Vallimanalan Ashokan

Vallimanalan is a banking and financial services professional with over nine years experience. As an AMFI certified mutual fund advisor he has spent years helping customers make considerable profits in mutual funds, insurance and sub-niche shares. He has carried out many projects to create awareness against possible fraudulent practices in banks and insurance companies. Currently, runs a ‘not for profit’ service community which addresses the grievances of customers of different BFSI entities. This community takes up issues on behalf of a customer and provides support till it is resolved, through all possible mechanism under legal channels. Topics of interest: Savings/Current account, Mutual funds, Insurance, Credit cards, fraud prevention, Sub-niche stocks, RBI Ombudsman, SEBI Scores

Identifying multibagger stocks for SIP

A mutual fund house selects many stocks from different sectors and multibaggercreates a balanced portfolio. This diversification helps mitigating risk, but it also polarizes your funds. Once a sector gets hit, the total fund value comes down. You cannot choose to shift away from these stocks and have to wait till it gets better. It is always wise to select a bunch of stocks yourself and bet regularly. There are more than, 7000 stocks in BSE & NSE combined. It is like searching a drop in an ocean, tedious but possible. There are several factors on which a stock is screened before qualifying it as a potential multibagger. Given the technological tools we have today, it is a lot easier than it was a decade back. Before searching for a multibagger we must first decide on our risk capacity.

Ask yourself two questions:
How much can I save from my monthly income?
How much can I save from my monthly expenses?

Spend more time on the second question. Make no mistake, I am not asking you to decrease expenses. Just add a little more to your expense each and every time you spend. In other words, tax yourself. Transfer a percentage of the total expense to your trading account (call it an iTax, myTax or whatever you wish) but do it for every transaction you do. It might sound crazy, but believe me, it works wonders! You can either invest this taxed amount in certain stocks or use it as a risk manager when your stock trades lower than previous highs.

Now let’s search for the drop. Our ocean is made of different sectors and all these sectors are dependent on each other in one-way or other. There is no fool-proof way to find an ever bullish sector. Instead, find a visible problem the world is facing today and the sector which is directly related to solving the problem. For example, pollution is an alarming issue throughout the world, and it is only getting worse day by day. Many governments have already started taking steps to control pollution in every possible way. Hence, we can find a stock which deals with pollution control. On the same lines is cybersecurity. Every business is online and all need to be safe. Companies which offer cybersecurity are going to be in demand, hopefully, in the near future. Next challenge will be to square in on a stock in this sector. That is where fundamentals of a company come in handy. Look at few important factors like Market Cap, Book value, P/E vs Industry P/E and Dividend yield. Check the financial trend of the company. Many growing companies report negative net profit but their net sales might still be increasing which is a positive sign. Above all, this is the credibility of promoter group; make sure you have read their activities in the market.
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Benefits of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)

“Disciplined investors built their own empire, others just made money”

systematic investment plans

Stock markets are for the rich, who can throw their money at anything and wait for a bigger fortune. This is the biggest myth I have ever heard, and also the most common myth among retail investors. In the hindsight, this is the only place where millionaires are made from nowhere. All you need to do is to follow few strategies and stick to a discipline. Among many investment strategies in the stock market, Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) stands out to be the least complicated one. Investing in SIP is like learning to swim. The earlier you invest, the greater your returns in the long run. There are two ways to invest in SIP. Either you choose a mutual fund available in the market or you can choose few stocks yourself and keep investing. It is like paying Pre-EMI. When you buy something and pay EMI, you are actually paying an interest to the bank, thereby increasing the cost of the product you bought. The bank decides the interest and the EMI. Longer the duration, higher is the interest. You cannot skip an EMI and have to pay it on the specified date.  If you wish to… close in-between, you will have to pay a penalty. The interest rate fluctuates depending on the market condition.

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Contribution of Emotion in Investing

EMOTIONS ARE YOUR WORST ENEMY IN THE STOCK MARKET

Contribution of Emotion in InvestingEmotion plays an important role in many aspects of life. Most of the decision we take depend on our emotional quotient, either directly or indirectly. It is no different in investing. Though it is impossible to keep emotion out of the equation, it is imperative to keep it under control. In fact, the success rate of our buying/selling decision in stock market depends unswervingly on this factor. There are two extremes, between which decision-making swings like a pendulum. Most of us react to these extremes. We are either too excited to calculate the risk involved in buying a particular stock or too depressed to identify the intrinsic value of a stock when it is down. It is always important to take a balanced and an informed decision. Striking the balance is an art. It needs to be practiced over time. There are scores of channels, magazines and hundreds of analysts who often occupy our mind and ride us through different sectors and stocks. It is this ride which takes us to the extremes.

Seldom do we think about who gives them ideas?

How much do they make out of their own recommendations?

What are their intentions?

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