So her get rich quick schemes have included collecting money for shady chit funds, shady companies, etc. Obviously she was a Talk Asia agent also.

Her ambition did not stop at these get rich quick schemes. She has pushed her daughter into the CA course. The poor kid did not enroll for Bcom – hoping to finish her CA. Sadly 4 years into the course she has not cleared the stage 1 – she is academically just inadequate to do CA.

I know her just casually – having spoken to her about the CA degree for her daughter, but she has not asked me for money for any of her schemes. Her ‘clients’ include a few General Managers, managers, clerks, government servants, teachers, NEWSPAPER VENDOR, MILK VENDOR, CABLE TV VENDOR,….and the amounts have varied from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 200,000.

When the newspaper vendor told me (God knows why he choose me)..I asked him ‘What does she say?’ – He said ‘You gave the money to THAT company, ASK THEM…’ or ‘Did you give the cheque in my name or the name of THAT COMPANY…’ LOL.

She is a very shrewd, but dumb woman – last I heard one broking firm had enrolled her for ‘training’ in equity, commodities and forex markets….and she is in the process of becoming their sub-broker…

Do I need to add she is an insurance agent also?

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Brilliant advise. If you do not know what a portfolio manager does and what a financial planner does, you have right to talk like this. Also sit on panels to judge ‘who is the best aggregator for mutual funds’ and call him the best fund manager.

A good financial planner should:

- make you understand the importance of goals

- help you set them

-tell you what is practical and what is not

- help you create a portfolio

-ensure that your wife/dependents know and understand what you do

- help you make a will / nominate properly

For all this done well, HE SHOULD GET A FEE. To think he can create a portfolio that will beat the market is wrong. If you get good returns, it is because YOU TOOK THE RISK. If you do not get a good return, you do not get a good return.

Among the good financial planners that I have met – there are only 2 types- a) those who know that they are not portfolio managers and b) those who do not know.

Of course there are those who pretend that they are – and may even have a track record. As soon as they realise the role of luck, better for them.

If there are financial planners who agree to a profit sharing agreement, God bless the planner and the client.

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It is not that the retail investor cannot invest on his own, it is just I think the odds are terribly against them. Let us look at some of the foolish statements that I hear from time to time:

1. I do not make losses in the market: A wife told me that this is exactly what her husband tells her!

What it means:

It just meant he did not know how to cut losses in the market – he just held on to shares which went below his cost! This is one of the worst things to do and will dramatically reduce your total returns. Admitting your mistakes is a very very important step necessary in any market – or in life itself!

2. I just BUY and HOLD for long periods of time – I am a long term player and hold on to shares for 3-5 years till it does well!

What it means: I just buy some shares and hold it for a long time. This is again a completely unfocussed and non strategic method of ‘hope’ based investing. Shares are chosen based on some irrational logic – it made money for my dad, I think there is a great demand for infrastructure, etc. – does not work!

3. I have a diversified portfolio :

What it means: I have bought a bunch of shares – there may or may not be any co-relation between them, and the list is some 40 companies. However 5 companies add upto 80% of the value! Makes no sense, this may not be diversified at all.

4. I use Price-Earning Ratio to buy shares: I buy shares of companies whose Price-Earning Ratios are low and sell those that are higher

What it means: . However after I bought some shares at a low P/E their P/E has gone lower! Using P/E ratio is not easy – calculating P/E is easy, but not interpreting the P/E. God bless the investor!

5. I have a good Adviser who tells me what to do!

What it means: I ask my broker who tells me what to buy and what to sell. His advise has not been bad, I have made a lot of profit and some losses. Overall it is in the positive category, so I am not worried.

More to follow…later..

3.

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This statement is then followed by the following:

1. See over the last 30 years what fantastic returns I have got!

2. Real estate NEVER goes down unlike share markets.

3. God does not make them anymore

4. Mumbai, it suburbs, Delhi, Bengaluru, NCR, …are all places where property prices can NEVER FALL.

………and many more.

Frankly I am not against or for investing in real estate. I feel people should understand things like job uncertainty, interest rates fluctuations, etc. and also see what is happening in real estate – around the world. Like the Economist article at the end of this page…

http://www.economist.com/node/21536592?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/risingfromtheruins

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He perhaps wanted a shoulder – and my readers know ‘I hate tears’ (LOL: Amar Prem, Rajesh Khanna!).

So I turned and said ‘Why did D choose you to borrow from?’

A was stunned. He wanted sympathy. He expected me to say ‘D is so cruel, such a cheap character, ….etc.’ However we need to accept that we are a victim of our own actions.

‘A’ always wanted to play God and would go around wanting to look superior. So in the friends circle people see him NOT AS A HELPER, but as a guy who was BUYING RESPECT by gifting, loaning, etc. Well when your aim of giving the loan was ‘to look good’ – be happy he took it. Why should you be worried you have not got it back?

The world picks up signals very clearly. If you do not want to give a loan, say NO.

