Bull markets happen once in several years. The most recent one was in 2008. We have had a four year bear market play out. Investors have gradually lost faith in equity and preferred to place greater faith in other asset classes. Debt, gold and real estate have been the preferred investment…
Quick Edit Investing in 2012 has gotten a lot tougher. Volatility has increased across asset classes. The rupee has weakened against the dollar. Interest rates aren’t going down anytime soon. Oil prices are still holding on to gains and straining the finances of importing nations like us. Gold may not…
Little was expected of this budget. Yet, this budget did not fail to disappoint the stock market. Budgets have long ceased to be sensational. ‘Dream’ budgets are no more doable. Even if a finance minister risks delivering a budget with the stock market in mind, it will not materially help…
Quick Edit: It is budget time again. Over the years, budgets have become boring. There is nothing to look forward to. Reform expectations run low and subsidy fears loom large. Political populism has always prevailed over sound economics under successive UPA regimes. Even parliament has started passing budgets with little…
QUICK EDIT: Everyone knows the basics of finance. Spending must be in line with earnings. Aligning income and expense is important to maintain a state of credit-worthiness. The past three decades have seen Nations moving away from this basic principle. India has an old habit of not running her finances…
Quick Edit: A sharp upswing. Rising indices. Yet, many investors find their portfolios lagging. Why? Portfolios are to be designed keeping the future in mind. Given the dynamic nature of economic activity, businesses which performed well a few years back are struggling now. If your portfolio was built in 2008…
Quick Edit: The journey from bear markets to bull markets is often short and swift. When markets move from one phase to another, they give very little time for investors to react. Investors often come on board very late for this very reason. Now is clearly not the time to…
Quick Edit: Watching business TV never looked more comic. Here were these acknowledged brains – global investment strategists, fund managers and analysts making sure-shot predictions of a terrible phase for the Indian markets just a few weeks back. The same people are now back with positive predictions for the indices.…
Buying insurance is no easy job. The maze of products that have been designed by insurance companies have made decision making a nightmare. Most products are sold to you with e devil hidden in the fine print. The hard sell by agents make it hard to judge the truth. Worse,…
Quick edit: The rupee at 49.50 Vs. the dollar. NIFTY at 5200. These would have been rubbished off as wishful thinking if one had dared to make a prediction on January 1, 2012. We actually had global strategists of foreign brokerages descend in Delhi and predict gloom and doom. Yet,…
The IPO and stock investing are almost synonymous to the investor. Investors view the IPO as the most preferred entry point into the stock market. The reasons are historic. The IPO had a history of delivering great returns if the investor stuck to quality companies. But, that was in a…