There is an alphabetic soup in the financial qualifications – and there are many animals out there. Most first time investors (and some veterans too) are legitimately confused about their role so here is a lesson 101: Financial planner: supposed to know everything about you PERSONALLY so actually called ‘personal financial planner’ who helps you […]

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Ego and pride are not really useful elements while investing. Many investors I know have made money because of luck or research done by some other person. However when they apply their minds a little on the shares that they buy, they think they are doing research! My research for example, is completely outsourced to […]

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One advantage or disadvantages of being connected with equity markets is you hear many stories. However if you have been in it for long, you may be part of many stories. For example a friend who wanted alpha (returns greater than the market returns), asked me what to do. Knowing his ability to trade I […]

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These are stories about a few friends. I have 2 friends – aged about 57 years. They were classmates and are now very close to retirement. Their investing philosophies are so different that I could not believe that the accumulated amounts could be so far away from each other. One of them did his MBA […]

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Madhu Soman of Reuters writes well – and is a keen watcher of equity markets and real estate (especially in Wadala and Kerala!). He had written an article for REuters – on 16th October, 2008 –  and it was subsequently carried in ET.Here are the first 2 paras where Shankar Sharma….read on! “The world of […]

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If you wanted to make a career in a sport would you just watch that sport on television and hope to be a world beater? No, I guess. Similarly if you want to be a good investor watching television or the pink papers or the personal finance magazines and websites may be not the best […]

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This is perhaps the most often asked question. I have seen people mess up quite dramatically. One HR consultant once called me and said “I have Rs. 52,000 where can I invest?’. So I got of on the pedal saying “Equity is good for the long term….etc”. Then when there was a blank from the […]

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