. Each of them is a luxurious car 3. They travel fast (given by my son) 4. Each of them has some Tata enterprise connection. (Yes, JLR is owned by Tata Motors) 5. Each of these cars is used by James Bond (No, JB usually drove Aston Martin, previously owned by Ford Motors, but now owned by some Kuwaiti investors) Obviously, the 1st three are correct answers, however the one which I was looking for was: None of these companies made profits last year, in fact for some years now. JLR incurred a loss of £3.6bn, BMW incurred a loss of $1.6 bn and Benz incurred a loss of $1.3bn. Do you know the reason why? Most of them do not have Pricing power, they may be great brands though!! It doesn’t matter if people recognize the brand, but if the company cannot increase the price of it’s product without the fear of losing its customer, that is when you get pricing power as well as fantastic brand. Think about it!! Which companies increase the price of their products and you still end up paying for it?? |
| Jan 6, 2020 | There are few stock ideas which I am mulling over since some time, keep your dry powder ready. Shall apprise soon. |
| Jan 3, 2020 | Did you know that Dick Fosbury went backwards over the high jump bar for the first time in the Olympics in 1968, winning gold? He was first ridiculed, then mimicked and then eventually made a standard. When you look at companies/stocks which are not doing well and the world is unwilling to look at it, chances of you getting ridiculed by fellow investors and peers is very high, you could then get mimicked by few as the company improves performance and people see some merit. As the stock price improves because of the performance of the company eventually, you will be hailed as a great stock picker and an investor. May we get the strength and the resolve to withstand ridicule, but eventually become victorious. Stay patient despite being ridiculed (while investing as well as in personal lives), for victory is ~almost~ a sure thing!!😌 |
Disclaimer: Please note that these are my personal views. While I am NOT a registered Research Analyst as per SEBI (Research Analyst) Regulations, 2014, all investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into individual stocks or industries before making any decision. In addition, investors are advised that past stock performance is not indicative of future price action.
Brilliant!!!!! You executed it perfectly, understanding and theorizing is easy, execution is difficult which you did exceptionally well.
Thanks Vivek for your feedback and comments!! As Vito Corleone in Godfather has said ” I have learned more in the streets than in the classroom”