For those who watch the ticker channels hoping to get wealthy, my sincere good wishes. As long as you know (and remember) that Cnbc, Bloomberg, Bloomberg UTV, ET Now, Zee Business, etc. are business channels with a sole aim of making money for themselves (ask their bleeding shareholders), and not to create wealth for you, I am fine!

Market timing is really difficult. I realised this long back. Maybe 25 years ago if not 33! Though it also looks attractive to time the market – and people tell you how ‘being there in the 10 most important days’ is more important,…you realize the futility of the whole timing exercise. The heroes in the Indian investment context – Chetan Parekh, Parag Parikh, Vallabh Bhansali – are clearly in the investor category and not so worried about the ‘market timing’.

Well if you read the press or watch television you will be convinced that the market will go down (after all inflation has moved from 8.02%p.a. to 8.08%, has it not? Well the anchor and 4 guests will all tell you that the market will go down. However the same set of people justify why it went up by 345 points!

How they can shamelessly do this exercise day in and day out beats me. Well I did turn to Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch and a few others.

Alexander Green seems to be talking about something like that today…read on:

http://www.investmentu.com/2011/July/buffett-templeton-lynch.html

  1. Dear Subra, From one of your own post, I w’d like to say that watching these Biz channels is (Financial) PORN. You may get an instant stimulation to do something or just for pleasure but in the end it’s not going to help you out.

    Thanks

    Ashal

  2. It’s quite frustrating sometimes when I talk to new investors. Many of them say “Oh, I’ll invest after a few months when the markets are down.” And when the market are actually down the same people say “Oh no, not right now, the markets are going down.”

  3. Timing factor does work for the short term. Very few people in the fray these days bother about the long term. Only 2% of the people hold a particular stock for more than 10 years and it is very hard to find such people.

  4. yes Krish and there cannot be better news than this for the brokers. By the way I know about 100 people who would have a holding period in decades. For eg I know original shareholders of Colgate (1977), Reliance (1977), Hindalco (1957)….so what you find depends on where you see. That is all.

  5. I do not agree with you Dheeraj…understanding what the expert is saying is as important. Too many of the viewers are ill equipped to watch TV. L O L

  6. Subra.. I am not talking abt all.. but most of them do like this…
    One day they ask ppl to buy a share and next day to sell even in loss..

    Few weeks back.. Parsvnath’s share was at 28 and one so called expert said.. it would go further down.. so sell it.. do not hold..
    what happnd is visible to all…

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