Expectation is the root cause of all heartache. Shakespeare’s words ring true timelessly. We almost always have trouble managing expectations. So, we fault our kids who scored ninety percent because their class mates scored more. We deride performance when we feel that someone else has done better. We don’t measure…
It has been four years since ithought was ideated. To many who know my circumstances, this was a move that wasn’t easily understood. The times were such – 2009 was a year when the infra thematic funds and energy funds had drilled and destroyed investor confidence. The industry had manufactured toxic thematic funds in…
Talking to HNI’s and investors gives one a clear sense of their despair that is set to turn into extreme anger. In the past few years, every asset class has failed them. First, it was equity. Then, gold failed. Now, it is the turn of debt funds. So, the bank…
The TCS results firmly re-established the Tech space as a defensive that the markets could depend upon. With INFY, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HUL, ITC and TCS forming the formidable frontline, we see the indices getting the requisite resilience. What does this mean to sentiment? If we see positive news flows…
There are times when the markets reward excellence and punish under performance. The economy will usually be buoyant at such times. There are also times when the markets look for consistency and pay a premium even for consistency. These are times when finding consistent performers are truly a challenge for…
My best friends have all been calling me and asking the same question. “Should I buy property now ?”. Palpable anxiety will dominate every conversation. Interestingly most callers will start arguing the case for reality after hearing my opening lines which were not what they wanted to hear. Initially, I…
2008-2013. Indian investors have burnt themselves at almost every asset class they invested. We say almost because the carnage in real estate is waiting to happen. The impact is class-neutral and everybody has taken a knock. The HNI has virtually walked away from risk staking to the secure confines of…
Everybody knows it. Almost nobody does it. ‘Buy low Sell high’ wasn’t meant for the theorists. It was meant for just about everybody, you and me. Yet, we didn’t get it right. Staring at a gold price of Rs. 25875, one can’t miss the irony. Most investments in gold happened around the…
The Indian investor was once identified with conservatism and savvy. He would always buy when assets sold low. He stayed out of bubbles. Gold was bought in small parcels when prices were attractive. Fixed income was a steady part of his investment book. He ventured into realty only when he…
Conventional thinking says that the markets should go up when the Central bank, RBI drops interest rates. This belief stems from the ripple effect that a rate cut will have by making loans cheaper, leave more money in borrower’s hands and help companies generate more profits. But, the recent rate…
A weak rupee brought back fears of a widening CAD and high inflation. That virtually sealed hopes of a rate cut in June. RBI’s hawkish stance further toned down investor expectations on a rate cut. The markets turned soft through the week factoring in the fiscal worries, economic expectations and…
Equity aversion has been a natural option for investors who punted on sunrise sectors in 2008 and got badly burnt. The irony is that they chose to wait for their investment errors of 2008 to correct. The wait has hurt them terminally and there is little hope of recouping their…