Safal Niveshak

Wit. Wisdom. Value Investing.

Investing and the Art of Discipline

“Half of life is luck; the other half is discipline – and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.” – Carl Zuckmayer

Warren Buffett once said that the most important quality for an investor is temperament – how he behaves under different situations – not intellect.

In simple words, if you are an investor, your attitude will play a major role in your investing success than your aptitude.

It has been proven time and again that the worst enemy an investor can have is his emotions.

So, during bull markets, your worst enemies are greed and envy.

During bear markets, they are fear and panic.
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Investor, Raise Your Voice Against a Broken System. Occupy Dalal Street!

Image Source: The Guardian

2011 definitely seems a year of uprisings and protests against the corrupt.

What started in the Middle East (protests against the autocratic governments), spread to India (protest against the corrupt government). Now, similar protests are seen in the (disputed) financial capital of the world, New York.

Thousands have gathered there to protest against the corrupt financial companies of Wall Street. This protest started on 17th September, and has been termed as ‘Occupy Wall Street’.

But why are people occupying Wall Street?
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Grab My 20-Lesson Value Investing Course (It’s Free!)

Something tells me you are smarter than most self-proclaimed stock market experts and others looking to invest in the stock markets.

Something tells me that you are not interested in ‘get rich quick’ schemes or ‘hot stocks’ that promise fast money from the stock markets.

You are not looking for a magical idea that involves no work, no time, and no sense on your part.

And you also realise that you don’t have to be Einstein to become a sensible, intelligent, and successful stock market investor.

So, you are smart. It’s only that you need to realise this truth and believe in yourself.

And with a view to create this belief in you, let me introduce you to…

Value Investing for Smart People
Value Investing for Smart People is a simple and systematic way to understand and implement the time-tested principles of value investing (the most sensible way of investing) to create wealth from stocks.

It’s a 20-lesson course on value investing strategies that have helped the world’s best investors amass huge wealth from the stock markets.

Despite the immense value that this course carries and the invaluable investing insights that you will learn from it, I have kept it FREE.

Yes, you read that right! Value Investing for Smart People is a free 20-lesson course on value investing techniques that will be delivered to you via email once you sign up for it.

And why is it free? Simply because this is your first step into the amazing world of value investing, and I want you to take this step hassle-free and without any reservations.

So come, sign up for Value Investing for Smart People.

10 Warren Buffett Quotes That Will Make You a Richer Investor – II

Warren Buffett has been a great teacher to me in my career as a stock market analyst and investor. He is super generous, and is one of the greatest teachers you could ever find.

Not only are his teachings relevant to the way we invest, they also tell us a lot about how we must live our lives.

Anyways, here are five more quotes from Warren Buffett that you must read and always remember while investing in stock markets.

1. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
‘Never lose money’ is probably the simplest and the most important rule that you must follow while investing in stock markets.

Most of us investors are always in search of that temporary rise in stock prices that will make us profits so that we can cash out. But the only rule that investors must follow, as Buffett says, is to ‘never lose money’ in stocks.

But how do you do that? How do you ‘never’ lose money in stock markets that rise and fall each day, without you having control on it?
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10 Warren Buffett Quotes That Will Make You a Richer Investor – I

If He-Man is the master of the universe, Warren Buffett is the He-Man of the investing world.

The only student to get an ‘A’ from his teacher and the father of value investing Ben Graham, Buffett is the most followed and revered investor the world has ever seen. And we are fortunate to have him living in our times.

Often called the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ (Omaha is where Buffett lives in the US), Buffett is the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, his investment company that was once an ailing textile manufacturer when he took it over.

Buffett’s investment philosophy has been a mixture of Graham and Philip Fisher (another legendary investor), plus his own ideas that he has developed over his investing career.

His principles have worked wonders for him for the past many decades. And he believes that they will still be the cornerstones of investing a hundred years from now as well.
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Is it the Right Time to Invest in Stock Markets?

The last week has been pretty hectic for me, especially given the numerous telephone calls I’ve received from friends and relatives asking me whether now is the right time to invest in stock markets.

“You see, the Sensex has fallen by almost 25% since its highs in November 2010, and stocks look cheap,” argued a cousin.

Most investors I encounter during such periods of market volatility ask me this very question.

Even you might have this very question at the top of your mind now – “Is it the right time to invest in stock markets?”

If yes, here is a study I’ve done that will answer your question (whether it is the ‘right’ time to invest in stocks), and hopefully to the best of your satisfaction.
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How to Stop Worrying and Start Investing

In the spring of 1871, a young man picked up a book and read twenty-one words that had a deep effect on his future.

He was a medical student at the Montreal General Hospital, and was worried about passing the final examination. He was also worried about what to do in the future, how to build up a medical practice, and how to make a living.

These twenty-one words helped him to become the most famous physician of his generation. That’s not all. He organized the world-famous John Hopkins School of Medicine.

He was knighted by the King of England. When he died, two huge volumes containing almost 1,500 pages were required to tell the story of his life.

This man was Sir William Osler, and the twenty-one words that helped him live a life free from worry were…
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We Are All Weird

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

These words from the famous American writer, poet, and cartoonist Dr. Seuss rings a bell in my mind every time I hear someone complaining about how the stock market is like a casino that has robbed him of his wealth.

“Stock market is a weird place to be in. I’m better betting on race horses,” said my neighbour as I asked the reason for his sadness during our early morning walk.

“Seemingly he has lost some money as Indian markets have crashed this week,” I thought to myself.

What I thought was right, as he said, “You know what? The Sensex was down 700 points on Thursday and another 200 on Friday! Isn’t this madness?”

I am a good neighbour, so I wanted him to pour out his heart before I could have spoken anything in defense of the market.
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Stocks Crash! What Should Investors Do NOW?

The Sensex was down 700 points yesterday. It’s down 250 points as I write this today.

Whenever we get days like this — like when the Sensex is down 500 points or more — my phone begins ringing with inquiries from friends and relatives.

They always ask the same question: “What should I be doing now?”

Even my wife has this question every time she sees the markets fall like this.

“What are you doing now?” she asks me.

You see, this is ‘not’ the right question to ask in such times.
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Is Stock Market a Casino?

My eyes were caught by a headline in a business paper yesterday. It said, “Steady rise in shady deals, price rigging”.

At first I thought this was an article on the real estate sector in India. But then as I read it further, things really started to look ‘shady’.

The article talked about how data from the stock market regulator SEBI suggests that the cases of market manipulation and price rigging in stock markets have steadily increased over the past few years.

In fact, such cases now account for almost 50% of the cases taken up for investigation by the SEBI.

What this data simply means is that a growing number of people in the Indian stock markets are following the mantra ‘Greed is Good’ as was said by the character of Gordon Gekko in the Hollywood classic Wall Street.
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