Having been in investment business long enough and met a lot of people – here are a few statements that I hear, and it does not help at all!

Let me elaborate on those statements:

1. You have Colgate? I wish I had bought that share WHEN IT WAS THAT CHEAP! – you can replace Colgate with Hdfc, Coromandel Fertiliser, Gillette, Cummins, Siemens, Nestle, GSK, ……does not matter.

But dear me, it WAS NOT CHEAP at any stage (Hdfc perhaps is an exception, I bought it below par in 1980 – Rs. 93 or 97 for a Rs. 100 share) – it was a LOSS MAKING company not a company paying 1000% dividend regularly. Colgate was always at a high p/e share and Bharti (at Rs. 80 on the way up) was not a proven entity, and therefore considered risky!!

2. You told me, and I bought 1000 shares, I wish I had bought 10,000 shares: This is what a very, very successful lawyer told me when I was speaking to him about Tata Power. The year we are talking about is perhaps 2002 – and Tata Power was available for Rs. 100. To me this is funny – you buy as per your greed and hold as per your capacity to hold. The reverse of this is ‘you did not tell me that I should sell it when it went up 40%!! Hey take your pick..

3. This time it is different: This is a joke which I get to hear from the sales side brokers keen to do a deal, and I tell them ‘this time is no different’ . Amazing how often this statement gets punished, but still quoted by the media!

4. I wish I had started earlier: Well compounding is about time – did you not learn this in 7th standard did you not? How could you have forgotten it in standard 8th?

5. It will not happen to me: try talking insurance – life, illness, theft, almost anything. If it will not happen to you, let us part – why are you wasting MY time talking about something that is not going to happen to you. This conversation goes on like HE IS DOING ME A FAVOR by covering his life with HIS wife as a nominee.

6. Term insurance is too expensive in India: Ok sir, I accpet your point what should I DO? I am not IRDA, I do not own a life insurance company (thank God for that), and if the only company that I trust is ‘A’ it does not matter that R has issued a new cheap plan. I do not buy insurance because it is cheap. I buy insurance because when I die my wife will get the cheque. I hope.

7. I have never made a loss in equity shares: L O L. no explanation needed