“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” ~ Isaac Newton

It goes without saying that if the world was minus Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, the idea for Safal Niveshak wouldn’t have existed as well.

Graham and Buffett have put enormous number of ideas into my head, which I have been sharing with you ever since Safal Niveshak was born. Reading their work had made a lot of difference to my life as an investor and human being.

However, there is one more person whom I’ve never mentioned on this platform, but who has been a great influence on the behavioral side of the analyst within me.

[Read more…] about Do You Want to Meet One of India’s Best Value Investors?

Here is what a Safal Niveshak tribesman, Mr. Ramanand, wrote as a comment on my previous post…

“Reading all this (article and comments), as well as various traps such as “Growth Traps” and “Value Traps”, is it any wonder that the Stock Market is just a bunch of “traps” to any investor without a specific edge over others? Specific edge can be things like insider information, front runner, market operator, full time disciplined trader etc.

I just read an article in Yahoo today on Macro vs. Micro by Deepak Shenoy. This is another nail in the coffin of any person wishing to invest his hard earned money into the stock market. If even value investors cannot do a reasonable analysis due to so much uncertainty, is it any wonder that retail participation in the equity markets is declining day by day?

So now, on top of concerns like share price/value, market capitalization, company position, pricing power, market share, growth rate, EPS/ROC/ROE, and management competence….you have to additionally deal with unethical management, corrupt auditors, fudged balance sheets, fake earnings, hidden liabilities…and *NOW* you also have to worry about dollar exchange rates, govt inaction and policy about-turns, oil price shocks, terrorist attacks (both domestic/elsewhere), diplomatic relations *between* foreign countries (India may not be involved at all), Spanish Interest rates(!??!), Greek Utility companies payments (?!??!) and what not.

I’m beginning to wonder whether it is worth remaining in the Markets! Wouldn’t I be better off investing my savings in tangible assets (to protect against inflation), suspend my recommendation services, close my demat/trading account, and stay away from the stock markets for good (of course not making the mistake of coming back just because they went up after a year).

What do you say Vishal? Is this a real possibility now?

Mr. Ramanand, here is my humble reply to your observations, doubts and questions, which I believe must be shared by a lot of other investors as well.

Here’s my presentation titled “The Return of Uncertainty”.

[Read more…] about The Return of Uncertainty, and How You Can Deal With It