Archive for May, 2008
There are too many reasons why “investors” lose money in equities. Here I am trying to enumerate some of them. Keep visiting this post because as I get more points I will add them here rather than create a new post.
1. Confusing between trading and investing: Traders and investors both make money if done professionally. [...]
May 28th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
“So who still believes markets don’t work?
Apparently it is only the North Koreans, the Cubans and the active managers.”
– Rex Sinquefield, co-founder and board member Dimensional Fund Advisors
Obviously what Rex means is that if you believe in equity markets you just need to be in the Index and fund managers do not justify the costs [...]
May 28th, 2008 | Posted in Mutual funds | 1 Comment
It is customary for industry bodies to time and again talk about “irresponsible” selling or mis-selling by “unethical” agents (by what ever name called). Let us look at what exactly constitutes mis-selling.
Mis-selling as understood by the common man means “selling a product which is inappropriate for the client”. However let us look at the manufacturer’s [...]
May 27th, 2008 | Posted in Personal Finance | No Comments
“There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know. Then again, there is a third type of investor – the investment professional, who indeed knows that he or she doesn’t know, [...]
May 21st, 2008 | Posted in Mutual funds | 1 Comment
Some more data from the same report mentioned earlier! Aum as a percentage of the GDP in India is still at 8% compared to 79% in USA and 39% in Brazil.
Will India go the American or the Brazilian way? It is difficult to say, but from the looks of it, India will go that way. [...]
May 20th, 2008 | Posted in Mutual funds | No Comments
I know it is difficult for many readers to accept that they are poor because they call themselves poor! Have we wondered loud enough about is India poor?
I regularly see articles and advertisement for houses costing Rs. 10 crores (2.5 million US $) – and many of the houses being sold out. Are they in [...]
May 19th, 2008 | Posted in Personal Finance | No Comments
I have never been able to handle this question! When do you teach your kid about eating? About brushing teeth? About taking bath?
You do not. They just learn about all these things. So if you do take your 3 year old to the shop regularly, the kid sees what you are doing. Yes you can [...]
May 19th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments
Once when we were looking for a water cooler (to be installed near a temple) a friends’ mother offered it to us. It was a big amount (circa 1985 Rs. 2 Lakhs) and we felt happy that the job was done.
When we asked her what name to put on the cooler – she said its [...]
May 17th, 2008 | Posted in Charity | 3 Comments
Either my clients are getting more charitable, or they are asking me for more advice on how to do charity! Recently a friend wanted to invest “so much money, so as to create a Rs. 3.6L income for a charitable organisation” – can you tell me how to go about doing that?
My advice is simple [...]
May 16th, 2008 | Posted in Charity | 1 Comment
I recently read a small (about 80 pages) report on the Indian mutual fund industry. Most of the facts were well known, but still some were surprising.
Here is a small summary of what I found interesting (the whole report is):
This was a market survey of 750 investors, 850 Independent Financial Advisors, and 40 0rganisations – [...]
May 15th, 2008 | Posted in Mutual funds | 4 Comments