I Disclose

We are in a bull market, without doubt.

The index made up of subscribers to my investment newsletter The Safal Niveshak Post (let’s call it ‘SN Index’) has outperformed the BSE-Sensex and has crossed the critical resistance level of 36,000. The CAGR of this index over the past six years since it was launched has been 475%! This is given that it started with a base value of 1 (one) subscriber, which was me (see how good looking CAGRs are created!).

Anyways, given the buoyancy in the broader markets over the past few months, handsome gains have also been seen in the SN Index in recent times. Just over the past twelve months, the index has moved from 25,000 to 36,000 compared to the BSE-Sensex that has managed a rise from 28,000 to 32,000.

Given these stupendous, outperforming gains in the SN Index, it has also attracted a lot of new subscribers, many of whom may have come with a lot of expectations (not their mistake, but bull market’s). A lot of them have emailed me asking for my stock recommendation and money management services, while some have questioned my intention of teaching value investing instead of simply providing stock tips.

Anyways, some old timers tell me that the SN Index is heading rapidly towards the 50,000 mark (it’s their love for me, I know) while some have also quoted a figure of 100,000 to be reached by the end of 2018 (now that’s irrational exuberance, you see).

My eyes are, however, fixated at 2027. However, unlike some of my analyst friends who are using 2027 to value supremely priced stocks, I am following Jeff Bezos who advices…

If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people. But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you’re now competing against a fraction of those people, because very few companies are willing to do that. Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can engage in endeavors that you could never otherwise pursue.

Not seven, I am looking for the next ten years in building SN. And like all long terms plans, I am sure there will be few takers of the same. I am also sure a lot of subscribers who have joined recently with great expectations from SN – derived from the bull market in stocks – will be disappointed along the way. But that’s fine for them and me because good long-term relationships are built only when the frequencies of both partners match.

Especially for such subscribers (and in their own interest) who have joined SN over the past few months, it’s important that I share my disclosure policy clearly, lest they remain confused and feel dejected, and unsubscribe out of frustration.

Not just with a view to preparing myself, I’ve created the following disclosure policy that will help you understand where I come from and what you must expect/not expect from everything I do on SN.

Now, this is where I am supposed to put all of that legal disclosure jargon, right? Nah! How about some easy to understand language that actually makes sense?

Let’s get started with my disclosure for Safal Niveshak (the site).

Safal Niveshak’s Disclosure Policy
I. Short Version
Boss, it’s your money and you alone are responsible for what you do with it using what you read here or outside. So be sensible, invest wisely, and please don’t blame me for any losses you incur after reading this site.

II. Long Version
Purpose: This site is purely for the purpose of teaching its readers on stock market investing, and occasionally on personal finance and life. But then, a wise man said, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” So, beware of what you read here, because I teach.

Blog Posts: I do not write blog posts to generate revenue. In other words, no one can pay me to create a post for their product or service. That is just unpleasant and there is enough of that going on in the industry already without having me do it too.

Also, the blog posts you read on the site express my personal opinions and the opinions of other contributors. A contributor’s opinion is his/her opinion, mine opinion is mine…makes sense?

Premium Content: Here is what helps me run my house and also save money – premium content, which includes Mastermind online course, Value Investing Almanack newsletter, and investing workshops.

I don’t hard-sell any of this stuff. Whenever you see me talking about the benefits you can derive from any of these and if you are not interested, simply close your email or browser. But please don’t unsubscribe in haste from my free newsletter! I send a lot of valuable stuff apart from few reminders for subscribing to my premium content.

As far as my reminder emails are concerned (“last day to sign up”, “few hours left” etc.), please note that I hate to send them. But then, most of us wait on the sidelines till the last day, and then want to join after the deadline date. So please bear with me for such reminder emails. My intention is not to harass you.

Finally, if you have a complaint that I should not be charging money for my content because you think everything is available for free on the Internet, the best thing for you to do is to stop reading my work and search everything that’s available for free on the Internet. We live in a free country, you see.

The work I do is what I am passionate about. But who said passion should not help you earn money? I have bills just like you. Thank you for understanding!

Affiliate Links: The only other way I get paid (peanuts) through this site is when you buy a book (or anything you don’t need) through an Amazon link I share deliberately with my honest book recommendations (I only recommend what I personally buy). I give away 100% of that money for the betterment of underprivileged, people unlike you and me. So see, I ultimately don’t get anything, directly or indirectly, from the posts I write.

Advertisements: The site is, and always be, free of advertisements. Most of them anyways sell snake oil. You may end up buying it from elsewhere, not from here.

Emails: If you email me anything – questions, suggestions, abuses – all of the information in your email is mine. Of course, I will seek your permission if I want to quote you (not when you email me abuses). But you can rest assured that I will never share your personal details, including email address, with anyone. I hate it when someone does this to me!

Advice/Recommendations: I don’t advise anything on this site, except books, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger (and of course, happy and healthy living). And whenever I write about stocks, it’s purely from an educational perspective (when you lose money on my analysis, it’s educational, right?).

What is more, my stock analysis reports may often cause a reaction, and acting on them can be injurious to your wealth. So please don’t act on them! Use your own mind, and you may also consider using the mind of an honest, independent, trustworthy financial advisor (okay, that’s a rare breed).

SEBI Registration Status: I, Vishal Khandelwal, am a registered Research Analyst as per SEBI (Research Analyst) Regulations, 2014 (Registration No. INH000000578). But that does not mean, in any case, that I am intelligent and that you should trust me more than what you would do without this status.

Disclaimer: I may invest in shares from time to time in my personal capacity, and I will never tell when and where I invest. But if I write about something where I’ve invested, I’ll tell you upfront why you must not invest there.

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Hopefully, the above statement of disclosure clears up any misunderstanding you may have about my blog posts, premium content, and everything else about Safal Niveshak. If you have any questions, you can send me an email at vishal[at]safalniveshak[dot]com. Just remember what I said about emails. 😉