A load of crap from an idle brainPersonal, Movies, Music, IT, India, Singapore, Politics, Fun

Somewhere in 2003, fed up of perennially running out of cash at the end of every month and just before the salary for the next month was to come in, i realised i had to do something drastic. Also the thought of not wanting to work till 55 or 60 years old (like everyone else) was always in the back of my mind.

I decided to not only save a small part of my salary but also start investing. Real estate was out of question as it required a bigger monetary commitment and i was loathe investing in land that could some day be encroached and i would need to run around the authorities and people in power to get them evicted.

The next best option was the stock market.  It didn’t require a huge upfront money and also because of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), i could invest a small amount every month in the mutual funds.  Also because of demat, it was easy for me to buy small number of shares of the companies that i liked.  Since my knowledge of economics, finance and the stock market in general was a big zero, i had to educate myself.  I attended a few seminars, but at the end realised that they were nothing but big money making scams.

This is when i truly realized the power of the internet.  With some great help from Google uncle, i jumped headlong into an intense 12 month study of the stock markets. I searched for information like crazy on equities and mutual funds. By then i had more or less realised that i was going to concentrate primarily in the Indian stock markets.  A developing economy which
was consistently clocking above 7% growth every year and a huge market, i realised that if i could get in early, i could probably ride a 20-30 year long boom.

India was then just starting off.  The BSE Sensex was then around 4500 (it has since climbed to 21,000, then fell to 9000 odd and is now back to 19000). I remember reading an Indian business magazine that pointed to a target 8000 for BSE Sensex in a few months time.  I chuckled to myself at the audacity of that heading.  But still deep down in my heart somewhere I had the belief that we were looking at something spectacular that was about to happen.

Imagine a country of a billion people and with the economy clocking 7-8% annual growth in GDP, it was sure to hit a trillion dollars soon and if the rate of growth could be kept up, then the next trillion could come in 8-9 years.  Yes, there were and are lots of things that could derail the growth. Terrorism emanating from Pakistan being just one such issue. Poverty, rampant corruption (that has become a norm these days), a closed economy, religious and regional violence…many issues could be an impediment to India’s growth and thus hit my investments in the market.

But honestly, when you realise that you are in the pits, the only way to go is up.  I took the risk and opened a demat account.  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was getting listed on the Indian stock markets for the first time ever in 2004.  I applied for the IPO and was allotted a measly 7 shares at 850 rupees each.  I was disappointed at not having been allotted more. Nervethless,  i held on.  A few months later the stock hit 1400 rupees.  I sold off at almost 550 rupees profit per share.  I made more than 3800 rupees (not accounting for taxes) in a few months by investing in TCS.

I had tasted blood.

Target 2015 continues….

Above target picture courtesy: David Hawkins

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From Fullhydblogs to Rediffblogs to WordPress to my own hosted domain here, its been 7 years of blogging. From 2-3 posts per week to one post in 2-3 weeks, the speed of blogging has surely gone down, but the interest hasnt waned. With Facebook, twitter and so many books and other sites fighting for attention, i have been guilty of neglecting attention to this site a bit.

Not that many people visit this site. Hardly gets around 100 hits a day unless some troll decides to brighten up an otherwise dull day. When i was with WordPress, the blog used to have thousands of hits daily. Not to mention that i used to blog much more regularly out there.

With the amount of work, i hardly have time to catch up with friends. Blogging has sort of taken a secondary interest in life. But i still cant believe that i could sustain interest for over 7 years. Meanwhile have finished reading some good books. Most of my updates on the blog have been on the Movies and Reading pages. They are the only ones getting updated constantly. Read a book on Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. Being a history buff, i liked the book. Wish i could find some movie or documentary on the same.

Also finally finished reading “The Warren Buffett Way” which i had been reading on and off while simultaneously reading other books. The other one is the unofficial Dhirubhai Ambani biography “The Polyester Prince” which also have been reading in fits and starts. The only way i seem to be able to finish a book faster is by listening to audio books. E-books and physical books seem to be taking months for me to finish. Its precisely why i have no interest of going in for an iPad or a Kindle. I think i will stick to audio book readers till the time i can improve my reading speed.

Still, have managed to finish about 19 books in the first 6 months of the year which i believe is pretty good enough. The target was to read a book a month. I have far exceeded that target. The next book that iam excited about reading is “Why Men Hate Going To Church – David Murrow“. The title of the book so defines me. My parents tried for more than 30 years and my wife has been trying for the past 3 years. I still cant bring myself to voluntarily go to church on a sunday. Not do do anything with my beliefs. I do pray regularly, but church is one thing that has been unable to keep me hooked. Maybe this book will give me some pointers on this issue.

