One of my all-time favorite articles on "Investing Mistakes". h/t Altais Advisors @basrars @vishalmittal22 👏

So many good lessons here for long-term investors in individual stocks. My fav pts in the thread below.

1⃣ Selling good businesses too early: without giving due importance to long term growth outlook and the potential of the business to scale.

If you are invested in a growing business, do not sell it for temporary overvaluation,
there may be some time correction which is fine, which should be managed at a portfolio level. At the same time, one needs to be careful of slowing growth or fundamental deterioration in the business.
2⃣ Going down the Quality curve: Selling good companies, which were growing well, and investing in cheaper but low quality/ growth companies. Over the cycle, this results in sub optimal returns.
3⃣ Waiting for a little lower price to buy: Losing 10-20 baggers waiting for 20-25% lower price! Missing the boat on so many opportunities trying to just get them a bit cheaper, which never comes.
Over a 5 year period, the stocks you like on a fundamental basis can go up multiple times and the downside to them is say 20-30%. So on a portfolio of such stocks, it’s better to be long at least with a smaller & growing allocation than not to buy them.
4⃣ Failing to consider overall market change and its impact: Different stocks work in different market environments. In a bear markets, companies which are consistently growing their earnings give surer returns,
while in the bear to bull market transition, major money is made from valuation rerating relative to earnings growth.
5⃣ Not experimenting enough in the portfolio: Focusing only on a single style – Moat stocks/ Special situations/ Cigarbutt stocks can make one a man with a hammer. How do you become a learning machine if you don’t experiment in real time with real money?
Allocating a small part of portfolio (depending on comfort), as a hunting ground to scale up positions as one gets more comfort. It allows to allocate some capital to Co.'s which potentially can give very large returns but you cannot make them core holding at the outset.
6⃣ Having a very large cash allocation: In volatile or sideways markets, cash gives mental relief. While possibility of deploying cash in steep corrections is there, but it’s very difficult to get it consistently right.
It is better to be more invested (based on overall allocation), even if there is short term over valuation and gradually take profits. High market valuations should be used as an opportunity to move from low quality to high quality stocks and not vice versa.
7⃣ Holding on to the non-performers for too long: When these stocks don’t move for period of time, we start treating them as cash proxy, hoping for an earning rebound.
Also, we start paring down good performing companies in the portfolio as their marked to market allocation keeps increasing with performance, further impacting portfolio performance and quality.
8⃣ Thesis change, Market view changes: Often the eventual reason of the success of a stock has little to do with the initial thesis. One needs to be open minded about new data points.
9⃣ The need to be Contrarian: When we see markets or stocks moving up fast, the natural urge is to be contrarian and call it speculation. It sounds more intelligent to be bearish and contrarian.
One can be selective as to the economic segments or timing where one wants to be bullish, but the underline trait has to be optimism and confidence.
🔟 Focusing on macro: Again talking about macro sounds intellectual, but for a bottoms up individual investor, it has little relevance. Spending more than couple of percentage of your time on macro tracking or discussion is normally waste of time.
Economic macros can mostly be dealt at portfolio level decisions, which need not be done on a regular basis.
"A lot of these mistakes can be avoided by focusing on the portfolio return rather than each individual stock return. This makes it much easier to hold part of the portfolio which may time correct in the near future with earnings catching up with valuations."
"Additionally, you can selectively invest in stocks which may not give linear returns over the next 1-2 yrs, but hold potential to give very high returns over a longer period of time. Essentially it comes down to optimizing the portfolio return rather than trying to maximize it."
"There is no best or the right way to invest – investors have successfully generated huge returns from different investing strategies – be it buying and holding quality companies, chasing growth even at high valuations, buying cheap companies betting on turnarounds etc."
"People have made large amount of wealth by having concentrated as well as diversified portfolio. So investors have to explore what works for them, given their financial requirements, temperament, skill & time horizon."

/END.

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#ஆதித்தியஹ்ருதயம் ஸ்தோத்திரம்
இது சூரிய குலத்தில் உதித்த இராமபிரானுக்கு தமிழ் முனிவர் அகத்தியர் உபதேசித்ததாக வால்மீகி இராமாயணத்தில் வருகிறது. ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயத்தைத் தினமும் ஓதினால் பெரும் பயன் பெறலாம் என மகான்களும் ஞானிகளும் காலம் காலமாகக் கூறி வருகின்றனர். ராம-ராவண யுத்தத்தை


தேவர்களுடன் சேர்ந்து பார்க்க வந்திருந்த அகத்தியர், அப்போது போரினால் களைத்து, கவலையுடன் காணப்பட்ட ராமபிரானை அணுகி, மனிதர்களிலேயே சிறந்தவனான ராமா போரில் எந்த மந்திரத்தைப் பாராயணம் செய்தால் எல்லா பகைவர்களையும் வெல்ல முடியுமோ அந்த ரகசிய மந்திரத்தை, வேதத்தில் சொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளதை உனக்கு

நான் உபதேசிக்கிறேன், கேள் என்று கூறி உபதேசித்தார். முதல் இரு சுலோகங்கள் சூழ்நிலையை விவரிக்கின்றன. மூன்றாவது சுலோகம் அகத்தியர் இராமபிரானை விளித்துக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது. நான்காவது சுலோகம் முதல் முப்பதாம் சுலோகம் வரை ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்னும் நூல். முப்பத்தி ஒன்றாம் சுலோகம்

இந்தத் துதியால் மகிழ்ந்த சூரியன் இராமனை வாழ்த்துவதைக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது.
ஐந்தாவது ஸ்லோகம்:
ஸர்வ மங்கள் மாங்கல்யம் ஸர்வ பாப ப்ரநாசனம்
சிந்தா சோக ப்ரசமனம் ஆயுர் வர்த்தனம் உத்தமம்
பொருள்: இந்த அதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்ற துதி மங்களங்களில் சிறந்தது, பாவங்களையும் கவலைகளையும்


குழப்பங்களையும் நீக்குவது, வாழ்நாளை நீட்டிப்பது, மிகவும் சிறந்தது. இதயத்தில் வசிக்கும் பகவானுடைய அனுக்ரகத்தை அளிப்பதாகும்.
முழு ஸ்லோக லிங்க் பொருளுடன் இங்கே உள்ளது
https://t.co/Q3qm1TfPmk
சூரியன் உலக இயக்கத்திற்கு மிக முக்கியமானவர். சூரிய சக்தியால்தான் ஜீவராசிகள், பயிர்கள்

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