Vishal Khandelwal

COVID, Investing, and You: A Few Questions Answered

Announcement: Admission to the 11th batch of my premium, online course in Value Investing – Mastermind – is now open, and will remain so till 25th March. Click here to pay your price and join now.

Amidst the Coronovirus (COVID) outbreak and the reality of it becoming a serious health emergency, here are answers to few key questions I have received from readers recently.

You won’t find perfect answers below, but this is just my attempt to help you get over your fears, which may otherwise lead you to act in haste, which can cause some damage to your process of long term wealth creation.

Let’s start right here.

My Notes on Warren Buffett’s 2019 Letter to Shareholders

Warren Buffett recently released his 2019 letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway.

I have prepared some notes on the letter. Click here to download my notes.

My Talk at Value Investing Summit 2020, Kuala Lumpur

I recently spoke at the Value Investing Summit 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, on the subject of ‘financial freedom.’

Click here to watch the video of my talk, or watch below.

There are intermittent audio issues due to a problem with the microphone. But I know you are wise enough to not complain about the same and instead able to connect those dots looking at my slides and your own wisdom. 🙂

Thanks for your time!

The Getting Rich Quadrant

The secret to getting rich is simple.

Of course, I am not talking about owning a bank, or inheriting riches, or marrying someone rich as the secrets to getting there.

My simple secret of getting rich that is available to all is – start early, spend less than you earn, and invest that surplus well for the long run.

Now, consider the middle part of the equation, that is, spending less than you earn.

Budget: Much Ado About Nothing

Much ado about nothing – If you describe a situation as much ado about nothing, you mean that people are making a lot of fuss about something which is not very important.

In his book Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Taleb wrote that “news makes idiots of us because it gives us confidence, not insight.” Like a PhD in macroeconomic theory. Now is one such time of the year in India, when after the Union Budget is announced, a lot of us are feeling and behaving like PhDs in macroeconomic theory.

Like a school friend of mine, who called up recently to ask my views on the Budget, and before I could say, “I don’t have any view!” lectured me for thirty minutes on his views.

“How should my investment strategy change with the Budget announcements?” he asked near the end of the call.

Value Investing Workshop & Camp Millionaire: Mumbai

Value Investing Workshop is a one-day session where I teach the most important principles and practices of value investing and move through an entire structure and process of picking up high-quality stocks using these principles.

Apart from teaching the process of picking the right kind of businesses using the rules of value investing, the Workshop also covers the core ideas in Behavioural Finance – how cognitive biases hurt our investment returns and steps an investor must take to minimize the mistakes on this account.

Overall, I have sifted through a mountain of amazing books, documents, lectures, plus my experiences in investing to bring to the table the most important practical ideas in becoming a sensible, successful, long-term investor.

The Mumbai session of Value Investing Workshop is on Sunday, 8th March 2020.

Click here to know more about and register for the Mumbai Value Investing workshop.

Camp Millionaire is our game and activity-based financial education program for children of age group 8 to 14 years. Kids learn how to make, manage, multiply and donate their money wisely first hand in this day-long program and they have fun doing it.

The main objective of this program is to provide a stimulating, fun-filled, learning environment where kids can feel safe exploring and learning the various principles, ideas, and skills needed to create a financially successful and responsible life.

The Mumbai session of Camp Millionaire is on Sunday, 19th April 2020.

Click here to know more about and register for the Mumbai Camp.

Email me at vishal[at]safalniveshak[dot]com if you have any questions around these workshops.

The Math of Debt

Alcohol math. Wine multiplies itself by itself. The more you have, the more you are likely to have. And if it’s hard to stop at one glass, it will be impossible at three. Addition is multiplication. ~ Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

Debt math is exactly like that. The more you have, the more you are likely to have. And if it’s hard to stop early, it will be impossible later.

Economics has a term for this – debt spiral, which is a situation where an individual, or a business, or a country sees ever-increasing levels of debt. This increasing levels of debt and debt interest becomes unsustainable, eventually leading to debt default.

[Read more…] about The Math of Debt

What Nobody Told You About Financial Freedom

I have not yet read Matt Haig’s book Reasons to Stay Alive, but here is an excerpt a friend shared, which instantly touched a chord –

The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind.

To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.

Ten Rules to Live By in 2020

I wish you a very happy, healthy, peaceful, and fulfilling 2020.

Life’s moving really fast (it’s nearly nine years since I started Safal Niveshak), so let me not waste another moment and thank you for being here for me.

As I begin 2020, here are a few things I aspire to do each day. These are more of notes to myself than advice to anyone. But if you wish to take it, I won’t mind at all. 🙂

Here I start.

51 Ideas from 2019

Dear Tribe Member,

Trust 2019 treated you well. It certainly was good for Safal Niveshak. The tribe crossed 60,000 members.

Anyways, right before the year ends, I thought I’d share a handful of ideas I’ve learned, re-learned, and wrote about in the past twelve months. Here are 51 of them categorized under the subjects of investing, learning, and life. I hope you find these useful, as much as I did.

[Read more…] about 51 Ideas from 2019