Have watched some good (Hanna, X-Men, Millenium trilogy of Stieg Larsson) and lots of not so good movies over the past few months. Pyaar Ka Punchnaama as well as Shaitan were good too. As for telugu movies, the lesser said the better.

Time flies. We are almost into the 2nd half of the year. Time for me to take stock of the situation and make some hard choices. Do i still want to continue with what i have been doing all along or take the plunge into the unknown? Maybe the coming few months will give me the answer. Meanwhile what i need desperately is a holiday.

Above picture courtesy: Lifeconnectionchurch

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Work is hectic and continues apace with no respite. Havent taken a single leave this year; and we are almost at the end of 6 months of the year.   Will be taking a vacation in July or most probably August. Have learnt a lot in the past 3 odd months than what i have learnt over the past 2-3 years.

The one thing that i believe that i always lacked is the ability to chase people to get my things done.  This is something i have slowly started to work on.  Iam happy living in my own cocoon.  Takes time for me to open up and as a result, i have a small tight group of friends and for someone else to enter the group, it takes time.

But for some reason, i have seen people open up to me easily.  I dont need to know a person for long before they confess their intimate secrets to me.  Dunno if i give them some kind of comfort or is it something else.

Meanwhile for some strange reason, i have started believing that my days as an employee is coming to an end. Sooner or later i want to do my own thing.  This has been going round in my mind for long. But honestly, i cant figure out what is that one thing that i want to do.  If nothing, i want to take a break, finish the NCFM certifications and if possible get certified as a Financial Planner.  Later on, start my own consultancy or investment firm.  Also would love to learn more about trading, commodities and stuff.

If only i could make some time to pursue all these interests.

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1911 marked the beginning of 2 brands that no one would have believed to still be around 100 years later.  Two world wars, countless recessions and booms later, they still exist. And not exist at the fringes of the industry or in nostalgia of someone’s minds.  But active leaders in their respective markets.

My dad introduced me to the blue box of Nivea when i was in school.  3 decades later, i still use it.  Not only do i use their moisturizer, but body cream, chap stick and not to mention Nivea face wash. I love their soap too and wish that they come out with a shower soap soon so that i can use that.  Iam a complete Nivea person.

The other company IBM is considered the grandfather of computing.  Go here to see the wonderful site of IBM chronicling the 100 years of its history.  Some of the best innovations that have come out from the company, the website is a must read.

Laptops, PCs, Mainframes, Supercomputers, Messaging software, Webservers, Artificial Intelligence, Routing, Switching, Backend…you name it, IBM does it.

For many people believe that IBM is a pure IT company.  Not true. go to this website to read about the super work it does in the field of Biotechnology, Medicine, Space, Sports, Chemistry, Mathematics etc.

I started off my career working on IBM software, Lotus etc.  After having worked on competing products, you have to admit that there is something about the things that IBM makes that make them tick.  Afterall, to clock $100 billion revenues per year is no small feat.  At a time when companies with barely any revenue are quoted at 100 odd P/E on the stock markets, IBM’s stock is at a rock solid US$ 170 with a P/E ratio of about 14.

Here’s wishing many more decades of success for both companies.

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What a change a few weeks can do in the life of a stock market.  At the begining of the year, there were predictions of the BSE Sensex reaching 24,000.  Post the battering that the markets have received in the past 2 odd weeks, it would be great if the markets can come back to 21,000 levels.

Of course nothing can be predicted about the future.  The market conditions might become better, the Egypt political crisis might be solved, the companies could come out with better results in the next few quarters, the government might get tough on graft and a few politicians & their crony businessmen might end up in jail.

BSE Sensex performance in the past 1 month (courtesy: Yahoo finance)

Meanwhile, some of the best blue chip stocks and companies with strong fundamentals have been beaten down 20-40%.  This is another of the great time for a fence sitter to invest.  I have done too.

Bought a few stocks of Sintex Industries, Punjab & Sind Bank, Kanoria Chemicals, Noida Toll Bridge and averaged out the badly battered stocks of  MIC Electronics & 3I Infotech.

At the end of last year sold off Suzlon Energy, Reliance Communications (my worst investment ever. I would never buy any Anil Ambani companies again) and Punj Lloyd (another laggard not only on the stock market, but also in business).   I had sold them off for a loss.  It would have been a bigger loss if i had held them on as all 3 of them have been beaten down very badly.

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