Archives for October 2022

Here’s your chance to showcase your devil’s advocate skills to the Safal Niveshak tribe, help others understand what can permanently lose them their capital, and in the process win a prize if your entry gets chosen amongst the best.

Contest Rules

1. Write a max. 1000 words SELL or AVOID report on a listed Indian company of your choice (BUY reports or those longer than 1000 words won’t be accepted)
2. You must submit ONLY one report
3. Deadline for report submission is 20th November 2022
4. Email your report in a Word file to vishal[at]safalniveshak[dot]com with the subject line as – “Value Investing Contest 2022 – Company Name – Your Name”
5. The stock must have a market capitalization of more than Rs 5,000 crore
6. The idea must be well researched (by you). Your analysis must cover these areas:
   • Company’s business
   • All your reasons why one must avoid/sell the stock

The report would be exclusive to Safal Niveshak. You must not have published it on some other site. But once the report is published on Safal Niveshak, you may post an abstract at other places and link to the full report on Safal Niveshak.

Evaluation & Rewards

I will evaluate each submitted entry ONLY on the depth and simplicity of analysis, though good presentation and proper language is more than welcome (would save me editing time).

There are three prizes to be won (delivery in India only) –

• 1st Prize – Books of choice worth ₹5,000/-
• 2nd Prize – Books of choice worth ₹3,000/-
• 3rd Prize – Books of choice worth ₹2,000/-

All submitted entries would be published on Safal Niveshak (the author can remain anonymous if he/she wants).

This contest is now open. Remember, the deadline for submission is 20th November 2022.

I wish all tribe members of Safal Niveshak a very happy Vijayadasami or Dussehra. As per Hindu tradition, today marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. Today also marks the victory of Lord Rama over demon Ravana.

Consider Ravana. He is depicted and described as having ten heads and as a follower of Shiva. He is a great scholar, a capable ruler and a maestro of the veena, but someone who wished to overpower the devas. His ten heads represent his knowledge of the six shastras and the four Vedas.

A negative interpretation of Ravana’s ten heads are the ten emotions or senses in humans –

1. Kama (Lust),
2. Krodha (Anger),
3. Moha (Delusion),
4. Lobha (Greed),
5. Mada (Pride),
6. Matsar (Envy),
7. Manas (Mind),
8. Buddhi (Intellect),
9. Chitta (Will), and
10. Ahamkara (Ego)

When it comes to investing, some of these emotions stand in between the investor and his long-term success.

As the story of Ravana depicts, the mind tends to shun all things good for our life and seek all things bad for our life. To attain wisdom, one of the most important things we must do is witness the tricks of the mind, and avoid playing the wrong hand as much as possible.

In the illustration that follows, I have tried to depict the ten emotions, or the ten demons, or the ten tricks of our minds, when it comes to investing. Print it, paste it on your work desk, and look at it often.

No investor can claim to master or kill these demons, but a knowledge of these residing within you is, I believe, pretty helpful.