Can I be painfully honest with you for a moment?
And I can almost guarantee you will not enjoy it.
You know how you’ve been struggling to get more and more returns on your investments? Tried everything, and it’s just not working, right?
Well, it’s not because you haven’t found the right investing strategy. It’s not because you need to change your investing guru. It’s not because the Mr. Market have turned against you and cursed you to wallow in mislaying forever.
It’s because you’re dumb.
And if you ever want a chance to earn passive income from your investments, you’d better smarten up.
Did I really just call you “dumb?”
Yes, I did. Sorry.
This is not a ruse where DUMB turns out to be a clever acronym for something far less offensive. The truth is, I’m calling you out, and I’m doing it out of love.
Because you see, everyone has been lying to you. Including me.
We teach you investing strategies. We dole out trading tips. We give you a pep talk and make you believe maybe you can really become the next investing superstar.
But honestly?
There’s one really big thing we’ve been leaving out. Here it is:
"Popular investors are smarter than you are"
And no, I’m not talking about IQ. Instead of their simplicity and transparent views.
Investing is not much complex, in lieu you made it complex. Being simple is the way to turn your ass out as a smart investor in the crowd of dumb investors.
How to make yourself smart Investor
I was not what you would call a “bright” kid.
I bunk my school classes. I failed tests. I scored mediocre grades.
But sometime around the age of 16 or so, I got fed up with myself and decided to change things. I just started caring less about what my friends are snapping at Snapchat and started thinking about who I wanted to become.
And that person was smart.
So instead of spending my time on FaceBook, I started scrolling MoneyControl. If my parents endorse me some money, instead of spending it on leisure, I buy books to furnish my finance knowledge. On the weekends, I stopped going to the playground and hunt out at the library, reading books totally of my own interest.
Nobody told me to do it. I just did it. Because that’s who I wanted to be. Within a year, I was well furnished with more than basic knowledge.
Each and every one of us decides who we are. No, you may not be ready to be a popular investor now, but you can become ready.
The whole reason for dictating this trash is not to brag my past or to publicly announcing myself, instead make you understand that you don't need to be extra-ordinary to get extra-ordinary returns. Doing things simply is what drive great returns.
Finally! Here's what you're here for.......
So let me share some simple tactics that I'm using and tested since I started investing (and even a dumb head can use this tactics).
#1) Be Greedy when others are Fearful
This is often quoted by great investor Warren Buffett. So instead of giving you theoretical preaching, let me try to illustrate it.
I bought some shares of ICICI back in May 1st week when it was trailing at low of 214 and currently (14 June) it is quoted at 245 INR.
I just followed a simple tactic - Market devalue share on each and every negative news without considering the fact weather it will hamper its long term value or not. It's a great time to enter in market. Nerd investors are pessimist, most of the shares are red and people are pulling out their funds in market.
I heard a negative news of ICICI that its net profit plunges 76 per cent to Rs 701.89 cr on NPA surge.
In continuation, again another bad news - ICICI Bank reports lower than expected Q3 net profit, bad loans rise and also ICICI was fall out of top 10 market cap list.
Above statements are enough to clarify its bad situation right now but...
What made me invest in such bad times?
Always remember this when it comes to value investing - "Buy wonderful companies at its low instead of hoping ordinary companies to go up"
Its a common phenomena that a bunch of quarterly news can't decide the company's future. In addition, great companies will always find ways to tackle its pitfalls which maintains their futuristic growth and ICICI presence in BSE30 (Sensex) shows its greatness.
In short, news can change company's price but can't change its fundamental values. Currently, same situation is happening with pharmaceutical companies. Here comes my next investment.... Cipla disappointing results, profit falter.
Again its a great bet right now. I entered in Cipla stock on 2nd June @468 INR and now just check out it's current trailing price.
I just want to clear out one point - Market devalues stocks on bunch of negative news and value investors hunts this situations to get most out of less.
Here's a short overview of situation...
People will hear out news >>> they will react emotionally >>> they will feel insecure (like all are selling stocks, why shouldn't I?) >>> this results in high sell-off >>> stock price declines >>> smart investor leverage this situation.
Don't get excited....
However, this technique sounds simple but still their are some precautions to consider before reaching out to final decision.
- Don't consider buying all stocks on bad news. Some stocks have stinky financials. Have a short overview over their financials.
- Don't follow this technique in Government owned stocks. Actually government own stocks are owned by Current President of India, not by any individual promoters. So it decrease the chances that it will recover its value in future. For example, MOIL ltd (a government owned mining company) has its maximum number of share under President name.
(If image is blur, follow the link here to get navigated to the source page)
- Have a keen track over stock news, download any news app. I prefer Inshorts, What do you prefer? (see you in comments).
- Set stock alerts in moneycontrol to get notified whenever a stock touches your desire price.
- Another excellent alternative to create a customize notification would be Google Alerts. Steps - Search any stock on google search bar >>> navigate to news section >>> At the end of the page, you can locate a "create alerts" buttons. Create some alerts and keep an eagle eyes on emails.
Text read in red circle - "Create alert"
- Twitter is also evolving as a great source of news for investors. Well explained by theguardian....
A simple search on Google (top 50 financial twitter feeds) will swamp you with more than enough results OR you can find them easily segregated in my profile (whom I'm following). Here's the link - @sowmay_jain. I usually re-tweet the news that can make market dance.
There are many other sources to quickly get updated with financial news but for now just try above method. If curious enough, shout at comments below. Now lets switch to second strategy.
(This post was initially appeared on my blog)