Learn investments from Media?

If you wanted to make a career in a sport would you just watch that sport on television and hope to be a world beater? No, I guess. Similarly if you want to be a good investor watching television or the pink papers or the personal finance magazines and websites may be not the best [...]

Save, Invest or pay off debt?

This is perhaps the most often asked question. I have seen people mess up quite dramatically. One HR consultant once called me and said “I have Rs. 52,000 where can I invest?’. So I got of on the pedal saying “Equity is good for the long term….etc”. Then when there was a blank from the [...]

Portfolio Risk: Same risk or different risk?

While doing a risk review of a portfolio, I stumbled on a portfolio with 55 mutual fund schemes and 52 direct equity investments. When the investor asked me what was the risk, I said there was ‘concentration’ risk. I also told him he was running the risk of ‘over-diversification’ . He asked me to speak [...]

Retirement and longevity

This is not a debate on whether you will live long or not live long. It is simple and easier to assume that you will live long – pretty long if you ask me. If your grand parents are pushing 85, your father is in his 2nd innings, but still holding a job at the [...]

Where to invest?

Many people have been asking me this question. I thought I will wear the hat of an investment advisor in US and look at the world markets and see what to do. So here it is. Not too useful I am sure, but here it is: 1. All Central Banks are printing notes – so [...]

Cheer leaders are cheering once again…

The cheer leaders are screaming once again – welcoming the 10,000 index. Whether it is television, print, or the internet – all of them have headlined the great reclaiming of the 10k index. The typical middle class guy is happy, but of course skeptical. The questions he is asking are the following: Will this market [...]