Author - Tanmay Gadre

In continuation with our previous post, following are a few situations of what we think we can do, but probably can’t:

• Ignoring an attractive bad investment story: Generally, a bad investment comes with an attractive story. At first, we ignore the story and we think that only other people will fall for such a story. But after some time, the story starts building. We see people invest in it, and we feel that it’s a good growth story. Eventually, we end up investing in it. As the basis of the story falls out, the investment loses its value, and we end up losing our invested capital. Most investors feel that they won’t fall for such stories, but they end up falling for them.
• To be a long-term investor: Long-term investing is very difficult to do, but it also rewards greatly. Doing very little seems like an easy task. But the temptation to act is so often overwhelming. Acting a lot, and doing something is often the opposite of doing very little when it comes to investing. Every day brings a new story, a new doubt, and a new opportunity. There’s always a new reason to be a short-term investor. Many feel that they can be long-term investors. But only a few people can do it.
• Benefit from extremes: Most of what we witness in financial markets is just noise, but extremes matter. When performance, sentiment, and valuations are at extremes (either positive or negative) the opportunity is for investors to take the other side; Yet, many investors are afraid of losing their capital. They feel that being part of the crowd will save them from taking wrong decisions. Such investors don’t benefit from the extremes of the market.
• Overcoming terrible odds: Investors frequently make decisions where the odds of success are incredibly poor. We think that we will make money by investing in a star fund. But we forget that we are looking at the historical performance. The same performance may or may not repeat. There are many more factors that might have resulted in the success. But we invest without considering these facts.
• Find the ‘one’ investment:Investors are aware of the benefits of diversification. But it feels a little boring and represents an admission of our limitations. We would prefer to find the ‘one’ investment that will transform our financial fortunes. Whether it be a stock, theme, fund, or ‘currency’. Such ambition may not end well. We feel that we may find that one investment and make a fortune. But diversification proves to be more beneficial.

The author concludes that being humble about the challenges of financial markets and aware of our circle of competence is very valuable and an investor should avoid becoming one’s own worst enemy.

Source: behaviouralinvestment.com

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”

The author Joe Wiggins says that poor investment decisions take place when our expectations of what we are capable of exceed the reality.

Following are a few situations of what we think we can do, but probably can’t:

• Timing the markets: many investors try to predict what will happen, and when will it happen in the stock market. The ‘when will it happen’ part is considered as timing the market. The stock market is considered as a complex, adaptive and a chaotic system. Forecasting ‘when will it happen’ is very difficult and usually can’t be done accurately. Yet, investors think that they can do it and continue to do it.
• Truly understanding complex funds: Many funds are complex in nature. Such funds promise high return with low, differentiated risks. Investors usually don’t understand the nature of such funds. Yet, they are attracted to the high return promises made by these funds and invest in them. They break an important rule of investing. Don’t invest in things you don’t understand.
• Predicting Inflation: Macroeconomic variables are affected by many factors. One such variable is inflation. Inflation is usually affected by many factors. It is hard for an investor to predict inflation. The investor doesn’t know which all factors are playing the role at a given time. Hence, the investor won’t be able to predict the inflation estimates accurately.
• Pick funds that consistently outperform: A myth in fund investing is that any manager or strategy can consistently beat the market. Even a skillful fund manager will underperform for prolonged periods. Many times, we fail to realise this. Due to this, we get trapped in a painful cycle of selling losing funds and buying yesterday’s winners.
• Withstand poor performance: Weak performances are almost impossible to avoid for any strategy, fund or asset class. These scenarios are easy to deal with in theory. But in practice, the experience is entirely different. An investor can have stress, anxiety and doubts during difficult periods. An investor may feel that a poor performance can be completely avoided throughout the life of the investment process. This leads to making poor decisions at just the wrong time.

Source: behaviouralinvestment.com

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”

Before we answer this question, let’s know how exactly does inflation affect investing:

How does inflation hurt?

In an inflationary environment, input costs for product-based businesses rise. Therefore, businesses have to increase the selling prices of their products. The end consumer ends up paying a high price for the same product which used to cost less before. Else, the business can keep the prices same and reduce the quantity of the product. Here, the consumer pays the same price, but for less quantity of the same product.

If the prices remain inflated for a prolonged period, it starts affecting the purchasing power of the consumer. It affects the demand for the company’s products. Sales volumes of the companies reduce. The company’s future growth is also negatively affected in such an environment. This has negative effect on its stock price, thereby reducing the returns for its investors.

Is there any way to invest in such an environment? There is! Let’s look at it:

• Service based companies may not be affected by high inflation. Eg- Software companies.
• Some companies can increase the selling price and still retain demand. Such companies have a good pricing power.
• Some companies sell luxury products at very high prices. The demand for their products remains constant even if they increase the price of their products. That’s because their customers are not affected by inflation as much as the common man.
• Some companies come under the category of consumer essentials. Their products are essential in the day-to-day life of their customers. The demand for such products doesn’t go away.

An investor can look for such companies that provide these products/services. They can invest in these companies even in a high inflation environment. An investor should keep it in mind that this environment doesn’t last for life time. But the stock prices may decline during such an environment. An investor should use this opportunity and invest at low prices in companies with sustainably growing businesses.

