“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
It gives me great pleasure to share with you, dear Safal Niveshak tribe member, that today marks the completion of the first year of Safal Niveshak (my third child :-))…an initiative of empowering you to become independent, sensible, and successful in your financial life.
It was on 9th July 2011 that I stepped into the unknown, fearful of what destiny might bring for Safal Niveshak.
Today, as I pushed the “publish” button for the 276th time, I looked back at a wonderful journey filled with excitement, immense learning, new relationships, and creation of lifelong friendships.
Starting with just one reader on 9th July 2011 (that was ‘me’ :-)), the Safal Niveshak Tribe is now 900 tribesmen strong.
I would like to thank each and every one of you for being part of this journey, for being my motivation and inspiration.
Anyways, here are some selections from the year gone by that I wish to highlight:
Most Viewed Posts
- 10 Stocks I Would Want to Leave for My Grandchildren
- An Open Letter to My Daughter
- Real Life Story: How to Increase Your Savings by 9200%
- Are You a Frog in Boiling Water?
- The Best Investment for Your Child (Hint: You Can’t Buy It)
Most Commented Posts
- I Regret…
- Is this Stock the “Next Page Industries”?
- 10 Investing Gems from Peter Lynch’s One Up on Wall Street
- The Return of Uncertainty, and How You Can Deal With It
- 20 Ways I Cut Stress Out of My Investing Life
Top Commentators
As you know, Safal Niveshak is a tribe of like-minded individuals determined to bring about a sea change in their financial lives, and also in the lives of others by way of their contributions to this tribe’s building.
Here are the top ten Safal Niveshak tribesmen who contribute on a regular basis, through their comments, feedback, and ideas (figure in brackets are their comment counts).
- Mansoor (83)
- Vikrant (74)
- Sudhir (39)
- Sanjeev Bhatia (34)
- Sri (30)
- Richfellow (27)
- Ajay (23)
- Karthik (20)
- Dev (16)
- Ramesh (15)
I would like to thank each tribesman on this list, and also those who aren’t here as yet…but continue to contribute towards making this entire initiative worthwhile.
Safal Niveshak 1st Anniversary Contest
As a “thank you” for providing unending support to Safal Niveshak, I invite you to participate in the “Safal Niveshak 1st Anniversary Contest”, where you need to answer just 3 simple questions to get a chance to win some amazing prizes at the end of it.
Here are the three questions you need to answer to be eligible for the prizes.
Please note that your answers to these questions would also help me make your Safal Niveshak experience even better and more rewarding in the future. Thus, I’d love to have your answers for all these questions…
[gravityform id=10 name=SafalNiveshak 1st Anniversary Contest title=false description=false]
(Click here if you can’t see the Contest Form above)
Winner
There will be 3 Winners of this Contest, and that will be decided based on the answer to the “third” question above – “What does being a ‘Safal Niveshak Tribe Member’ mean to you?”
Note that what would matter here are your simple, honest thoughts and not the quality of your language.
Prizes
The first prize winner – or one who sends the best answer to the third question above – will receive a set of these 3 amazing books on investing ever written…
The second prize winner – or one who sends the second-best answer to the third question above – will receive these other 2 amazing books on investing…
The third prize winner – or one who sends the third-best answer to the third question above – will receive this best book on investing ever written…
You can get a chance to win any of these three prizes by completing the above form and submitting before 20th July 2012.
Here’s one and only rule for this contest – The prizes (books) will be delivered only to an Indian address.
Thank you once again!
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~ Robert Frost
As I look back to the year gone by, I feel the need to extend my gratitude to a whole lot of people who made this first year an amazing one for me, and for Safal Niveshak…
- I thank YOU…for being there for Safal Niveshak
- I thank my beautiful little family…for standing beside me like a rock during the most challenging phase of my career
- I thank Graham & Buffett…for without them, the idea for Safal Niveshak wouldn’t have existed
Whether you are a supportive friend, a silent reader or one who enhances the worth of this initiative through comments, feedback, and ideas, I thank you for showing me the way. This last one year wouldn’t have been as amazing and complete without your unending support.
