Being Master of the Market? Nope

Wondering with the stint I had have with the market or I say bazaar, share bazaar J. Market itself is the universe where you learn a lot with in yourself. Believe me markets makes you learn so much that you wont ever find out anywhere.

Whatever you are trader, investor, hedger or speculator every one wants their bets (oopss did I used right word) should go right. Everyone wants to be master of market. But you can not be a good trader, investor, hedger or speculator till you really want that you should mastered/ will master the market.

A simple question pop up in my mind “can you ever become GOD?” Nope. You can only become one with him and that happens only when one surrenders the ego. Yes “ego”.  Why we all are so fond of god? Because we know that we can not be god ever. Same way have you ever wondered why do markets have this crazy attraction? I myself getting crazy towards it. Why do people become so addicted to them? The first reason may be the elusive and illusive nature of the market. Whatever we can’t master becomes attractive to us; be it God, market or a beautiful lady!

We want to KNOW the market, something that we can’t do. All the efforts to master the market are driven by our egotism. But one must remember: Market is a place where you become the master through a complete surrender. There is no place for ego here. You accept all the commandments of the market. If you had thought that it would go up and it goes down; accept the fact wholeheartedly without feeling any injury to your ego. Don’t say: how can the market contradict ME! If you don’t accept the markets as they are, you will be left an emotional wreck.

Make one thing sure that you are not controlling the market, Market is controlling you. Up, down, bull, bear whatever be the market your emotions gets controlled by the market. One universal rule I want to mention here is that “Money can not be created in market, it just transferred from one person to other” so for every happiness you have in market, there has to be sadness to rebalance.

Trading in the markets is a journey in self-discovery. You venture out to discover the secret of the market and end up discovering yourself. You discover your impatience, your inner fears, your greed etc. In sum, you are forced to reassess yourself. After all these aspects of your personality are discovered, it is up to you whether you have the guts to come to terms with all the universal human emotions. I don’t say that you will eradicate these from your system. Here also only an acceptance of these will lead to a position when you do not resign to these temptations. The key is to gain objectivity. Courage is not the absence of fear but its conquest. When you are able to withstand your own frailties and become successful as a trader, you will realize that all through your own self was the biggest obstacle and the markets never stopped you from being successful. You yourself were the impediment. Even after this success, you realize that you have still have not mastered the market but conquered your own self. You can even find God through surrender of the self. 

Remember: Market like God is not mastered/its realized.

Know then thyself.

I am %33.33% CFA Now . . . .

Carrying out with the Hopes which I have written in my post after my exam is still alive. I don't know exactly what changes this hope is making into my daily routine but one thing is sure that it is giving me enough fuel to keep those desires burning in my belly.

Let me Thanks some people here, their support and wishes really made me to roll over very easily. I know what they all are means to me and I know what I have to do for them but for the moment, Thank you very much to all of you.

Well overall 46% of students have cleared the exam, so not a great deal but it was great thing for me as I was neither from financial background nor from B school. Its matter to me as it was the answer to many questions I have faced and I will face in the future. I just wanted to prove that this is the area where my heart and brain both works together and this the area where I will prove myself, not easy of course but I am ready to face all the challenges coming in between my dream..

This is just end of phase 1 of my new affair; there will be many things I need to do before moving to the next phase. But I am happy to have some assets in my balance sheet on which I can leverage myself more. This is the time where I need to understand TVM concepts to utilize my next four months for better NPV and better IRR.

I know success comes with sense of responsibility, courage, determination. And you can understand this all things together only when you attain certain things, so I am still nowhere near to what I want to accomplish in my life so for me this words are mere affection so far, but I really want to feel these words.

I am short of words this time, I really don't know exactly how many thoughts are coming in to my mind, and actually I need to have answer of many questions I am asking to myself before moving into next phase. Let me end this post abruptly here again with the Hopes I am carrying along with this journey.

"Let the Hope begins with the Will"

India Budget 2009-10

* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%
* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY'09
* FM to make pre-budget talks with state FMs annual affair
* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP
* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest
* 'Aam admi' is focus of all programmes and schemes
* IT exemption limit raised; Rs 50,000 for Sr.citizens
* Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women
* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped
* Fringe Benefit Tax abolished * No change in corporate tax
* Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%
* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr
* IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra
* IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60 per cent in critical projects through PPP to tune of Rs 1,00,000 cr
* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23 per cent
* Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr
* Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr
* Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr
* Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr
* Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time
* Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme
* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010
* 2% interest subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010
* IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.
* Commodity Transaction Tax abolished
* New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT
* Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%
* Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas
* 100% tax deduction on political donation
* Stimulus for print media for another six months
* Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price
* Expert Group to form viable pricing for imported petro goods
* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector
* Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas
* Govt committed to provide Rs 100 a day as wages under NREGA
* Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA
* NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY'09
* Work National Food Security scheme has begun
* Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent
* Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank
* Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST
* 50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes
* Full interest subsidy for students in select institutions
* Five lakh students to benefit
* Modernisation of national exployment exchanges
* Action for social security to unorganised sector workers
* New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July
* One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel
* Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months
* Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project
* Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs
* Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr

Warren Buffett's advice for 2009

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

* Hard work: All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

* Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

* Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make your Investments get you second earning]

* Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.

* Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.

* Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

* Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

* Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.

* Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. [Have an alternate plan ready]

*Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Corporate Governance – Satyam Fiasco

Big Indian story this year was Satyam investing in Maytas. What binds these two stories together? Corporate Governance. Oh yeah. Stock prices showed how 'One man can make a difference', though that one man was not Michael Knight of the Knight Rider.

On the issue of corporate governance, one event that kind tainted India's image in the world in terms of governance is the Satyam debacle. Why? Again, one man. One man decided to use funds of a listed public company to invest in his son's real estate enterprise or it was only virtual fund which was reflected in balance sheet of the company. In other words, he wanted to run a family business using shareholders' money. The effect - snowballing scrutiny into corporate governance, and a 'Yikes, Indians can do this too????' question from foreign investors who look upon India as a key player in IT services. In a way the hullabaloo that followed the crappy decision of Mr Raju of Satyam bodes well for India, since it shows that the shareholder is still king, and that the company owner is in every way answerable to the millions of investors. Perhaps the democratic government can learn a thing or two about accountability from this model followed by corporate.

In this Wednesday morning a letter from Satyam's chief to SEBI and board admitting of Fraud. It was horrified and unfortunate for SEBI and Corporate India to witness this kind of scam. Even the greatest man of India Inc cant resist himself without commenting on the issue, Narayanamurthy described developments at Satyam as shocking, painful and a good warning for other companies in the sector.

Some of the highlights of the scam are

• Satyam carries inflated cash balance of Rs.5040 cr
• Satyam crashes 77%
• Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju resigns from board
• Auditors accountable for financial situation: SEBI
• Need for investors to know the truth: SEBI
• Violations across several laws: SEBI
• Satyam issue has serious implications: SEBI
• Wrong doings at Satyam should be probed in detail