Vishal Khandelwal

One Purpose. A Better Life.

🎁 Special Discount until 5th Jan. 2026

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless ₹1599 ₹1299
• Click here to buy Sketchbook ₹1699 ₹1499
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook) ₹3298 ₹2399

It’s the 5th of January. The “New Year, New Me” LinkedIn posts are already starting to feel stale, and the reality of 2026 is just… here. Just a couple of hours ago, I was staring at a blank screen, thinking about how we always try to start a new year with a clean slate, when the truth is, the slate is never clean.

I’ve been thinking about this idea lately, though I don’t have a polished name for it. Maybe we call it the “long echo.”

One Purpose. A Better Life.

🎁 Special Discount until 5th Jan. 2026

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless ₹1599 ₹1299
• Click here to buy Sketchbook ₹1699 ₹1499
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook) ₹3298 ₹2399

As the year winds down, it feels like leaving a crowded market at dusk and heading home after a long, noisy day. But for me, the end of 2025 has been quiet for a different reason. A personal tragedy involving a close friend recently reminded me of life’s total uncertainty. It was the kind of news that stops your world and makes every “market update” or “annual goal” feel incredibly small, and also serves as a brutal reminder of how thin the line is between everything being okay and everything changing forever.

In any case, like a river finally reaching the quiet of the plains, I’m using this moment to look back at the lessons that actually mattered this year—the ones that helped me stay standing when the news was hard to take.

I’ve gathered ten passages that served as a North Star. They represent the “Ten Big Ideas” I’ve promised myself to learn, relearn, and carry forward. I hope you find them valuable too.

One Purpose. A Better Life.

🎁 Special Discount until 5th Jan. 2026

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless ₹1599 ₹1299
• Click here to buy Sketchbook ₹1699 ₹1499
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook) ₹3298 ₹2399

The Internet is brimming with resources that proclaim, “nearly everything you believed about investing is incorrect.” However, there are far fewer that aim to help you become a better investor by revealing that “much of what you think you know about yourself is inaccurate.” In this series of posts on the psychology of investing, I will take you through the journey of the biggest psychological flaws we suffer from that causes us to make dumb mistakes in investing. This series is part of a joint investor education initiative between Safal Niveshak and DSP Mutual Fund.

Peter Lynch ran the Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990. For thirteen years, he was essentially a superhero of the stock market. Someone who invested $10,000 at the very beginning would have turned it into $280,000 by the time he retired. His average return was about 29% a year, which is like finding a magic lamp.

But here comes the part that sounds like a paradox so absurd it borders on a joke: most people who investedin his fund lost money. It doesn’t seem possible, does it? How can you lose money in a fund that wins that much?

The answer is simple and embarrassingly sad.

One Purpose. A Better Life.

🎁 Special Discount until 5th Jan. 2026

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless ₹1599 ₹1299
• Click here to buy Sketchbook ₹1699 ₹1499
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook) ₹3298 ₹2399

I am writing this series of letters on the art of investing, addressed to a young investor, with the aim to provide timeless wisdom and practical advice that helped me when I was starting out. My goal is to help young investors navigate the complexities of the financial world, avoid misinformation, and harness the power of compounding by starting early with the right principles and actions. This series is part of a joint investor education initiative between Safal Niveshak and DSP Mutual Fund.

Dear Young Investor,

I want to take you back to the early 1970s, when there was a group of 50 specific stocks that everyone loved in the US. They were called the “Nifty Fifty.”

These weren’t obscure penny stocks, but titans of American industry—companies like Kodak, Polaroid, and Xerox. The narrative on the street was that these were “one-decision” stocks. You only had to make the decision to buy them. You never had to sell. You never had to worry. They were considered so dominant and safe that price didn’t matter.

It’s my birthday today. I’ve just completed 47 circles around the Sun.

There’s a cake somewhere in the kitchen, or so I’ve been told. I haven’t checked. My mind has been occupied with heart-rate readings and oxygen levels.

Five days ago, I got two stents in the main artery that supplies blood to my heart.

Even writing that feels strange, like I’m describing an uncle’s medical history rather than my own.

One Purpose. A Better Life.