Thanks for a wonderful year! Thanks for being a Safal Niveshak!
By the way, if you do not wish to participate in the “Safal Niveshak 1st Anniversary Contest”, I would still love to hear about your experience with Safal Niveshak, which you can write in the Comments section below.
vishal,
happy birthday greetings to safal niveshak…
wishing safal niveshak many more happy returns…
sure, in the years to come, safal niveshak will go places, empower every retail small investor, create great milestones, what not…
pray the almighty to show his choicest blessings on you for the cause you espoused….
wonderful words of robert frost…let his words keep ringing to awaken the movement…
thanks for everything…vishal.
Many thanks, Sri! And thanks also for being there for the Safal Niveshak movement. Regards.
vishal,
am little undecided on contest…may enter later if feel it is right
disagree with your contests model…
you must reward this prize to top 3 commendators who travelled with you…lottery system like this somehow sounds not proper
pick is mansoor….see his comments tally…fantastic …out of 275 posts, his comments tally of 83 is approximately 1/3. very good score deserving for special appreciation
purely personal feel….vishal..you can ignore this comment of mine. no offense intended…
Great point Sri…and I admit my mistake!
Believe me, I never intended to belittle the contribution of those who’ve walked with me in this journey (and that’s why I mentioned the list above), but then I had planned to reward them in a subsequent contest (which I had plans of launching soon) 🙂
But I take your point here of rewarding the top 3 commentators on Safal Niveshak on this occasion of this initiative’s first anniversary (and I will announce the prize soon). And not just 3, but top 5…which would also include Sanjeev and you who have been great contributors to this tribe’s development through your comments and ideas in the past few months.
By the way, what you mentioned above is one great reason I call Safal Niveshak a “tribe”…because here a tribe member is not worried about his personal interests but about the interests of his fellow tribesmen! So great going! 🙂
I will look forward to you participating in the above contest as well, as this would help me work out the course for Safal Niveshak in the next one year. Regards.
Congratulations Vishal 🙂 Great to see your “child” and our tribe grow one year old, and it’s already been a fantastic journey for me in last 3 months since I first found about Safal Niveshak.
Happy B’day Safal Niveshak 🙂
Happy Birthday Safal niveshak, Lets hope this safal niveshak continues on its journey to make other not so safal niveshaks into really SAFAL niveshaks. Hoping for many many happy birthdays in the future, may your tribe increase along with many more tribesmen and tribeswomen I may add!
Many Happy Returns of the Day, Vishal and may our tribe grow by leaps and bounds in years to come. I congratulate each and every member of Safal Niveshak on this great occassion. Though I have been quite a latecomer :(, somehow I now feel I have always belonged here.
It has been a great initiave and I salute you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom so selflessly.
Best wishes for years to come.
happy birthday and best wishes. sincere laudable efforts on your part and some great contributions from the tribe will ensure the journey is pleasurable.
Though I have entered the contest too, I feel great contributors like Mansoor should also be rewarded like Sri has said, even though I don’t agree with his comment that the contest is like a lottery.
No offence intended, Sri :).
Yes Sanjeev, this Contest must not sound like a lottery or the reason for doing this will get diluted. So, I have a plan in mind.
I will not choose the winners of this contest. Instead, the top 5 commentators – Mansoor, Vikrant, Sudhir, you, and Sri will do it. I will try to work out a model that you guys can use to select the winners.
I hope this sounds fine to all of you. I am all for it!
That would be wrong Vishal. See, I have contested and I feel in due course many others from the list above will also contest, so that would lead to conflct of interest.
What I suggest is – You go ahead with the contest as originally planned. Believe me, no body is going to file any RTI against you after the declaration of result… 🙁
For top commentators, you can plan additional reward as you deem fit later on.
