Marzee Kerawala is a Certified Financial Planner with expertise in Income Tax and Investment products. Managing assets worth over Rs. 4 Billion, his firm ‘NiveshIndia’, designs Tailored Investment Strategy through Customised Financial Planning for individuals and NRIs, and also handles Treasury Management for corporates and SMEs. You can contact him at +91 9987567667 or Email: marzeek@niveshindia.co.in [Website is www.niveshindia.in]
Market moods tend to swing rapidly, and FY 2020-21 had on display both the extreme highs and lows. We are very close to touching 50,000 points on the Sensex. When I had penned my article in March, 2020, ‘Follow the rules and Investment Karona’, we were close to 26,000 points, never did I imagine I would be writing this article on investment behaviour in bull markets so soon!
It is hard to believe even at these index levels there are investors who have made losses for themselves or have managed to just about break even. While it is an established fact that equity is the best performing asset class in the long term, I still wonder how these individuals managed to make losses!
Mr. Nozer Sadri, an engineer in a Tech firm, believes in googling the symptoms and self-prescribing his medical requirements. He is confident that this ability will take care of his health plans! He firmly believes that doctors are always hand in gloves with medical stores and diagnostic centres, that they prescribe drugs and tests they probably wouldn’t themselves take! Moreover, he sees no value in paying fees to the doctors.
When I met Mr and Mrs. Daruwala, who are in search of a suitable boy for their daughter Rashna, at a wedding reception last week, they were elated to share they had found the match – “We met this boy online while surfing matrimonial sites. He and his family are all NRI’s. Rashna spoke to him and his family on a video call – they both seemed very happy; I think he suits my daughter very well. We have gone through his FB profile too and the profile seemed quite impressive. We have decided to go ahead with it!”
Mehernosh, my neighbour, lost his job in the lock down. He withdrew money from his portfolio. When asked about why such a large sum of redemption was required, he said he has started an online pharmacy business which advertised aggressively in this lock down, and he now understands everything to make this business successful.
My college friend Shirin never wears a helmet while riding her scooty. She feels a lot of burden on her head and her hairstyle gets spoilt because of it. Moreover, if caught, she can easily bribe the traffic cop and get away with it.
Maybe these behaviours might surprise or even shock you. After all, who would take such personal risks without properly thinking, and cause emotional/financial harm to themselves and their families? They need help, right?
Nozer Sadri prefers investing in stocks directly. No harm in doing that, except that he neither has any frame work for selecting his stocks, nor does he have a buy, hold or sell policy in place. His stock picking happens randomly based on news and reports floating around on business news channels. He asserts that it is always better to lose money by his own mistakes, than to pay fees to Fund Managers and let them lose his money.
Mr Daruwala needs money next year for his daughter’s marriage. In this lock down he has read lots online how stocks listed on NASDAQ index in US has doubled or tripled investor’s wealth in few months. He is confident that if he invests now, the money will be available and intact next year.
Mehernosh has lot of time on his hands now because of his job loss. Instead of posting his CV on job portals online, he has decided to try his hands on equity and Futures Trading. Though he doesn’t have any prior experience, he’s confident of making money. He has seen lots of videos on youtube and he thinks he understands the trading strategies like a pro.
Shirin feels having mediclaim is such a waste of money. According to her, the premium amount paid to the company can be saved and invested, if and when required for hospitalisation the premium amount saved can make good the hospitalisation bills.
So now, do these stories make sense to you readers? You would know many people around you committing these mistakes in their daily lives. These stories may be about specific people, but these behaviours are a sure shot way to lose money.
So, if we understand that we would not do something like this in our real-life situations, why do we behave so differently when it comes to managing our finances?
A popular proverb goes, “It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from others.” Learn also from the mistakes that you don’t make with yourselves, and apply it when it comes to managing your money! Professional Wealth Management is therefore crucial for all who wish to have a stable and well-guided present and a secure future.
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