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless
• Click here to buy Sketchbook
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook)

The Internet is brimming with resources that proclaim, “nearly everything you believed about investing is incorrect.” However, there are far fewer that aim to help you become a better investor by revealing that “much of what you think you know about yourself is inaccurate.” In this series of posts on the psychology of investing, I will take you through the journey of the biggest psychological flaws we suffer from that causes us to make dumb mistakes in investing. This series is part of a joint investor education initiative between Safal Niveshak and DSP Mutual Fund.

There is a story about a turkey that Nassim Taleb shared in The Black Swan.

Every single morning for 1,000 days, the butcher feeds the turkey food it loves. Over time, the turkey gets bigger and feels happy.

From the turkey’s point of view, the butcher is his best friend. Why wouldn’t it be? The turkey has 1,000 days of proof that this man takes care of him. It feels totally safe. So, when day 1,001 comes around, the turkey has no reason to worry. In fact, it is absolutely sure it’s going to be another great day.

One Purpose. A Better Life.

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless
• Click here to buy Sketchbook
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook)

I am writing this series of letters on the art of investing, addressed to a young investor, with the aim to provide timeless wisdom and practical advice that helped me when I was starting out. My goal is to help young investors navigate the complexities of the financial world, avoid misinformation, and harness the power of compounding by starting early with the right principles and actions. This series is part of a joint investor education initiative between Safal Niveshak and DSP Mutual Fund.

Dear Young Investor,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I recently found myself in the back seat of a car, nervously clutching my seat belt. I was accompanying a friend teaching his 21-year-old son how to drive.

He was excited and determined to prove he had it all under control. But every time the car lurched, or a dog ran near the road, I noticed the same pattern: he reacted instantly.

It was a stroke of luck that I came across the words and lives of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in the very early part of my life as an investor. I was not searching for heroes. But encountering their work felt like someone had turned on a light in a dark room I didn’t know I was sitting in. And suddenly, I could see myself a little more clearly.

One Purpose. A Better Life.

“This is a masterpiece.”

—Morgan Housel, Author, Psychology of Money

“Discover the extraordinary within.”

—Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings

• Click here to buy Boundless
• Click here to buy Sketchbook
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook)

The Internet is brimming with resources that proclaim, “nearly everything you believed about investing is incorrect.” However, there are far fewer that aim to help you become a better investor by revealing that “much of what you think you know about yourself is inaccurate.” In this series of posts on the psychology of investing, I will take you through the journey of the biggest psychological flaws we suffer from that causes us to make dumb mistakes in investing. This series is part of a joint investor education initiative between Safal Niveshak and DSP Mutual Fund.

We make tens of thousands of decisions, from what to wear and what to eat to what stock to buy. Many are trivial, but each drains a small amount of mental energy.

Psychologists have a name for this: decision fatigue. It’s the tendency for our decision making to become impaired as a result of having recently taken multiple decisions.

Gifts of Wisdom: Save on My Books + Mastermind (Until 31st October 2025)

Every Diwali, we clean corners we don’t usually look at. It’s a nice metaphor for our inner world too — for our habits and biases that need some fresh air. So this year, I’m sharing limited-time offers on the few things I created to help us see more clearly: my books and the Mastermind Membership.

🎁 The Sketchbook of Wisdom & Boundless (both hardcover): Read my reflections on self-discovery, growth, and living a life that’s yours.

• Click here to buy Boundless ₹1799 ₹1299
• Click here to buy Sketchbook ₹1799 ₹1499
• Click here to buy the combo (Boundless + Sketchbook) ₹3598 ₹2599
• Even bigger discounts are available on bulk orders — you’ll find details on the respective order pages.

🎁 Mastermind Value Investing Membership: My most comprehensive learning program, which now also includes Value Investing Almanack and weekly/biweekly live Q&A sessions, is open with ₹3,000 off for new members. Click here to join now.

In his book Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari tells the story of the French carmaker Peugeot to explain something interesting about the human mind—our ability to believe in what does not physically exist.

Peugeot, he writes, is not the factory, the cars, or even the employees. All of these can disappear, yet Peugeot would continue to exist. It was born from a few sheets of paper signed by a group of lawyers in 1896. From that moment onward, it lived as an idea, a legal fiction, and a shared belief that united thousands of people under one name.