I have a suggestion for that as well, Sanjeev. See here is how we can choose a winner. Assume, there are 6 participants (including the judge, like you), and here are your ranks for them:
1. Rohan
2. Rajiv
3. Roshan
4. Rohit
5. Rakesh
So you won’t rank yourself. Now in the same way, assume that Sri has his rankings as follows:
1. Rajiv
2. Rohit
3. Rakesh
4. Rohan
5. Roshan
Now, we will add the ranks for each participant…so here’s how it will look like:
Rajiv – 2+1 = 3
Rohan – 1+4 = 5
Rohit – 4+2 = 6
Roshan – 3+5 = 8
Rakesh – 5+3= 8
The participants with the 3 lowest points will be the winners.
Now what about you, who is judging the contest? Well, I and the other 4 top commentators will judge you and give our unbiased views.
Sounds doable?
See, I just want to make the winners’ selection more transparent, so this option. Rest I leave with all you tribesmen to decide…whatever you all suggest. Regards.
Dear Vishal
Wishing Safal Niveshak a Happy Birthday I would like to quote”Karwaan badhta gaya,manzilein milti gayi,and sathi milte aur badhte gaye”.I wish as a child grows,he learns new things and grows strong.Same way safal niveshak will accquire more knowledge and will grow strong.Iam runner and that too long distance,so knows the value,what it feels like when there are others who are running with you,distances will feel near,the body wont ache and you will feel thrilled seeing your body achieve the unachievable.Safal Niveshak is also like a Marathon Run,and it feels great when you see people running with you,its not the time that you take to complete the run,buts its the distance that you run,the understanding that you get will running.
Wishing Safal Niveshak for a long run.
Haapy Investing
Reni George
Beautifully Put Reni. Perfect Example or as Maduri Dixit Nene will say “Purrrrrfect”. 🙂
Thanks for your wishes, Reni! You’ve drawn a very nice parallel with the marathon, because Safal Niveshak is indeed a tribe that’s running together towards a common goal of achieving financial freedom. So thanks for the same!
Happy Birthday vishal….Instead of blaming the darkness, If you light a Lamp.. that will be good.
The Lamp is Safal Niveshak… In this dark,murky financial world with full of deception, pitfalls etc .. Safal niveshak is a true beacon..
Thank u Vishal and Safal niveshak…
Special Thanks to commentators for thier usful feedback..
Really surprised to see my name in the top 10 commentor List…
Thank you so much for your appreciation, Karthik! Feels nice to see you up there in the contributors’ list. 🙂
Birthday is a nice day to look back, analyse the past and then plan for the future.
A small birthday gift from my side. Though I am not sure of the source or authenticity but every word is worth its weight in gold.
“Hard work : All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Laziness : A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
Earnings : Never depend on a single source of income.
Spending : If you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.
Savings : Don’t save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.
Accounting : It’s no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.
Auditing : Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.
Risk-taking : Never test the depth of the river with both feet.
Investment : Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
I’m certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I’m equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.
Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life. – Warren Buffet “
Very Nice Gift Sudhir.
We all may have read these many times in the past, but these things have to be revised again and again to condition our mind to retain the beautiful principles contained in these sayings in proper letter and spirit.
Nice Effort Indeed.
Really inspirational and timely principles, Sudhir! Each one of these is a gem. Thanks for sharing!
Wow…Full of wishes…..:) Great to read such wishes…:)
A very very happy birthday….:)
Keep Going..:)
Thank you for your wishes, Shankar!
Many Many Many Many Happy returns of the day and may this forum enlighten all the people who would like to control their finance and investment. May all my future generation read each and every post of the blog and learn from it [ i would definitely have my kids read them when they grow up, that would be on of the task they will have to do when they group up to get their pocket money :)].
Vishal, on behalf of entire tribe a happy birthday to your third child, and thanks for bringing it up for us.
Vik
That was highly motivating, Vikrant! Thanks for being there and supporting Safal Niveshak. You have indeed been one of the rockstars here. 🙂
Regarding the contest, i am definitely going to participate, not for the prize but to let you know what i feel about the blog. and i think every reader should participate.
Congratulations Vishal!
Looking forward to more such birthdays and solid investment ideas 🙂
Keep continuing the good work.
Thank you Dev…for your wishes and for your contribution to this tribe’s building!
Congrats Vishal. Wee need more people like you 🙂