Having spent a real long time in the equity markets here are a few obvious things. However, some of it was not so obvious to me when I started out, and even now there are many people who do not think it is so obvious:

• It is ONLY the equity market that will protect small bits of money against inflation – so a Rs. 500 pm sip is possible
• All Market corrections do not lead to bear markets
• Market has gone up and down but the Sensex has gone up from 100 to 36000 over 40 years
• Using leverage in Equity investing leads to bad results in the long run almost ALWAYS.
• The US President has little control over the Global Economy. Oops even over the American economy.
• Wars, fashions, weather and Quarterly results – are all media events as much as real. Ignore them.
• Bull markets last much longer than Bear markets
• Accounts of a company do not capture the soul of the business
• A share does well because a company EXCEEDS expectation..so after a particular growth in share price comes from real growth in sales and profitability, not humbug.
• An automobile company selling 5 million vehicles is worth 4 billion Rs. but a website selling 12000 motorcycles is worth Rs. 3 billion because it is OBVIOUSLY growing faster. If you believe this, you ought to be a Vee Cee.
• A company can keep raising money year after year by improving its narrative. Amazing but true for many companies.
• Uncertainty is always present and it is not a wise choice to use it as an excuse not to invest. It is like waiting for the waves to stop before you step into the sea.
• Investing in the fastest growing world economies will not guarantee higher investment returns. Investing in US has been more profitable than investing in China.
• Not all recessions have turned into depressions.
• Investment costs, savings rates and time in the market are the most important and perhaps biggest components in generating healthy investment returns.
• There is a large gap between total mutual fund returns and what investors actually receive. Caused by behavior.
•  The great majority of mutual fund managers will under perform low-cost index funds because of costs, going forward. Etf will be better than index funds.
• Diversification works, just not every year.
• Diversification is not to increase returns, it is to protect capital.
• Patience is a virtue
• Shares can stay massively over- and undervalued for very long periods of time.
• Real returns after inflation and taxes are the only returns that matter.
• Stocks are in a bull market 85% of the time.
• If your investments let you sleep well and be confident that ALL your goals will be met, your investing is successful
• Bad, corrupt fund managers are also very rich and keep changing avataars
• Some people can get money continuously over their life times – many a time more in capital than in Sales.
• Being short of money in business is not a problem, it is a symptom of a bigger problem.