Why did A get chosen over so many others whom ‘D’ knew? Simple A was clearly giving signals of ‘wanting to give a loan’.

I am not here to tell you whether you should give a loan or not – it is your call. However if a lot of people are taking ‘loans’ from you and not returning it, obviously, something is wrong with YOU, not the borrowers.

Sorry if I am sounding cruel – but if a friend comes and says – I need a loan.

In 9 cases out of 10 he is saying ‘My lifestyle got me into this mess’ or ‘I made wrong choices, did not have an emergency fund, did not carry enough insurance, married wrong’  or something like this.

If you cannot change that, giving a loan is foolish. You still wish to help, give a gift. Anyway the amount will not come back, at least tell him you know it. Even if you do not tell him, tell yourself.

If you want to say NO, but are embarrassed to say so tell your friend ‘My wife and I have a policy….loans about ‘X’ have to be jointly approved. It helps our financial harmony’. It is actually true!

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These are not about the troubles I have gone through. God knew (knows) I am perfectly not capable of handling problems, so does not give me any. Like they say God tests those whom he loves…..

This post is about the girls I knew / know and some of their lives…

Of course most of the girls that I knew from school, college, place of stay,…etc. would have gone through a normal life….but some have not.

Some of the girls have gone through a love marriage – an euphemism in retrospect.

Girls who married young and wrong. Girls who lost their parents and were subject to mental, financial and physical abuse. Girls who married young, wrong and went through abuse. Girls who went through abuse, came out of it stronger and are living a nice life again. Girls whose step parent abused her, but was supported by a friend to stand up and come out of it.

Girls who married right, fell ill and their beloved husbands gave up a lot to help them come back to normalcy.

Girls who told me about the abuse when it happened, and girls who were too embarrassed to tell the world what happened. One girl who spoke to me last week and brought tears to my eyes because of the flash back of what she had gone through.

Girls who shrieked ‘Sir …here is your son-in-law’ to a girl who said ‘I wish you were my real father…I lost him when I was still in primary school’

To girls who tweeted…Sir aap nana ban gaye….’Y’ got a daughter…

And of course to girls who said ‘You must be a cool dad’  to which my daughter said..’Please tell her, I am the judge, not she’

and of course to my daughter who gave me a card on Father’s Day…and said ‘your dear daughter Mridula’…and I said ‘why did you have to write your name?’ she said ..”because I know you have other daughters, but they may not have given you a card’…

i have not mentioned names for obvious reasons, nor is this that I wish to say this is a note for women’s day or some such day…just a mushy mushy post, I am not sure whether I have done anything like this on this blog of mine…not even sure whether I should..

will do a story on the boys too…but that is not mushy..

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Orphan, Widow, Widower,…are all words which describe bereavement. Did you know that the founders of the English language have no word to describe the death of a child? Was it too cruel for them to think of a word to describe it?

Is this why I cannot find words to describe the loss of ‘Anand’ from the lives of Vimal and Vinay Salvi? Has the happiness gone out of her life, or has she lost a part of her future? I cannot even think of the grief of bereaved parents – for a mother a part of her has been ripped apart. For the father it is the loss of a friend apart from the loss of a kid.

What do you say to the parent who must have died a thousand deaths – in the last 14 days when her son was battling for life at Apollo Ahmedabad?

Tell her “May God give you strength” or ‘Things will be normal soon’  – to me all these words sound hollow. How to bring it to my lips when my heart does not believe it?

The plight of parents who have to pretend that they are alive is tough – but the pretense has to be kept up because they themselves are children of grandparents who are battling the loss of a grandchild. Oh My God, this feels so unfair.

Krishna at least you were around for Arjuna and Yudhishtra – Vimal and Vinay need you. On your Jhanmashtami you can at least come to them in some form and console them. Surely you are standing there helping them, please give them the strength to recognise your presence. In a weak movement they may not be able to recognise you. You were able to ask them “Are you crying for the body that was temporary, or rejoice for the soul which has gone to a different body”.

Other children cannot take the place of a child who has passed away. The vaccum will always be felt.

In a world where we live, we need to blame somebody – the motorcycle, the helmet, the footpath on which he hit his head, – without realising that these are just tools for Krishna to do what he wants to do. Does blaming help?

Krishna I am not even wondering whether you are reading my blog, I know you will be there for Vimala and Vinay, especially when you have taken away the Anand of their lives.

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Star Plus is perhaps the greatest cricket expert who has never played for India. Since they know everything about the game, they should be made the non playing captain of the team. Every ball bowled, every word spoken, every catch taken – and of course dropped, every injury is analysed threadbare.

Conclusion: Indian bowlers bowled badly from the Bangladesh score of 51/5 to 220/8. I have no clue how such an analysis is relevant – for get whether useful.(1st day 2nd Test)

Based on some hear say, some notes, some scribbling, Times Now has concluded that Sehwag group and Dhoni group are at loggerheads. That brings us to players like Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh – both have very poor track records, at least of late. Their job is simple – keep their place in the team (Yuvraj has a batting avg. of 34 vs. 50+ for the other top batsmen). One in a while they do something, but their income (@ Rs. 50 crores) remains intact thanks to the sponsorship. Everybody is happy. God bless.

