Wit. Wisdom. Value Investing.
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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.
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 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.
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.
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.
[Read more…] about What Nobody Told You About Financial Freedom
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.
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.
Okay, people change all the time.
School back-benchers turn around, finish college with top scores, get jobs or start businesses and lead mature, responsible lives.
Introverts move out of their shyness and make friends.
Stammerers get over their difficulties and become great speakers.
Alcoholics stop drinking and become mature.
Criminals convert to religion and leave the life of crime behind.
Lazy and selfish people become altruistic and devote their lives to the service of others.
Sinners become saints.
Traders who cannot see beyond an hour become investors (rare, but still) who see beyond years.
My 8-year-old son Chaitanya, like most kids his age, paid little attention as I showed him how to make a paper elephant for what seemed like the hundredth time. I said, “Fold the paper into half, then fold here, and then here.”
As I was talking, he kept looking at everything except at what I was doing. He fidgeted and played with his pencil. I kept pulling his attention back to what we were doing and my constant refrain was, “Pay attention!”
Ultimately, I lost my patience, and moved on to reading a book.
It’s not that Chaitanya is uninterested all the time. He is completely focused when he reads his favorite books, or when he is playing with his Lego blocks. But at other times, asking him to focus is an exercise in frustration.
Now if you think kids with their terribly short attention spans are tough to deal with, consider this. In 2000, the average human attention span was 12 seconds i.e., we could focus on any one particular thing just for 12 seconds before being distracted or allowing our minds to wander. If you think that was terribly low, please note that this number has now fallen to just eight.
When I look back to that time when I lost my patience on Chaitanya and moved onto reading a book, I realize that I was onto a second book in the next five minutes.
[Read more…] about Long Term Investing in the Age of Small Attention Spans
I read this story recently about a man who went fishing in his boat. After some waiting, something tugged on the line. He got it out.
He saw the fish had silver and gold-coloured fins. It was very beautiful. He put it in the boat, even as the fish started struggling for life.
Then, to his surprise, the fish spoke, “Let me go into the river. Just put me back in the water. I will give you three wishes. You can ask for anything but put me back in the water now.”
The man thought for a few minutes. The fish was struggling for life, getting weaker and weaker.
Then he said, “Okay make it five wishes, I’ll let you go.”
The fish said, “No, three.” Its voice was already weak.