The Art of making money

No, this is not a book review. I like making money, as does everybody. For me, the art of making money, the process itself is more important than the end result. I might sound supercilious, but that is the truth.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I dabble in the stock market. It is a thrill to take a bet based on the available information, and wait for the result to know whether you won or lost. I take bets that will give me indigestion if they go wrong, not an heart attack. I like pitting my wits in the market, and seeing whether my guess/ intuition/ hunch / detailed analysis (all same in my case) is a winner. For example, I read in a research house report that Infosys, TCS and Patni are in the race for a multi year, multibillion dollar project from a multinational bank (too many multis). So I went ahead and bought a few of all these three. Everyday there will be many such news items and rumours going through the market, it is for the individual to decide on which one to believe and act upon.

Stock market teaches valuable lessons. I had invested Rs. 7000.00 (300 shares at Rs.23.00) in Gujarat NRE Coke, a met coke manufacturing company. I had read about the company in a research report, checked the numbers, sectoral analysis and was sure that it was bound to go up. But it went no where the next one year and I was getting impatient about it. So when it inched up to Rs. 25.00, I sold my entire stock. As soon as I sold it, the company issued a bonus of 1:2. And the market took fancy to the stock and it reached a peak of Rs. 171.00. If I had held on to my 300 shares, they would have become 450 after bonus and at its peak would have been worth Rs. 76,950.00. So the lesson in patience was worth Rs. 70,000.00 to me.

As I read some where " Stock market is the place where people with money and people with experience meet. Those with experience get the money, those with money get the experience. And those with neither, become TV analysts".