Archives for December 2015

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing to do is wake up. Why not wake up early and realize your dreams earlier.

When I was a kid my father used to tell me – “Early bird gets the worm.

I am no bird and I don’t like worms,” I would tell him and never really took his advice seriously.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, was my mother’s version of motivating me to get up early in the morning. Although the quote originally came from Benjamin Franklin, I was least bothered about who said it. Getting up early was nothing less than a torture and was never in my top ten priorities for most of my childhood and teenage years.

In fact, for the first 25 years of my life, I never really understood the importance of being an early riser. But slowly as I was exposed to the writings and works of great leaders, creative artists, thinkers, authors and business leaders I started observing the pattern. Most of these people were early risers. They used each morning to write, read, ponder, and plan for their day.

Ernest Hemingway felt he did his best writing in the morning. He wrote, “There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.” He’d get started at 6 A.M. and write non-stop until noon.

Benjamin Franklin would wake every day at 5 A.M. and would use the time to wash, dress, and plan his day’s work. He has in fact written a whole book on the benefits of rising early.

[Read more…] about Life 2.0: Join the 5 A.M. Club

[Read more…] about StockTalk (December 2015)

With an illustrious educational background Huzaifa finally found his calling in value investing. He reveals key insights about his investment strategy and the underlying thought process.

Mr. Huzaifa Husain is the Head of Equities at PineBridge Investments. Mr. Husain is a Portfolio Manager at AIG Global Asset Management Company (India) Private Limited. He has been with the AIG Group for the last five years. Mr. Husain served as an Equity Analyst at Principal Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund. He completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from IIM- Bangalore after obtaining a B.Tech from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.

Safal Niveshak (SN): Could you tell us a little about your background, how you got interested in investing so much to choose it as a career?

Huzaifa Husain (HH): In 1997, when I completed my management education at IIM Bangalore, SBI Mutual Fund offered me a role as an equities analyst. Thus began my career in equity investing.

My management education did not prepare me for equity investing. We were taught how to mathematically manipulate numbers, especially daily stock prices, most of which had no conceptual backing. I remember in my first year on the job, I tried every possible trick – charts, CAPM, etc. – in the textbook to figure out how to predict which stock will do well. I failed miserably. One day a friend of mine told me to read the letters of Warren Buffett. That is possibly the best advice I ever got in my life.

After that day, my investment philosophy has relied entirely on understanding the company, the people managing it and its prospects. Stock prices do not have any information other than what one can buy or sell the stock at.

SN: Do you believe in the concept of circle of competence? If yes, how have you built it over the years?
[Read more…] about InvestorInsights: Huzaifa Husain