 |
Last night, I was looking at my Google Analytics account for Safal Niveshak. This is a tool that helps me know, for instance, which are the most and least visited pages on the website.
I was tracking the visits for the past one month, and something struck my eyes.
While my open letter to my daughter and Prof. Sanjay Bakshi’s interview topped the charts in terms of the number of visits, what lay low was a page that I consider as the “most awesome resource” on the entire Safal Niveshak website.
The page I’m talking about is the…
Safal Niveshak Forum
…which is seeing some intensive action these days.
“Seeing intensive action and is still less visited?” you might wonder.
Well, the reason it is seeing intensive action is because the Safal Niveshak tribesmen who have started using it seem to have fallen in love with it. I’m sure they will vouch for it in the Comments section to this post.
The reason it is less visited is because I’ve never talked about it in the past.
In fact, the real action on the Forum started exactly a month back, when Sanjeev Bhatia, the top commentator on Safal Niveshak till date, posted a question on Infosys – whether the stock presented a good buying opportunity or not.
Since then, we have already discussed or started discussions on four other stocks – VST Industries, Munjal Auto, SRF, and Cera Sanitaryware.
(Note: You can read the entire discussions on the Forum “only” after registering through a simple process, which I’ve explained below.)
Now if you think this is the most interesting section on the Forum, stop that thought right there!
Amazing book reviews
The most impactful section on the Forum, I personally believe, is the one on “Book Reviews, where the Safal Niveshak tribesmen have taken it upon themselves to read and review the core ideas from some of the most important books ever written on the subject of investing.
Here again, Sanjeev started with his review of Pat Dorsey’s “The Little Book That Builds Wealth”, which Prof. Bakshi had recommended in his interview.
Sanjeev has reviewed three chapters of this book till now, and you will be amazed at the enormous number of ideas he has already revealed (for those who have not read the book so far, like me).
The way the book review initiative is progressing, I’m sure it will save a lot of money for me given that the reviews seem better than reading the books. 🙂
Anyways, apart from Sanjeev’s book review, the second review has been taken up by another long-time tribesman, Manish Sharma. Manish is reviewing a little-known but a real gem of a book called “Quality of Earnings” by Thornton L. O’glove.
This is supposedly one of the best books on accounting, and the art of reading financial statements. So if you are interested in learning how to pick stocks after analysing their past, this book – or better still, the review by Manish – is a must-read for you.
Apart from these two books, one more post on this section is by Sunny Gupta, who has posted a review of my interview of Prof. Sanjay Bakshi.
So if you are constrained by time to read my 17,000+ words transcript of Prof. Bakshi’s interview, Sunny has compressed it for you in less than 2,400 words…while still capturing the essence of the entire interview!
Study investing behaviour
The third “happening” section on the Forum is the one on Investment Behaviour & Psychology. Here, Reni George, another avid reader of Safal Niveshak has posted three interesting features on the topic.
You must read Reni’s post on the comparison between the Indian card game of “teen patti” and stock market behaviour.
Ideas on value investing
Finally, one section that has been taken literally by storm by Sunny Gupta (who has reviewed Prof. Bakshi’s interview), is the one on “Value Investing”.
Sunny has taken a section from a post written by Prof. Bakshi on the concept of a “hidden bond inside a stock”, and has written a full-fledged analysis of the same – outlining how he has struck upon a few stocks that he has filtered by screening them using the Graham’s bond idea.
More than the list of stocks he has identified – which anyways require a further, deeper study – the captivating part of this entire post is Sunny’s amazing willingness to share his learning in a comprehensive manner with fellow readers.
Register on Safal Niveshak Forum
If you are already drooling to capture the entire action on the Safal Niveshak Forum (which I believe you must be), you just need to register on it once (it’s free!).
Here’s the simple process to register after you visit the Forum page…
I’m sure you will enjoy being on the Forum and make it an even wonderful place by sharing your investing ideas, inspiration, mistakes, and of course, book reviews. 🙂
That would be truly awesome for the entire Safal Niveshak tribe.
What do you say?
Great Job, Vishal. I was already wondering why our tribesmen are not utilising the full potential of the Forum.
