The investments thread

Queris about Mutual Fund :
How to select the MF to invest? What factors sould I consider before investing into some?
How helpful is the last 1/3/5 year performance?
 
There was then a downhill and we lost considerable base and I was left with some black utensils as a collateral. A loss? Yep. Invigorating? You bet. Now at least I have a life lesson in operating restaurants if next 2008/Satyam knocks on a company near me :p
Same boat. Fired from service in 2002 with running family liablities. 7 months marketing of engg products- here & there and where not!... Result: Zero... Back to service sector with starting Helper salary!..
Straight to point now: I afraid on savings portfolio I vested 70% heavily in real estate, 20% metal & fds, 10% other.
Searching 2 or 3 stocks wherein I can start SIP... similarly people I was seeing purchasing 1 or 2 TCS stock per month when around 350rs... I missed that train & wish to catch again... any insight!
 
I have created a WhatsApp group (few days ago) for queries related to Investments & savings. PM me your whatsapp number if you are interested ;-)
 
Queris about Mutual Fund :
How to select the MF to invest? What factors sould I consider before investing into some?
How helpful is the last 1/3/5 year performance?
Hmm, here I thought there will be at least some discussion on this point. Looks like everyone is hiding their money under their mattresses :p

But then again you have asked a question about which people write 100s and 1000s of pages. So I am not sure anyone can actually teach you how to choose a good MF.

Anyways my two bits:

Before you start, go over the post where I tried (and really did!) to explain terms to @avi . Understand and digest it a bit.

Then do a test. Litmus test: Did you ever salivate hearing stories about a colleague's unknown friend who made tons of money buying Satyam at under 10rs? If yes, then you are ready to take some risk. ;)

Jokes aside, you need to define a risk profile. Is it high risk, high gain or the low risk, low gain types. Based on the risk profile you can find some MFs. There are many sites which list MFs based on their risk profiles. Pick one there.

Now one of things, at least I do, is to check the constituents. How does it change over time? Is it heavy on any particular company/sector (if it markets itself "balanced"). Mail the portfolio manager about your queries - why this heavy or less in this etc etc. Here, a human gut feeling will kick in (I know not really a good idea). Does he makes sense or its just some BS?

And you obviously don't want something like this (aside from the fact that I think gold Mfs/etfs are stupid. Want gold, buy it!!) :
http://www.sbimf.com/SBI_Gold_Fund/index.html
This says - "SBI Gold Fund is an open ended fund of fund scheme, which will invest in units of SBI Gold Exchange Traded Scheme (SBI GETS). The scheme seeks to provide returns that closely correspond to the returns provided by SBI GETS.". Hmm, now what is this SBI GETS?:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/mutual-funds/nav/sbi-gold-exchange-traded-scheme-sbi-gets-/MSB211

So basically take money from one SBI arm and lend it to another. A slightly more unscientific view will be the returns comparison. Looks like the MF is under performing its invested security by a margin. Never invest in funds like these.

As for the 1/3/5 years returns. Do they matter? Short answer - no they don't. Long answer - Past performance does not guarantee future results. So they dont matter.
 
Same boat. Fired from service in 2002 with running family liablities. 7 months marketing of engg products- here & there and where not!... Result: Zero... Back to service sector with starting Helper salary!..
Straight to point now: I afraid on savings portfolio I vested 70% heavily in real estate, 20% metal & fds, 10% other.
Searching 2 or 3 stocks wherein I can start SIP... similarly people I was seeing purchasing 1 or 2 TCS stock per month when around 350rs... I missed that train & wish to catch again... any insight!
I was actually employed even when the whole thing happened. My friend was the one who quit and was managing the restaurant. I gave him a helping hand over the weekend/after office hours.
As I said earlier in the thread, I dont invest in stocks. Too much headache for me in tracking each performance. I am more of a broad market guy, gives me lower returns than some high flying stocks but its fine by me.
 
When Twitter shares plummeted a week ago as the lock-up period ended for the company's insiders, it was not immediately clear who was selling, especially since founders Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams, as well as chief executive Dick Costolo, said they wouldn't. Data from Securities and Exchange Commission Form 4 filings, which insiders have to post every time they make a deal, take a few days to surface. Now they have, and an arcane move by what used to be Twitter's biggest outside shareholder may explain what's going on.


http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-13/insider-sales-the-crashed-twitter-were-years-old
 
^ I am sorry but DLF rallies by 10% too (though not a fresh 52-week high). Trust the media guys to just rake in some angle. :)

Though I am not sure what your relative took as a trade. if by calculated risk you mean buying and holding because of Modi's win (based on opinion polls or something); then I wouldn't say it wasn't very calculated . Reactions in the markets are always unpredictable. I made some but always had a protection in place if NDA dint achieve clean majority and there was a hung parliament. It cost me 1% of my total return but was worth it. Power of F&O ;)
 
if by calculated risk you mean buying and holding because of Modi's win (based on opinion polls or something); then I wouldn't say it wasn't very calculated
thats why I also said its risky :p he bought shares of Adani and few infra related shares. Dude is partying now.

btw Sensex had crossed 25000. Many people have booked profits.
 
thats why I also said its risky :p he bought shares of Adani and few infra related shares. Dude is partying now.

btw Sensex had crossed 25000. Many people have booked profits.
Its not risky its just gambling :p - thats why I said its not even close to "calculated". He could have just as easily be killed if there was even a slight indication of hung parliament. Dont mind but its this kind of unnecessary risky plays promotes the thought that market is like a casino or gamble; when its not.
 
