Archives for June 2017

Small Circles: The Theory of Mastery in the Art of Learning and Investing

June 27, 2017 | Reading Time: 17 minutes | 9 Comments |

One of the best books on the art of learning I’ve read is, well, The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin.

Josh is a champion in two distinct sports – chess and martial arts. He is an eight-time US national chess champion, thirteen-time Tai Chi Chuan push hands national champion, and two-time Tai Chi Chuan push hands world champion.

In his book, Josh recounts his experiences and shares his insights and approaches on how you can learn and excel in your own life’s passion, using examples from his personal life. Through stories of martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs, Josh reveals the inner workings of his everyday methods, cultivating the most powerful techniques in any field, and mastering the psychology of peak performance.

One of my favourite chapters from Josh’s book is titled – Making Smaller Circles – which stresses on the fact that it’s rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skillset.

StockTalk (June 2017)

June 25, 2017 | Reading Time: 26 minutes | Leave a Comment |

Investing and the Five Laws of Holes

June 23, 2017 | Reading Time: 7 minutes | 9 Comments |

Centuries ago, a Chinese King was sitting in his cabinet meeting discussing the poor economy of his country. One economist said, “Sir, we can’t do anything about it. It’s the Law of Supply and Demand.”

The King said, “I’m the King. I will repeal that Law!” The Cabinet kept quiet, but one brave soul said, “Sir, you cannot repeal the Law of Supply and Demand. It’s like the Law of Gravity.”

And the King said, “I’m the King. I will also repeal the Law of Gravity!”

Obviously, this story is purely fictional. But the message that comes out is clear – You cannot repeal some laws that govern this universe.

Like the Law of Gravity, and maybe…

Announcing Camp Millionaire – Money Workshop for Children

June 21, 2017 | Reading Time: 8 minutes | 7 Comments |

Given how important financial skills are to navigating life, it’s surprising that our schools don’t teach children about money.

How many of us look back at our childhood and wish we would’ve been taught more about money? A lot of people graduate from college without any idea how to manage their money or balance their bank account. Maybe you were one of them.

Now that you’ve learned more about managing your money right, I am sure you want to help your kids not make the same mistakes. But then, even when many parents know it’s important to teach their children about money matters at a young age, most don’t know where to start or how to go about it.

I have been through this situation wherein, despite knowing what to teach my kids about money, I lacked the structure and skills to teach them in the way they would learn best i.e., through games and fun-filled activities.

This was till I met Rachana Thamankar of Thrifty Gene. More on her and her initiative later, but let me take the pleasure to introduce you to a structured, games and activity-based workshop for kids to teach them about money and investing.

InvestorInsights: Shalabh Agarwal

June 20, 2017 | Reading Time: 29 minutes | Leave a Comment |

Shalabh Agarwal is the founder of Snowball Capital Investment Advisors LLP. After spending a decade in the equities industry, Shalabh quit his steady and lucrative job in one of the best mutual fund houses in India to follow his passion of value investing. With a strong desire to unravel the stock market mystery, he read varied literature on investing – it was all quite confusing till he came in contact with Warren Buffett through his annual letters and books written on him. Since then Shalabh has been an avid follower of the Value Investing philosophy.

Shalabh has a professional experience of more than ten years including seven years as a ‘buy-side’ analyst in the Indian mutual fund industry. He graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and went on to acquire an MBA from IIM Bangalore.

Safal Niveshak (SN): Could you tell us a little about your background, and how you got interested in value investing?

Shalabh Agarwal (SA): I graduated from IIT Delhi in Mechanical Engineering in the year 2000. Generally, the fourth year is less intensive and so most of my time was spent on my B.Tech Project (final year major project), billiards and on surfing. Internet was still new to the campus and I remember Moneycontrol launching virtual stock market games. This was a period when markets were going berserk – shares hitting circuits on almost daily basis.

With absolutely no knowledge of stocks, this euphoria was intriguing enough for me to start participating in virtual stock market games. As luck would have it, I won some weekly / monthly portfolio contests and started receiving Rs 200 / Rs 500 bank cheques as prize money. Now this was something big as the dosa (a South Indian delicacy) at IIT Delhi’s subsidized restaurant used to cost ~Rs 5 then – suddenly, the cash starved me had enough to treat his friends!