Emergency Management Protocol

Lessons in Emergency Management
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1. Consolidate all relevant mediclaim details in one consolidated folder/email with quick access

2. Collect all possible id cards – Aadhar, PAN, Voters Id are the best

3. Remember to carry Employee ID card if Mediclaim is provided by employer

4. Helps to have 2 credit cards with min. Rs. 50,000 credit limit

5. Helps to have one credit card directly linked with SB account – Clear bills and increase credit limit quickly

6. Ensure some cash is available in account – Online FDs / Liquid funds are the best

7. Create an order of funds to be liquidated based on priority viz., type of fund, tax considerations, future considerations

8. Teach your spouse/parents/siblings/children to execute these instructions – Remember you may be busy in hospital and may not have access to all instruments

9. Familiarity with Mobile Banking, CAMS/Karvy or similar apps will be helpful in the age of advanced connectivity

10. Lastly, do a dry run of these instructions every 3 months to keep the family prepared to handle any situation

Some additional points from AIFW group members:

A. Add a NOMINEE to all your bank accounts, insurance policies, all financial products – Saves a lot of hassles to loved ones

B. SCAN all your important documents such as passport, PAN, Aadhar, educational certificates, immovable property docs et al and store them in your mails or cloud services on offer

C. List out all login IDs & account nos of
Bank a/c, email, etc and ensure family is aware of it. Not the Passwords.

D. Physical documents and important IDs and all credit/debit/PAN Cards etc are stored in one briefcase for easy evacuation in an emergency.

E. Higher credit limit card is always beneficial in case the hospital is not part of the insurance network

Mid Year Appraisal..How are we doing..

Human brain is a very funny thing. It always requires affirmative bias to prop up the confidence and provide a comfort feeling. However, in matters of life and finance, one needs to be very objective and critical of one’s own fiscal health. With this objective, I am embarking on a self appraisal of my portfolio and goals with some new additional data included.

In my earlier post last December, I had shared the evolution of my portfolio from last 3 years. This year’s first 5.5 months have been mainly focused on streamlining investments and moving towards achieving a balance in the portfolio. The latest portfolio distribution is as below:

 

As one can observe, the portion of equities has increased as I have focused more on MF and Direct Equity investments. Of course,  the Provident Fund (PF) portfolio has an uplift due to VPF, but expect our equity investments to start increasing in share. Overall, we are on our way to achieving the balance amongst assets. I expect the balance to be around 50: 20: 20: 10 for Equities: PF: Immovable Assets: Rest in future.

Next comes the goals review. Again, in my December’s post, I had shared the barometers of various goals. The latest update for the goals is as below. I have also shared the internal break-up / make-up for each of the goals. Please note that Retirement has a large debt contribution due to PFs.

Overall, the plans are well and truly in motion. The main point of focus is to ensure that the contributions continue. I have some new strategies that I am trying which I will outline tomorrow in a separate post.

Suggestions / Feedback /  Comments most appreciated

Stock Picking – Hits and Misses

Disclaimer: This is just a running diary where I consolidate my portfolio status on a monthly level, usually at the end of the month. This is in NO WAY an Investment Advice and is not intended to be a recommendation. Please check with a SEBI registered financial adviser for legal advice before investing.

Off late, I am reading many good books on investing, stock picking, portfolio construction and financial planning. A subject of interest, I am more and more intrigued as I start reading more minds in the arena. Having a couple of co-passengers in bus who are market and investment savvy, makes the bus ride worthwhile and a learning experience.

One of the recent topics of discussion has been the human mind vs market forces. Typically, a small investor is triggered to safe-guard their profits and hope that their losses convert to profits. Literature has varied names for the same, but I feel it stems from the overall grounding of the individual. When there is no backup and an individual comes up from lower economic strata, the person is conditioned to be very cautious.

Human brains become biased when a particular stock is in gain. There is always the thought of cashing in the profits and reinvesting the same to get a better bargain. In this process, we commit the most cardinal sin of stock investing i.e.*not giving enough time in the market*. In simple mathematics, the formula for compound interest is

Amount = Principal * ((1 + ROI%) ^ n)

N is the time factor which determines the overall return of the investment. Good companies with sound fundamentals always return handsome returns. One needs to have the patience and resolve to tide over the market cycles. I know it sounds cliched but hard facts never lie.

Off late, a lot of market experts and punters advise to book profits. Well, this author also did the cardinal sin of booking profits and reinvesting the same. Yes, based on the tune of investment, one could argue that you did a tidy sum. Until…. you start looking at how much you have lost by booking profits. Sample this..

I have left out Banks (as I don’t regret booking profits) and Speciality Chemicals as they are in a massive bull run.

The lesson to be learned out of this is that instead of booking profits, if I had continued to be invested in the same set of stocks, I may have been in green (am in deep red, but that’s another story) and actually be sitting on a tidy profit.

However, what about the flip side of the story? Well, for one, research the company before you invest and only when convinced, put your hard earned money. I have done the most cardinal mistake of not doing so, and put my money in Nitin Fire Protection Services. The result is there for everyone to see. I am writing it off my books for now as it’s become a junk stock. I even tried to book losses, but couldn’t do so as there are only sellers for this stock and no buyers.

In a nutshell, to summarize, following are the learnings from the lost money i.e. literally and figuratively.

1. Research the company thoroughly and invest only thereafter
2. Cut your losses when your assumptions don’t hold true any further
3. Invest in a good company and stay invested – Don’t look for short term profits, but look at a bigger picture
4. More importantly, don’t forget Rules 1 – 3

Suggestions / Comments / Thoughts are most welcome..