Time-starved investors must stick to index funds
Conscious inaction is patience else it is inertia or laziness – which if coupled with mindless diversification can lead to disappointing outcomes from equity investments.
Discuss family finances with your children
Do your children ask you why you do charity even as you claim you cannot afford an expensive holiday? Should you share your financial status with your children? To what extent & when? Harsh Roongta’s article in the business standard on his personal journey in this regard. comments most welcome.
Regulation is inadequate protection against greed
A well regulated market is good for any Business or Profession as it imparts confidence to consumers and leads to orderly development of market for that product or service. Overregulation increases compliance costs and drives smaller players out of the market. It also leads to some players shifting to low or zero regulation markets.
Harsh Roongta’s article in Business Standard today. ?
Run numbers, you may have enough to quit
Many professionals already have the required F*** Y** fund if only they would do the calculations. Like huge elephants who are conditioned to believe they cannot break free from the short ropes that hold them they continue on the treadmill. One of the biggest pleasures of our advisory profession is to see the light go up in our clients eyes as they realise they can pursue the lifestyle that they had been dreaming of. Harsh Roongta’s article in Business Standard today . Your comments are welcome as usual.
Exchanges must provide data on unclaimed shares
Try an experiment. Think of 5 investors who were active in the stock markets in 1980s/1990s.Check for unclaimed shares/unclaimed dividends in their name on https://bit.ly/3Pf2ffX. You are likely to find some unclaimed assets for your efforts. Harsh Roongta’s article in Business Standard..
Maximising returns can harm financial health
Trying to maximise returns can be injurious to your financial health. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today uses cricket analogy on why the decision-making process (even if the outcome is not the highest) is more important than just a successful outcome. When our ancestors lived in the jungles the outcome of one mistake meant instant death. Hence the need to always be right is baked into our evolutionary consciousness. But in investing you don’t need to be always right. Being mostly right is sufficient. “I would want this batsman to be in the team” said one of the selectors cited in the article. “Only if I was the captain of the opposite side” he went on to add. ? . He enjoys receiving your comments and suggestions and will respond to queries as quickly as he can.
Make nomination the third route of succession
Harsh participated in a panel discussion organised by the Department of Economic Affairs & SEBI on June 8 @ Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. It was part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrating 75 years of independence. FM Nirmala Sitaraman also spoke at the event. All the panelists including Harsh had the privilege of meeting her for a brief interaction before she spoke at the event.
The panel discussion was on “The growth of retails investors and the challenges in being an informed investor” . The article in Business Standard has the gist of the talk by me primarily on the need to change the laws just like the 2015 amendment in the Life Insurance Act to make succession the third route of succession. The Indian Citizens need an easy, quick and economical succession route for their assets to free them from the tyranny of their personal laws or wills both of which involve long, tedious, expensive Tarikh pe Tarikh court process.
Landmark reforms: Costs for some, benefits for all
The 100% made in India Account Aggregator framework once active will transform India by giving the citizen power over her own data and allowing digitisation and speedy reforms. But like the credit bureau reforms it may take a long time in having an impact because existing players will see costs and benefits will be for everyone. India cannot wait for a decade and in Harsh’s article in business standard he write about how the financial sector regulators need to set a firm date for IPs to comply. India needs to hasten the slow pace of furious change. Your comments are welcome.
Limit Section 54 benefit to curb money laundering
Why the price of your flat is so high? The demand from ” Investors” with black money keeps the flat prices high for genuine users. The exemption for long term capital gains under section 54 encourages such money laundering activities. Harsh’s article in Business standard today suggesting how the government can limit the exemption so as to prevent money laundering and at the same time not impact the genuine buyers who may be upgrading their flats. This tax loophole should be closed to bring down the cost of flats for genuine buyers. Your comments are most welcome
More is less in client communication
Regulations and custom dictate a deluge of communications to an investor from advisors, platforms, mutual fund houses/PMS companies. With pre-and post communication coming in for each transaction it is a barrage of communication that overwhelms most investors. They respond by ignoring even the important communications that may be buried deep inside this barrage of communication. To top it most such communication is worded in non understandable legal language. One of the progressive regulators can take a lead to at least attempt much needed simplification and rationalisation exercise in the matter. A good first step would be to allow consumers to actively choose what kind of communication they wish to receive (or not receive) from their service providers. The second step would be to penalise service providers who disregard the active choice made by the consumer. Language and process simplification can follow later. Harsh’s article in Business Standard. Comments welcome.