Some of the people I meet seem to be going around the world wearing a BOARD,

“I am a …… please deprive me of my money”.

Sorry, but I am not able to buy the theory that they were conned, they went to distribute the money. Let me tell you a few examples.

1. I gave Rs. 25 lakhs in PMS in 2007, now it is worth Rs. 18L what should I do?: Exactly what the ant told the grasshopper. If you were singing in the summer, dance in the winter! If you did not know what the PMS company was going to do with your money, you had no business giving your money. Then you did not see what was happening on a regular basis, you did not have any benchmarks, you did not see the quarterly statements. You did not say whether he could do leveraging transactions. You were twiddling Mr. Money Owner, sorry you deserve to lose it.

2. My broker sold off 100 shares of Hdfc to pay for the losses: Wow another ‘bakra’ of the Power of Attorney. How and why a client gives a power of attorney and transfers ALL HIS HOLDINGS from a bank demat account to a broker demat account beats me. Sorry chief your losses of 500 Hdfc*750 is well deserved. THE CLIENT DID NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND THAT HE HAD LOST 500(new) shares of Hdfc. He thought it was 100*750 = 75,000. I rubbed it in by saying it was 500*750 = Rs. 375,000.

3. My broker sold off my shares without asking me! : I said let us file a case of signature fraud…the client said No, No, I had left signed DELIVERY INSTRUCTION SLIPs with the broker. God, how can anybody be so dumb? and this man had retired as a Senior Manager / Chief Manager of a largish PSU bank. How can you happily leave signed delivery slips with your broker…but your own cheque book you will keep under lock and key? Bank balance Rs. 56,000. Portfolio Rs. 47 lakhs 🙂 Sorry sir, you deserve to lose money.

4. My Futures and Options position is not being reflected in the statement: Wow….if you do not know the difference between ‘Futures’ , Buy, sell, options, put and call, YOU HAVE no business to be in the markets. Sorry sir, you deserve to lose money. It is really hard earned. God bless you.

……..there is a whole list………………

  1. Subra…to your first case…the more an individual tries to follow up the money trail, how it is being used etc., and understands the process, the more one becomes empowered to make decisions directly rather than leave it to others.

    It seems ironic, but its the same way human body adapts to exercise…the more heavy you lift, the more the muscles strengthen to make the subsequent lifts easier.

  2. before subra asks for another regulator :-), i’ll go ahead and say that i agree with ashesh above. the more the number of regulators,the more is the crowding out of proper due diligence and prudence.the more the ‘public safety net’,the lesser the private investment in good and safe practices.the more the number of benevolent regulators,the more people are incentivized to be lazy about their investment affairs.

  3. Dear Subra, POA is taken by all broking house say idbi, SMC. Does it mean they can sell my shares kept in PNB bank demat. Normally I have to online allocate the shares on hold by giving my PNB password, before selling them through SMC or idbi. Can you clarify on this please? I had this thought earlier also. In fact I thought of freezing my demat (for debit only), as such facility is there by NSDL and DP. Kindly comment on this very vital issue.

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