My investing mistakes…continued
The mistakes that I made in my equity investing have now been well documented. Now I will tell you some more shares where I did not make ENOUGH money. This is the mistake of spotting the opportunity but not having the brain power to stay through the full journey of wealth creation.
Infosys: My investing guru asked me to buy it when this share was available at Rs. 100, I did not. Luckily for me met him again when the price was Rs. 300. I bought 300 shares. Then in a very short period it went to Rs. 700. I sold. Then did not buy Infosys again. Oh la la la!
Learning: Held on to Hero Honda from Rs. 40 till date, but sold a few shares in between. Holding period: 24 years +
Bharti Airtel: The same person asked me to buy this share at Rs. 80. I told him…Oh God I missed it at Rs. 30. He said you WILL tell me the same thing at Rs. 400. So I bought at Rs. 80 and sold at Rs. 1200. Why am I cribbing? Bought only 200 shares.
Mistake: Betting too little.
Learning: Really nothing. For me betting 10% of my net worth looks IMPOSSIBLE. However if a share grows to that level, I am comfortable holding on to it. Sounds stupid? Behavioural finance at work!!
Ask Parag Parikh what this means…ppfas will have the answers…
Gujarat Ambuja Cement: Bought at Rs. 18 held for 2-3 years sold at Rs. 40 or Rs. 50 (not sure)…maybe even Rs. 70. Mistake: Selling too early.
Financial Technologies: Same adviser asked me to buy it at Rs. 50. Ignored the advise. He sold 3000 shares at Rs. 2500. Nice lesson.
Satyam: Was asked to buy it at Rs. 30. Did not buy it. Reason: Did not like the broker who recommended it. He has never been trustworthy. Frankly no regrets.
DLF: At various prices many people asked me to buy it (even at Rs. 200 when it hit its low). Did not understand the balance sheet. Still do not understand land banks…no regrets though.
Missed all the KP shares – because they were in the portfolio of a mutual fund – most people who have been around long enough know which fund! No regrets, have my pants intact!
So many mistakes made – some cheap, some expensive, some not so stupid in retrospect!!
Indian Thoughts
Thanks for sharing these things. I am now confident that shares that I am holding for 3 years is not so stupid idea after all 🙂
Jagbir
Everybody make some mistakes as someone said “The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.” Thanks a lot for sharing such a valuable information for all readers.
Manish
Subra
The kind of returns you have got with “mistakes” is what most of the people dont even get with “Luck” 🙂
So I would love to do mistakes like you 😉
Manish
Srinivas
Hi,
Please ask your Guru to either write Guest articles or even short messages on your blog. Sharing his knowledge with others helps many like us.
As your article states, many times u haven’t followed his advice to buy and sometimes you bought but sold out early. Please consider this as my humble request and do get him to write for your blog or at least you can write what and where he is investing from time to time in case he is not interested to write.
Hoping for a positive outcome from your end.
regards
nitin
I am waiting for your post on where you lost money !
vicky
Out of curiosity, y have you included the last two examples, given the title of the article?
Raja
Frankly the nos. 2000 / 200 doesn’t make any sense to me. What i would be more interested to know is, what was the %tage of your portfolio that you allocated typically in each of the above cases 🙂
Regards
Mira D
Thank you for these insights.
smitha
Who was your investing guru?