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Short Takes

Investing and watching India play cricket

I like to approach my investing with the same mindset that I approach watching India play cricket abroad. The keyword there is ‘abroad’.

See, when India plays abroad (and I mean the SENA countries – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), my expectations are low. When they do better, I am elated, and when they lose, I don’t get too depressed.

I think watching our investment portfolio should be the same. Having realistic expectation means, a boom market (like now) makes us real happy, but a downturn does not faze us much. There is, let’s just say, downside containment of our disappointments 🙂

On the other hand, if we look at our portfolio like watching India play at home (like right now), we expect too much, every defeat is a an unexpected disaster, and a win feels like just ok.

Not good feelings; And makes us act rashly with our portfolio (like ‘resting’ Rohit Sharma :-/ )

How do we form the right expectations, you ask? Glad you did – please read this article from our archives – it’ll set you right!

Srikanth Meenakshi March 18, 2021 1 Comment

Stocks

Suryoday Small Finance Bank IPO – Invest or avoid?

Small finance banks, with their focus on small ticket loans for urban and semi-urban India, are a play on the underpenetrated market for financial products in India. Yet, after stellar performances soon after their IPOs many of these stocks have seen their valuations levelled. So, when a new candidate – Suryoday Small Finance Bank IPO (Suryoday) comes out in an overcrowded primary market, how should it be judged? Read on.

Vidya Bala March 16, 2021 4 Comments

Stocks

Kalyan Jewellers’ IPO – Should you invest?

Kalyan Jewellers’ IPO is upon us and Aarati is here with the most detailed analysis and opinion piece on the offering – Should you buy or not? Either way, read this article first!

Aarati Krishnan March 15, 2021 12 Comments

Short Takes

Prof Scott Galloway

It’s not easy to impress me.

OK, that’s not true. I am not that hard to impress; so let me rephrase that.

It’s not easy to impress me a lot in a short time.

But that’s what happened today – I did not wake up on a Sunday morning looking to get impressed by the writings of a boomer professor in New York.

First, I watched a clip from Friday’s Bill Maher show (big fan) – one guy that spoke was very animated, and very impressive.

Srikanth Meenakshi March 14, 2021 2 Comments

Short Takes

Short take: What the SEBI’s circular on perpetual bonds means

SEBI’s recent circular on restrictions on both valuations and holdings of perpetual bonds by mutual funds has created a storm – not just among the fund manager community but all the way up to the Ministry of Finance.

Vidya Bala March 13, 2021 No Comments

General

“Retire Rich” by P V Subramanyam – A handbook for your golden years

World over, planning and investing for retirement in a disciplined fashion is not the norm. However, western countries have a healthy social security net that would keep people out of really bad situations, and many such countries would have state-sponsored health coverage that would take care of the inevitable big bills in old age.

India has neither, at least not in a manner that will cater to a middle-class life-style and care aspirations here. Hence, planning, saving, and investing for retirement becomes a must-do activity during the earning years of an individual in India.

P V Subramanyam’s book – “Retire Rich – Invest Rs 40 a day” was the first book on this topic. The original version was published in 2011 and sold more than 150,000 copies, and is now available in a new edition (since 2019).

Srikanth Meenakshi March 11, 2021 6 Comments

Gold

Gold’s in a bear market – What to do now

A cocktail of factors – from the rollout of the Covid vaccine across the world, to optimism about economic recovery to a spiking of US bond yields – has had a dampening effect on gold, pushing it into an official bear market. (A bear market is roughly defined by a 20% decline in any asset from its peak).

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Aarati Krishnan March 9, 2021 No Comments

Markets

Where’s the Nifty headed? A technical analysis

This is an update to the Nifty outlook that was posted on January 9 2021. The Nifty 50 index has achieved the first upward target of 14,600 that was mentioned in the earlier post. And the index also got within striking distance of the second target of 15,900. The Nifty 50 index registered a high of 15,371 before the recent slide.

B Krishnakumar March 7, 2021 16 Comments

Short Takes

Just doing it

When I read non-fiction books, I keep myself daily minimum targets to get through it in reasonable time – at least 100 pages a day, or in some tough reads, 50 pages a day.

With Phil Knight’s ‘Shoe Dog’, I had to set for myself daily maximum reading targets – not more than 150 pages a day – so as to not let my other work suffer.

I could not, however, hold myself to the target – I finished the 400-page tome in a day and half flat. In one word, it’s ‘unputdownable’.

My partner from FundsIndia Chandra gave me the book 2 or 3 years ago and exhorted me to read it, and I’m ashamed I just got around to it. Of course, as with the other books I am reading these days, I am wishing this book existed and I read it, 15 or 20 years ago.

Srikanth Meenakshi March 6, 2021 2 Comments

Bonds & Deposits

What you should do about the US bond yield spike

Suddenly everyone’s talking about US bond yields surging. I see that the 10-year US government security is up by some 0.02 % to 1.57%. Why is this such a big deal?
While yesterday’s move isn’t big, what’s big is the US 10-year Treasury’s 43 basis point rise in the last one month. This means that, a month ago, investors in long term bonds issued by the US government were getting 1.13% by way of interest and now they’re getting 1.57%. That’s a 40% jump in returns from an asset that is regarded as one of the safest parking grounds for money in the world.

Premium article available only to subscribers.

Aarati Krishnan March 5, 2021 No Comments

Short Takes

Wealth in a Coffee Can

Few books have caught the interests of the Indian investing public as well as the book ‘Coffee Can Investing’ by Saurabh Mukherjea and others. Fewer still investment methods have found a fan following as the stock picking process recommended in this book.

Srikanth Meenakshi March 3, 2021 No Comments

Short Takes

Everything Compounds – “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy

“The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy explores the power of compounding in our everyday lives – our habits, our goals, our routines, our successes, and failures. The central premise of this book is simple enough – “Everything compounds. It is up to us to choose the direction that it happens in our lives”.

Srikanth Meenakshi March 1, 2021 1 Comment

Investing and watching India play cricket

Suryoday Small Finance Bank IPO – Invest or avoid?

Kalyan Jewellers’ IPO – Should you invest?

Prof Scott Galloway

Short take: What the SEBI’s circular on perpetual bonds means

“Retire Rich” by P V Subramanyam – A handbook for your golden years

Gold’s in a bear market – What to do now

Where’s the Nifty headed? A technical analysis

Just doing it

What you should do about the US bond yield spike

Wealth in a Coffee Can

Everything Compounds – “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy

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