“Yeh PSPO nahi jaanta!” Remember that old ad for – I think – Orient fans? In which a customer gets mocked for not knowing what is PSPO? That was the kind of look my broker friend Jigneshbhai got from Swami when he said, ‘No Idea!’ in response to Swami’s question on ‘where are the markets … Read more
And for a Friday (because this is a long weekend), a few stray thoughts and a few general observations and a few points of view (all my own work): Like the two great minds that influenced the 20th century the most were Gandhi and Einstein. Einstein changed the way we think about what the world … Read more
“So, someone sent me a joke yesterday of an HR Manager who is asked to choose between Heaven and Hell at the Pearly Gates by St Peter”, said Jigneshbhai, as we sipped our coffee last weekend. Swami and I were busy reading up on the stock markets, as they were getting interesting by the day. … Read more
My friend Swami was quite cheerful a few days back when we met. “Finally, the markets are going up – now that Modi is sure to become the Prime Minister.” “There is no such thing as a sure thing,” said my broker friend Jigneshbhai, putting brakes on Swami’s enthusiasm, as he sipped coffee during our … Read more
‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.’ So said someone accomplished. I learnt this truth in my job a few years back when I used to analyse marketing campaign effectiveness for marketing managers. How much ever I tried to tell them that a … Read more
So the old saying that ‘Money does not buy happiness’ is true, and a Princeton-Gallup study has data that backs it up. Take a look at this link: Happiness is Love – and $75,000 The study by Princeton Nobel laureates does say that money does count (or, let’s say, is a significant variable!) for happiness … Read more
Last weekend, my friend Swami complained over coffee to my broker friend Jigneshbhai: “For the past 3 years, your favourite fund manager, Prashant Jain of HDFC Mutual Fund, has not beaten the market index, and you told me that he manages the best performing funds in the country.” Clearly Swami was not in a good … Read more
My broker friend Jigneshbhai had asked me and Swami to come over to an investor camp last Sunday for our evening coffee. At that event, a retail investor took centre stage. Inspired by Sachin Tendulkar’s heart-touching farewell speech, the retail investor made an emotional speech thanking everyone for his experiences in trying to get rich … Read more
“The Sensex reaching a new record high around Diwali muhurat trading is a bit like Tendulkar hitting a century in his 200th test.” “Normally, no one could have asked for a better coincidence to pump up spirits” said my broker friend Jigneshbhai as we sipped our coffee. “But unlike the celebrations around Sachin’s 200 tests … Read more