Now take this stupid media obsession to the mutual fund industry. Jokers keep saying 3 months performance is not good, one year performance is not good – all this makes for good trp but i have no clue about how it helps the retail investor. No great attempt is made to select a good scheme. Forget ‘survival bias’ I have invested only in 2 fund houses (which have survived!!) and in only 4-5 schemes over the past 10 years. No NFO, no IPO, no mid cap, small cap or …any thing dished out by the mutual fund industry. Surely for a couple of quarters (if not more) Franklin India Blue Chip, Hdfc top 200, hdfc equity, prudence, franklin Prima, hdfc capital builder, Templeton Equity Income  fund, hdfc growth fund, templeton growth fund…- surely my dad has got decent returns – beating the index by a nice margin. However quarter on quarter i have no clue whether they were ranked no. 1 or no. 2

http://www.subramoney.com/book-written-by-me/

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Normally people think it is convenient to use the ECS method of payment. Like always this is normally the case. This reader had used ECS for making payment for gas, electricity, telephone bills. It was very convenient till his house went for reconstruction. He sent a letter to Mahanagar Gas, Reliance energy etc. saying I do not wish to make payments for these services now so please stop debiting the account. However he did not send a copy of this letter to the bank. Both Mahanagar Gas and Reliance Energy were happily debiting his account without giving him any service! This was inspite of the fact that the society had written a letter to both the service providers.

However when he went to the bank, the bank said “ECS is something which we cannot stop, you will have to go to the service providers”. Funny you thought you could decide whether anybody could debit your bank account, did you? Welcome to banking 101!

So off he went to Mahanagar Gas who agreed to stop the ECS on the basis of an email, but Reliance Energy said “procedure for stopping the ECS is the same you need to give your identity proof (Oh My God, not again) one cancelled cheque, one letter, your birth certificate, caste certificate….

The simple thing is to pay in advance if you are travelling, but otherwise make a net / cheque drop box payment for your expenses. Our utility companies are not the most polite of companies nor are they well organised to act immediately. Or be so well organised that if you pay in advance for 4 months know surely that you will live in that address for atleast 4 months. So what if you die? Tell Yama (the Indian God of death)- please wait I have paid for these services in advance….so please take me with you after the deposit is exhausted….LOL.

There is actually a RBI circular which says that the bank branches cannot or SHOULD not insist on a letter from the institution…read it here
http://blog.investraction.com/2010/03/ecs-easy-convenient-stupid.html

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1. According to one expert I was speaking to, the total world gold production is decreasing. I was surprised – increasing selling prices make it attractive to search so production should increase. This is what happens in theory, but it is getting to be more difficult to prospect, mine and produce gold.

2. The gestation period even for gold which is spotted is quite long. According to some experts it is as high as 10 years. Hence gold mining companies prices go up over long periods and in a lumpy kind of a fashion. If gold is found it goes up, if mining starts prices go up, if production starts – prices go up. So be careful while buying a gold mining company.

3. Chinese demand (Oh my God!) is likely to go through the roof. Very few people understand the Chinese economy. If the populace does not trust its currency, they are likely to keep their money in gold! The Chinese government had banned the population from owning gold for a very long time. Obviously once the ban gets lifted buying will start (it happened in US if you remember). It may take 2-4 years by which time the retail network to sell gold to the whole Chinese population is set up. Once it is set up, prices will boom.

4. Indian demand is difficult to predict. However there is some talk of Jewelers suicide in Kerala (with prices rising, consumption is going down, so shopkeepers are dying). However there is a huge ‘wannabe’ population which will keep buying and chase prices! Be that as it may, selling may not be enough to exceed demand – another cause for prices to go up.

5. Investment demand is high: All fresh bankers are busy selling gold mutual funds. This is a funny situation where the price is going up because the fund is buying. People are buying gold etf / regular funds which is causing gold prices to go up! Case of tiger chasing its tail.

6. Governments attitude towards gold can be foolish and slow. The rich countries which have a lot of gold (including IMF) have a pact wherein they will not sell more than 400 Tonnes a year (not sure about the figure, but it is right there somewhere). This will restrict supply on the one hand, but mutual fund demand will drive the prices.

7. Currently it is tied to the US $. Nobody n the world knows how the decoupling between the Chinese currency, dollar and the gold will happen. It will gain against other currencies – this will hurt the dollar. At some stage it will break off from the currencies and go on a secular bull run, and the trade will be guaranteed by BIS.

8. Bank relationship managers are pushing gold mutual funds, websites are screaming that gold is a good buy, people without understanding of interest, compounding, etc. think this is a great ideal This almost blind and noisy screaming will push prices high. Most fund managers are buying with a vengance !

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