Blog on Value Investing | Safal Niveshak

An Open Letter to My Daughter

My dearest Kavya,

These past seven-and-a-half years seem to have gone by like the blink of an eye.

You’ve gone from a newborn princess cradled in my arms to a small princess experiencing the joy and independence that life can bring.

I can still recall the moment I got the news of your birth. I was not by your side then, but I felt like the happiest father on earth. Your mother and I marveled at your red cheeks, wrinkled fingers, and your intense eyes.

Your birth gave me the experience of my lifetime…an experience that holds the most precious place in my heart.

How to Invest When the Stock Market is Sinking?

Let me create some fear if you aren’t fearful as yet.

India’s economy is going downhill, fueled by a rising deficits, and falling rupee, governance, and hopes.

Foreigners are taking note, and pulling money from their Indian investments.

Led by this, the stock market is tumbling. The Sensex is down almost 22% or 4,600 points from its last peak in November 2010 (18 months).

Some so called ‘safe stocks’ are down even more – like BHEL is down 59%, L&T is down 46%, Tata Steel is down 36%, and Infosys is down 23% (since Nov. 2010).

How can such a scenario not trouble even the most sensible of long term investors?

Is it sane to invest during such bad times?
Should you sit on the sidelines?
If not, how should you invest in these volatile times?

I tried to provide answers to all these questions in Safal Niveshak’s Friday Night Facebook Jam…

…which finished just an hour back.

Click here to read the transcript of today’s session if you couldn’t participate.

Click here to read the transcript of last Friday’s session.

The next session of the Friday Night Facebook Jam will be held on 1st June 2012 between 7 PM and 9 PM on Safal Niveshak’s Facebook page.

Block your calender!

70 Reasons to Stop Complaining about Rising Inflation (Plus 1 More)

Emergency Post I know…I know how much you cursed the government last night for raising petrol prices by Rs 7.5 per litre!

I know how much you’ve started loving all those ‘revolutionaries’ who are calling for a nationwide protest against these hikes!

It’s funny to see all those queues outside petrol pumps with people waiting to get their vehicles pumped up with as much fuel as possible…as if that is the only fuel they will need for the next several years. (They must’ve burnt more fuel waiting to get their tanks filled up!)

3 Investing Lessons from Facebook IPO No One is Talking About

Let me start by repeating what has already been repeated somewhere else. Facebook just raised US$ 16 billion in its historic IPO.

It sold 421 million shares for US$ 38 each, a price that valued the company at a mammoth US$ 104 billion, or 107 times its profits in the last year (P/E of 107 times!).

Now how much is US$ 104 billion in market cap? Well that’s 25% more than the combined market cap of India two biggest companies (by market cap) – TCS and Reliance Industries.

I’m a Facebook fan, only and only because of the connections it has helped me create with my friends and readers (that it can become a pastime or is dangerous for kids is another point of discussion). I’m on it for business reasons mostly, but I’m on it.

Like just last Friday, I conducted the first session of Safal Niveshak’s Friday Night Facebook Jam…where we had some great discussion around investing (Check out a part of the discussion here).

You can join the jam this coming Friday evening (25th May), between 7 PM to 9 PM.

Anyways, no matter what everyone is saying about Facebook and its IPO, I don’t believe the company is a fad, at least not technically — it’s been around too long.

Safal Niveshak Radio: How to Invest When Fear Runs High

Here is an email I received from a reader of The Safal Niveshak Post last week…

Dear Vishal,

I have been an investor in Indian stock markets for the past 10 years, but no other time in the past have I felt the fear of investing as I’m fearing now. With so much global uncertainty, problems in India, and the way markets are behaving these days, I am not sure how to conduct myself with respect to my investments.

Can you help me in this regard?

I thought of writing a post as a reply to this email, but then worked on this short radio show (podcast).

Just click on the ‘play’ button below to listen to the podcast (and let me know your view on this medium of communication in the Comments section below).
[audio:https://www.safalniveshak.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fear.mp3]

If you can’t see the button above, click here to listen to the podcast.

My Stock Investment Philosophy

My Stock Investment Philosophy While I have discussed my principles, experiences and learning as an investor through various posts in the past, some readers have asked for everything at one place.

So here is my investment philosophy for stocks…developed through practice over the past nine years…all at one place.

You might not agree to some of the parts of this philosophy note. But as I said, this is ‘my’ personal investment philosophy, which suits my personality as an investor. And you are completely different from what I am.

Anyways, here I go…

Some Advice for the Young…and Broke

Young and Broke I generally don’t like offering advice on this platform – Safal Niveshak is all about sharing my experiences and learning as an investor and manager of my own money. So the headline of this post seems a bit awkward to me.

But then, what follows is my response to some common claims that I’ve heard from a lot of well-educated and confident (yet broke) young people…and I was one of them a few year back. (I’m still educated and confident, but have taken care of that ‘broke’ part :-))

Here are some things I’ve been hearing all around from the young with respect to their careers and finances, and my thoughts on their thoughts…

Psychology of a Stock Market Loser

Here’s part of a conversation I had last weekend with a friend who wanted me to help him out with his loss-making stocks. Let’s call him Rohan.

Me: Why are you so depressed?

Rohan: I hate my stocks.

Me: Oh, another member of the pretty big ‘I hate my stocks’ club?

Rohan: I’m sick of looking at my stocks. And given that the markets are falling, I haven’t looked at my portfolio for days!

Me: What stocks do you own at the moment?

Rohan: Don’t want to show.

Real Life Story: How to Increase Your Savings by 9200%

Most queries I’ve received on Safal Niveshak over the past ten months have been from young men, either newly married, or already with one child. And most of their questions have revolved around…

How do I start saving and investing money?
How do I plan for a well-structured financial life?
How do I meet my life goals?

While I have responded to these queries, here is the real life story of a close friend (let’s call him Ravi) who was in the same fix almost 9 years ago, how he has been progressing well towards his financial goals (at least what it seems as of now), and how he has grown his savings by a massive 9200% over four stages of his life.

Start Worrying about Your Personal Finances. Seriously!

Last Saturday, I was amongst a group of young architects (age-group of 25 to 35), lecturing on the art of managing one’s own personal finances, and the need to start saving and investing as early as possible.

Lecture on Personal Financial Planning at DesignWorks

At the end of it, I asked them, “So are you worried after listening to what I said?”

Some were surprised to hear this. “Worried? Why?” one of them asked.

“Indeed, I am very worried!” said another.

“Worried, and excited,” said the third.