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”

Luck and skill play a part in investing. But the author Mr. Jeremy Chia says that many of us attribute our poor performance to luck and good ones to skill.

So, let’s learn more about luck and skill, shall we?

Understanding luck:

In a world full of unknowns and wide range of possibilities, luck plays a significant role in the final outcome. More than we want to believe. This wide range of possibilities can be seen in the profession of investing. Short term prices are volatile and random, and are influenced by luck. The long-term prices are also influenced by luck.

Long-term stock prices tend to be around the present value of the company’s expected future cash flow at the given time. The future cash flow is influenced by many factors. They result in a range of different cash flow possibilities. On many occasions, the market may also misprice certain securities. Hence, we should acknowledge that when it comes to investing, the future is not certain. There always will be a range of different possibilities.

Identifying skill

The next step is to separate luck from skill. Skill in investing is hard to quantify. We need to analyse a sufficiently long track record. An investor can outperform his peers for decades rather than just a few years. Then the odds of skill playing a role become significantly higher. Warren Buffett may have been lucky in certain investments. But no-one can deny that his long-term track record is due to being a skilful investor.

How to identify?

Focus on the process. Analysing an investment manager’s process is a better way to judge the strategy. Compare his original investment thesis with the eventual outcome of the company. If they matched up, then the manager may by highly skilled in predicting possibilities and outcomes. Find a larger data set. Your investment strategy may be based largely on investing in just a few names. Then it is difficult to distinguish luck and skill because you’ve invested in only a few stocks. The sample is too small. But if you build a diversified portfolio and were right about the investments, then skill was more likely involved.

Our investing success comes down to both skill and luck. Hence it is hard to separate luck and skill.

Source: thegoodinvestors.sg,

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”

The central banks around the world are raising interest rates to reduce inflationary pressures. But do these rising rates affect stock valuation? Let’s find out:

A change in the interest rate changes generally impacts the stock market immediately, whereas, for the rest of the economy, it may take about a year to see any widespread impact. Although the relationship between interest rates and the stock market is fairly indirect, the two tend to move in opposite directions.

Companies that have borrowed debt will experience an increase in borrowing costs. This will impact the profits and cash flows of such companies. This in turn will negatively affect their stock prices. Higher interest rates will increase the fixed income yields and make them more attractive. Stocks would now require a higher rate of return to compete with these higher-yielding instruments.

Higher interest rates tend to negatively affect earnings and stock prices (with the exception of the financial sector). In theory, higher interest rates impact high-growth companies more than low-growth companies. Most of the current value of high-growth companies is derived from cash flows generated much later in the future.

But there are still 2 reasons to stay invested in high-growth companies:

• Many high-growth companies are capable of providing a higher rate of return even if interest prices keep on rising.
• Interest rates tend to impact valuations only temporarily.

The central banks can’t keep on raising interest rates forever. They reverse the rate change once the monetary policy measures taken are effective enough. These are short-term changes and shouldn’t affect an investor if it’s a long-term investment. Once the central banks announce an interest rate cut, the assumption is consumers and businesses will increase spending and investment. This can cause stock prices to rise.

What to do in such situations?

Instead of being worried, one should stay invested in companies having good long-term growth potential. Investors should invest in companies that have low or zero debt. Low debt companies can service the debt even if the interest rates go up. An investor should focus on the quality of the business. Good quality businesses can do well even in a high-interest rate environment. Understanding the relationship between interest rates and the stock market can help investors understand how changes may impact their investments. They can also be better prepared to make better financial decisions.

Source: thegoodinvestors.sg, investopedia.com

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”

Mr. Jeremy Chia suggests that long-term investors shouldn’t bother even if the stock market remains closed forever. He says that even if we are never able to sell our shares, a truly good investment bought at the right price should still pay off over time. How? Let’s read:

An investor can’t sell the shares if the stock market will remain closed forever. Yet, the investor will remain entitled to future dividends of the company. The goal of a long-term investor shouldn’t be simply to sell off an asset at a higher price to a buyer. It should be to hold an asset for its cash flow creation capability.

Many companies are in different phases in their lifecycles. If a company is growing rapidly, it may not pay dividends. After some time, once it matures and it starts building up excess cash. It can then start paying dividends to its shareholders. But one has to remain patient for that. If the stock market remains closed forever, these patient shareholders will eventually start receiving dividends. These dividends will eventually exceed what they paid to buy the shares.

Therefore, an investor should invest in a stock after checking the following:

• How much cash flow can the company potentially generate?
• Can I receive back what I paid for buying the stock by simply collecting the cash flow over the years?
• Will I eventually get more than paid for even if no one offers to buy the stock in the future?

If an investor has paid too much for the stake in the company, the investment may not pay off. Even a high-growth company may not generate enough cash to reward such a shareholder. In today’s market, many investors have bought a stock hoping to sell it to a “greater fool” at a higher price. They don’t buy it to benefit from the cash flow of the stock and are unlikely to make back their capital.

Source: thegoodinvestors.sg

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”