Archive for November, 2009

Ego and Investing

Ego and pride are not really useful elements while investing. Many investors I know have made money because of luck or research done by some other person. However when they apply their minds a little on the shares that they buy, they think they are doing research! My research for example, is completely outsourced [...]

Want returns better than the markets?

One advantage or disadvantages of being connected with equity markets is you hear many stories. However if you have been in it for long, you may be part of many stories. For example a friend who wanted alpha (returns greater than the market returns), asked me what to do. Knowing his ability to trade I [...]

Sacking is still on…

Well for all those people who thought that 2008 is long past us should wake up. The world economy is not picture perfect as yet, and we are still in tough times – but it may look smooth. After all the world is also seeing this kind of turmoil for the first time. The Pre [...]

IFA: What next?

What will the IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) do now that the entry load has been abolished? They will sell life insurance till 2011. Once that also becomes fee based he will not know what to do. Correct? Well yes and no.
IFAs are perhaps the most agile persons in the whole chain of getting the mutual [...]

Akshayapatra – feeding India’s children

Akshayapatra (www.akshayapatra.org) is now a reasonably large organization. True to Gandhian values they believe that they should aim high, work high and talk less. One recent achievement is that they are now feeding upwards of a MILLION (11,86,206 if you are an accountant!) children everyday in some school in India.
India, of course, has many more [...]

Why I sold my sugar holdings…completely

I was sitting on a pile of sugar shares, and sugar is doing well. Frankly I think 2010 and 2011 are likely to be bullish for sugar mills profitability will only get better. The retail sugar price is unlikely to come down and this ensures good EPS. Given good eps and buying by institutions sugar [...]

Fmcg funds: Invest or no?

This article appeared in the inaugural issue of Money Mantra a new Personal Finance Magazine from New Delhi…1st Nov. 2009. Have not reproduced the table in excel.
FMCG is suddenly the favorite amongst everybody! Why is this so? Well any fund which clocks 67% return in one year is bound to suddenly attract interest, is it [...]

Personal Finance : Inefficiencies

If at a later date dictionary the word ‘inefficient’ is associated with personal finance, remember you read it here first. This post was triggered by a visit to a friend’s house last week. To be fair to him he had been calling me for a few months and I found the willingness only now. He [...]

How to buy a mutual fund?

Well Sebi says now you can buy a mutual fund from a stock broker. Of course Sebi and Amfi have added (very sternly) that brokers who sell mutual funds should also pass the Sebi exam (wrongly called the Amfi exam).
This is hilarious at best. There are banks where in one city there would be one [...]

PMS: When to choose one

As a business if PMS has to sound reasonably profitable the minimum size of the portfolio should be at least Rs. 10 Million (Rupees one crore). Why am I saying this?
Well if I have to meet a client 2-3 times a year, take his phone calls 12 times a year and get my staff to [...]