“What is happening with the stock market, Vishal?” my very concerned trader-who-thinks-he-is-an-investor friend Ravi asked me on phone.

“Why Ravi, what happened?” I asked in my usual show of ignorance.

“Hey, haven’t you seen the crash in small and midcap stocks?”

“Okay, so you already know what is happening with the stock market, right?” I asked.

“Vishal, I have already lost all my profits in this crash, which I made during the past two years.”

“Oh! Were you playing around with stuff like Vakrangee, or PNB, or Suzlon?”

“I know I am bad at investing, but not so bad Vishal. Luckily, I never got into these stocks.”

“Wonderful. Now tell me how I can help you,” I asked.

“Tell me if you have any clue where the stock market is headed?” Ravi asked.

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This is going to be the shortest post on Safal Niveshak, but one with the most amount of wisdom (it doesn’t come from me, of course).

What follows below is a series of tweets from James O’Shaughnessy, the chairman and founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and the author of What Works on Wall Street.

The entire thread is worth reading, given that it contains the most important things an investor in stocks must understand, appreciate and tie into his/her investment philosophy.

It’s a gem of a tweetstorm, and I suggest you read through this and, maybe, print this out as it can serve as a wonderful reminder when you feel lost in the world of investing and the information overload that’s a part of it.

1/ I have been a professional investor for over 30 years. What follows is some things I think I know and some things I know I don’t know. Let’s start with some things I know I don’t know.

— Jim OShaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) May 10, 2018

Click on the tweet above to read the entire series, or click here.

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Disclaimer: This post isn’t against doctors or financial advisors. I respect both these professions but believe that a system bent on action often leads professionals in these fields astray. The consequences are often bad for their counterparties – patients and investors.

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It was sometime in 2008. I had an uncle who was a well-known dermatologist in my hometown. One day, on a routine annual checkup, the radiologist found a lump in his stomach. My uncle then got himself checked by his surgeon friend. The diagnosis was stomach cancer.

This surgeon was one of the best in this field and had even successfully tried a treatment on this exact cancer for other patients that tripled the five-year-survival odds – from 5 percent to 15 percent – albeit with a poor quality of life.

My uncle was not interested in this treatment. He knew the prognosis well and his focus now was spending time with family and feeling as good as possible for whatever time he had on hand.

A few months later, he died at home. He got no surgical treatment, no chemotherapy, no radiation.
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