Members,
I want to start investing in shares now that i have gained some basic knowledge about them and have been keeping a tab on market
I dont have a clue about the practical trading thing though, at the moment i only have a SBI savings account and i am thinking of having a ICICI DIRECT DEMAT ACCOUNT
Please tell me what all to look for before having a demat account ? how will my sbi account and icici direct demat account get linked ? how the brokerage charges will apply ? - i have read the brokerage charges on the website and got a little idea about the charges

Note - i am not going to invest anything more than a total of 50k in the coming 1 year or so unless i earn huge profits
 
I would suggest start 50-50 in Mutual funds and shares as you are starting fresh. So at the end of year you would have net gain rather than net loss if there are mistakes in choosing stocks from you side.
 
i have already invested around 40k in FD and will invest some more incoming months, i also have no clue about how mutual funds work and the return on those, keeping a tab on equity i have gained some knowledge, now i want to have a practical help regarding trading account and demat account charges, how to select and which to select
 
For MF releated , www.valueresearchonline.com is good source. this site has every MF house's every scheme with past details and performance.
In short each Mutual fund has fund manager which takes decision on the basis of market, type of fund (Equity,Debt,Hybrid ).
Regarding Demat, ICICI direct is good but if you are going to trade frequently then may be costly.
There are other options like ShareKhan,Angle broking etc. need to see their brokerage plans for different trades.
I think today you can move your money from any saving account to any demat account interfaces are there.
I move my Hdfc saving account money to Reliance money trade account.
 
So how much returns will MF give me ? or will it be variable as per market conditions ? fd gives a return of 9%
Ohk, so considering that i am not going to invest more than 50k, i will just keep rotating that money in shares or will have a long term investing of around 30k out of the 50k, which demat would you suggest me, i will trade frequently as in once a week or maybe once in 2 weeks
 
a) Make sure only a smallllll amount of your networth is into shares directly, because you are new to this. (Also, the markets are making obscene highs now)
b) What IS your trading strategy?
c) Check moneycontrol-> MutualFunds, and see the returns.
 
This topic is huge i.e. "Trading in Share Market".
Could be off-topic but necessary to have both side view.
I was at same stage in 2008 as you are , New. There were lot of people who attracted towards "Market". Market was approaching peak of 21000.
After that what happened is "History". Senses was dropping 1000 -1500 points. Ohh that was mess.
I learned lesson as some of my share are still in red :( ( and Why am I holding still could be another discussion point :)). Only good thing I did simultaneously started investing in MF . My returns from MF are around 10-12% not huge but considering situation it is OK.
Above advice of Vince is good follow that for some time.
Good thing is that Market are looking good at least in India perspective. But you never know what will happen in International markets as those play huge role today as everything is connected in some or the other way. In 2008 we used to to see in morning exchanges like DOW - US (overnight trend),Nikkei -Japan (early morning) then ours in afternoon European exchange. All these were so in sync , one falls every one will fall.

Just don't get demoralized or anything, but do study. There are good companies in market which can be bought which will give good returns in future.

You must have came across this Golden rule -"Never keep all the eggs in one basket".
Sorry for too much gyan. Just shared what I learned.
 
I suggest everyone check out a group 'Asan Ideas for Wealth' in Facebook.
They help in making you see the bigger picture before you start thinking on how invest money.
 
@Vince - A lot of helpful information from your side, at the moment i have decided to concentrate only on shares and not any other mediums such as mf, commodities,etc. The focus is only on fd and shares
Trading strategy - you can say no strategy as such, just invest in some good companies such as SBI, Infosys for long term investment purpose and for short term i have decided to keep a tab on the results, net profit and the market price of the companies i have shortlisted, and compare their prices with their 52week lows so that i can estimate whats the lowest possible price and whats the highest. e.g a company with a lowest 52week price this week and also with a net profit for the current period might have a bullish trend.
Also i have sent a request for the group on facebook

@rishp - Thanks a lot, its always good and beneficial to read someone's experiences. What you said is correct on your part, but considering that i am in your situation atm which you were at that point, i would have rather invested in FD by getting a secured return of 9% rather than going in MF getting an unsecured return of around 12% - correct me if i am wrong - does MF give secured return or unsecured ? as in can they change as per market condition,I guess yes
Also the money I am investing is the extra money I have kept apart and even if I lose that whole amount of money, its ok for me as I wont be selling those shares if they are in loss and also I am mostly gonna invest in established companies which might have a very less chance of liquidation.
As you said, slowly and steadily i am gonna create a portfolio and wont keep all the eggs in one basket, but for the moment - its only FD and SHARES
 
Do follow some blogs to keep yourself steady. For eg. here's a good article
http://www.subramoney.com/2014/06/investing-with-a-cool-head/

Also looking at net profit, market price, comparing it y-o-y,etc., is not effective enough. There are a 100 ways that companies can hide bad data inside their balance sheets.
So I suggest you first learn how to read a balance sheet *thoroughly*, value it (many models are available for this, eg. DCF), and then check the market price, and invest.
 
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