Dealing with information asymmetry and misaligned interests
Let’s say I am buying a used car, I will have no information if the car has a problem or if it was involved in an accident. The seller has this information but has no incentive to disclose this information to me. In our lives we make decisions based on incomplete information, sometimes we don’t […]
July-Sept 2016 Results and Market Outlook
As we end the quarter July -September 2016, we are happy to share the results of IndusWealth model portfolio. Results for IndusWealth can be downloaded from the links below: Summary of the returns Portfolio performance summary Benchmark return calculations Transactions in the model portfolio Stock wise returns for the model portfolio Market Outlook We are in […]
Our beliefs could be our blinders
I had a couple of meetings with a group of people, who got interested in trading in equities. They reached out to see if they could leverage some of our research ideas. During the conversations I asked about the profitability of their trading operations. They believed that they were doing very well. When they sent their […]
Investing – Skill vs Luck
Imagine that you receive an email saying “Follow our system that guarantees to help you swim like Michael Phelps or run like Usain Bolt”. Most of us would have a hearty laugh and delete that email. Now imagine you receive an email that says “Follow our system that guarantees to help you invest like Warren […]
User Guide
Every product we buy comes with a user guide, this is not the case for services. We thought we should create a user guide to assist our clients to make the best use of our services. We felt it is best to start off with “Don’ts”, then go on to the “Do’s”, then follow it […]
Trading is tricky
Brokers visit us to pitch that they will be able to generate regular income for us by trading. I understand that this is one of the most common pitches made to clients by some brokers. A recent article gave some interesting insights into equities market. It stated that 50%-60% of the equities belong to “controlling stake […]
3-M framework for Managing Investments
In this era of data, I guess, all of us will agree that having a data driven, well-defined, and disciplined approach helps achieve goals. This works for dieting, fitness, managing a company, as well as managing investments. 3-M framework for managing investments is about Measuring, Monitoring, & Managing. Measure: Identify a benchmark for performance review […]
Betting with the house could be a good idea
Casino’s are always interesting places. People going to a casino are either trying out their luck or believe they have the skills to beat the casino. There is always a lot of excitement and activity going on for all gamers in the casino. Some people win big, some people lose big, some people have modest wins, […]
Investing in Small Cap Stocks
Small caps attract significant attention, especially in growth markets. Some say they are very risky, some say they are highly attractive investment opportunities for long term investors. Viktan was publishing an edition with a special focus on small cap stocks and reached out to us for our take on investing in small cap companies. We […]
What should be my equity exposure?
“How much should I be investing in equities?” – is a question I get asked very often. “It depends” – is always the right answer. This answer says something but means nothing. Our objective in this article is to be able identify a few typical contexts and present potential choices in those contexts and discuss […]
Signal and Noise
I try and play bridge once a week, last week the tournament start was delayed due to an election rally which caused a traffic jam. I was chatting with one of the senior bridge players, when he found out about my line of work he said “I invested in stocks long time ago, the prices […]
Tinkerbell effect
Tinkerbell effect is an expression describing things that are thought to exist only because people believe in them. The effect is named after Tinker Bell, the fairy in the play Peter Pan, who is revived from near death by the belief of the audience. Beliefs are extremely powerful and their effect is best demonstrated in […]