A friend recently narrated how a
huge investment he recently made has turned very negative. He was surprised
that the stocks had made money for many others but failed to help him. I had a realization
of sorts after this discussion. It’s the attitude of investing small amounts over
a long period of time versus that of investing large amounts over short period
of time that makes the results different. People who follow the latter are wrongly
hoping that they will get lucky in the ‘get rich quick’ schemes in stock market.
This never happens, invariably after you invest the stock typically goes down
as our investments are timed in such ways. We invest when we hear a friend bragging how he made quick money and very
often such prices will reverse to the mean causing losses to ourselves. If you are sure about the fundamentals of the company and its growth prospects, don’t sell the stock only because there is no movement in the price. The stock price will move up sooner or later and when it does, it would make up for the lost time.
My own
experience teaches the same.
On 25th
May 2011, 4 years ago I had blogged about this stock when it was quoting for Rs
3,925. On 27th May 2014, it was quoting the same price Rs 3,928. Anybody
who had invested would have been frustrated except if he is an owner of the
stock of the business. He continues to stay invested because he is a part owner
and he is interested if the company is growing its earnings and revenues,
keeping debt in control. Now like magic, the market works wonders. From June
2014, the stock price of this scrip kept moving north nonstop and now quotes at
Rs Rs 8,200.
The way
to look at this is that the stock price went up from Rs 3,900 to Rs 8,200 in 4
years accumulating an approximate 18% CAGR (per year return). What decisions
went into investing, and what decisions made you to hold it for 4 years? Read Here
Lessons.
Remain “extremely passive”
with your investments;
buy quality stocks; companies that
have great competitive advantage
and companies with honest
management.
One should never hesitate to pay for
quality and then remain passive.
There are
investment options always in the market, one has to develop the right attitude
to win the Stock Markets. It starts by being business literate.
