1. Gold is real money
Everything else is paper, which they can print as much as possible. But they can’t print gold. Also gold is the only currency that has survived more than 100 years. In a world where all returns are fake, and momentary, gold provides the only real return.

2. It’s highly liquid
Apart from the stability gold provides to your portfolio, it is traded around the globe 24 hours a day. With gold, you possess an international currency which can always be sold around the world at any time. Plus, with the coming of Gold ETFs, now you can buy and sell gold on the stock exchanges, as easily as you buy or sell your stocks.

3. Worried about the rising geopolitical tensions?
The deteriorating conditions in the Middle East, revolts in the US and Europe, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and the growing conflict between the US and China headline the geopolitical issues, which could explode at any time. A fearful public has a tendency to gravitate towards gold. Before they do, why don’t you?

But how much?
“How much gold should I have in my portfolio?” you may ask.

Not more than 5-10% of your financial savings. See, you must definitely have this much gold in your portfolio for the reasons mentioned above. But the fact remains that in a growing economy like India, sound and solid businesses provide a greater opportunity to grow your wealth in the long term.

So, good quality stocks and mutual funds are your best route for wealth creation.

Gold, on the other hand, is an excellent way for wealth preservation.

So if you don’t have gold in your portfolio, buy now…but have a limit to how much you buy of it (and let your wife know that limit :-)).

A lot of people must have told you what my parents had drilled down in me during my student days.

It is that you must find a promising career that pays you a decent living so that you can live happily ever after.

But they may not have told you that in the long run, it’s not just how much money you make that will determine your future prosperity.

It’s how much of that money you put to work by saving and investing it.

You see, the best time to start investing is when you are young.
[Read more…] about Are You Young Enough to Become a Crorepati?

Warren Buffett, whom the world knows as the best stock market investor, wasn’t as famous in 1969. But he was already a millionaire then, and was on the verge of retiring from his investing career.

Till then, Buffett was managing his private investment firm – Buffett Partnership – and was doing pretty well for his investors.

But in May 1969, he wrote a heavy-hearted and an apologetic letter to the members of his partnership, warning them of his “intention to retire.”

Buffett complained about the “seemingly barren investment world” and the “increasingly short-term oriented” speculative market.

That environment, he said, had “generally become more negative and frustrating as time has passed.”
[Read more…] about Forbes on Warren Buffett: A Brilliant Collection of Articles on the Master

Led by 850 points gain in the Sensex, Indian stock market rose to its 3-week high by the end of this week’s trading.

These gains were led by improved earnings guidance from the technology major Infosys, and slower-than-expected growth in factory output that seemed to have fuelled speculation the central bank may halt its interest rate increases.

Data Source: Yahoo Finance
Despite this week’s rise, the Sensex is still down around 17% this year (since January).

The question on top of mind of most investors I meet these days is – “Are Indian stock markets cheap now?”
[Read more…] about Are Indian Stock Markets Cheap Now?

One of the rituals of being a stock market analyst is that you must analyze the quarterly results of each and every company that is under your research coverage.

The analysis report has to be sent to clients the very same day, as the target is always to be the ‘first to market’.

I was part of this ritual for 8 years, or 32 quarters. At any point in time during these 8 years, I had around 20-25 large and small companies under my coverage.

In short, over these years, I wrote around 650-800 result analysis reports. If that was not enough, there was a considerable amount of time spent listening to managements through conference calls that were organized after the results came out.
[Read more…] about The Simplest Way You Can Question a Company’s CEO