How many of you have grudged your friends who say “My father had bought a flat in Santacruz for Rs. 200,000 in 1977, now it is worth Rs. 20,000,000” – surely you felt pangs of jealousy did you not?
Did you think…if I had this I could have retired instead of suffering this boss? You bet!

Did you know that unfortunately you cannot set the clock back? Which means even though this information about a flat in Santacruz is accurate, it is completely (well almost) useless information!

And since you cannot cry over spilt milk, let us at least cry over Vodka or Champagne.

Instead of buying a flat in Santacruz if your friend’s father had invested this amount in equity shares of Wipro it would have been worth, hold your breath Rs. 2500 crores (apart from the dividends that you consumed for your lavish lifestyle).
I am not sure about prices in Santacruz, but surely for Rs. 2500 crores (now tax free, viola!) you could have bought a sizeable chunk of Santacruz – or so I think!

And Wipro is not alone. Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Lever (Oh yes inspite of not participating in the ’02 to ’07 boom), Reliance, Cipla, Nestle, Ranbaxy….would have all done that.

If you had done a SIP in the equity index (sensex assuming you could from 1977) on a dividend consumed basis your returns should be in excess of 20% per annum. Not bad even considering that during some of those years inflation was at 12-15% p.a. It is still far ahead of Santacruz. Approximately 2 times as much.

Lesson number 1: Do not cry

Lesson number 2: If you insist on crying, cry for Champagne not milk.