I would also like to point out another underutilized and still a great potent avenue and that is the Saturday Jam. We already know how great discussions have started on the jam. In fact, both the idea of forum itself as well as book review section originated in the Jam only. So I would like to exhort all the fellow tribesmen to spare some time, if possible, to attend the jam. One of the main benefit of Jam is that there are informal discussions, which are more interactive in nature and can relate to an individual’s specific needs. For ex., one of the attendees (name intentionally hidden 😉 ) asked about how to allocate his assets since he has just started in his career. Another one, engaged – in service, asked about building SIP portfolio. So apart from just stock selection and Value Investing, a whole world of investment options is there to discuss.
I also personally agree that the Book Review section is the most fruitful, not only for the readers but also for the Reviewer, a fact I pointed out in our chat too. The thrust is now more on reading it more slowly, more towards grasping the concepts deeply, akin to appearing in an exam 😛 .
Another great benefit of book review section is that it is not possible for any of us to go through such a wide range of books, as constraints of time, information or resources comes into play. You are lucky 😛 in the sense that financial world is your full time job, but for us lesser mortals 😉 , dear apni daal-roti bhi dekhni hai… 😀 . So given so much constraints, it is a great idea to go through the essence of a book in a much lesser time rather than miss it altogether. I hope I am making sense here.
Once again, I would also like to request all the tribesmen to take advantage of the forum and ensure their utmost participation. This will be a win-win situation for all of us. After all, we have just been shown the importance of vicarious learning by Prof. Bakshi…. 🙂
There is a suggestion relating to Book Review. I think we should limit the simultaneous reviews to say 3 or 4 books only. This will not only help the readers in grasping the essence more readily, but will also ensure more fruitful and relevant discussions. Otherwise, what will happen is that there will be so many threads going on simultaneously. You can make a schedule as more and more reviewers queue up (hopefully) and that schedule can be posted in the review section itself. As a particular book review finishes, the next one can take over. Since 3 or 4 reviews will be going on simultaneously, no reviewer will be (and should not be) under pressure to review as fast as possible, thereby hampering the quality of reviews.
Just think over it.
Thanks
I am newbee in investment world, a retail investor. I started investing in 2010 and have experience of a shortlived bull market(6 month) followed by 2+ years of bear market. I must admit your website is an excellent source of information like other blogs from Prof Bakshi, Rohit Chauhan(I got the link to your website from here). I am still exploring your blog but I must admit it is worth a read for all those who love the journey of investment.
I used to put money only in bank FDs which give me 6-7% sure shot return. With persisting inflation at above 10-12%, I started(or say forced, price of chicken biryani got doubled in 2 years) putting money in mutual fund(very bad experience, it started with watching business news channels like Zee Business.. Apka Faaida…:) ), and then into stocks. Value investing applied in principle and in practice is definitely going to make a lot of successful investors. Although I want seriously to be in this league of value investor club, with limited time and knowledge, it has not been my style of investing or picking up a stock. I put money (which i dont need in another 1 year) in top 4-5 large cap stocks from every sector, buy and hold, if share price goes below 25-30% of purchase, then average out, barring few duds like suzlon, unitech, gmr, etc where averaging dont work at all. I dont follow any specific recommendation(I dont understand many of the terms that they use) from any tv channel, broking house(not many friends, relatives putting money in stock), etc,etc although I watch/read them. This has been my strategy and in these 2+ years my portfolio has not given any significant gain, or loss(-5% notional loss in portfolio as I write, the losses in infra and power largely got compensated by auto and fmcg sector, it was down 20% when sensex was at 14500 level not so long ago). Looking at hindsight (and which my parents always say)Bank FD is best and I should not have invested in stocks/mutual funds. But I know it is not correct at all. I have to put right amount of money and time in improving my competency and I have to read a lot of personal blogs like yours.
I just downloaded ebooks of Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor, they were mentioned both in your blog and Rohits’ blog as must reads, as bibles of value investing. Lets see what I can get out of these books in theory and how much in practice. If you think at an early stage of value investing I should start looking at some other ebook, please let me know.
Anyways, congratulations again for your journey, from being a stock market analyst to making Indian Retail Investors more Smart, more Informed.
Thanks,
Bibs
True Vishal… Its one of the most useful areas but under utilized… Thanks for Bhatiaji for starting the activity…
I am unable to login. Its showing only for a member who is registered for mastermind course can login.. ;(