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

I started the previous post by saying that my portfolio has the benefit of one of the finest wealth managers in the country. So the mistakes here are completely mine. If he had a chance I would not have bought any of the following shares.

Trusting the Chairman / CEO of a company: No owner or CEO has ever said that the company is facing challenges. Only one very venerable group has told me that from time to time. One company making ‘packaging boxes’ and one company in the milk business showed excellent ‘balance sheets’ – even though the shit got out in the year 2000 it took me 2-3 years to absorb the losses. Not naming the company because one promoter committed suicide and the other went to jail a few times.

My mistake : Got carried away by ‘Tambram’ promoters, ‘one of us’ kind of an image – still meet one of the s.o.bs socially. Sheer incompetence and greed of the promoters killed the companies.

Trusting Smart people who (seem) claim to know: When you meet somebody who looks and acts smart, the chances are you believe they are smart! Many of them do not know their own limitations. One such company which I got out of recently – I can buy the whole company with a little stretch – a listed piece of shit.

My mistake: Not doing a due diligence and getting carried away by a person whose understanding of the markets, well, does not match up to decision making for my portfolio.

Learning: Staying with my own fund manager – his mistakes are far far more affordable.