The best investment you can ever make

By Yogesh Chabria

The e-mails that I have been getting from moneycontrol.com readers seems to be growing at the rate of Mumbai’s potholes! It’s nice to hear from so many of you. I still need to reply to a lot of mails and it shall be done soon!

I noticed some common concerns among many. For instance, in my last article, Warren Buffet's stock investing strategy, I wrote about how investors should look for one rupee coins that can be bought for fifty paisa. I got a lot of queries from readers asking me about such stocks.

Invest in knowledge

From my experience, I can tell that there are many investors who rely completely on experts and their tips when they invest in stocks. Absolutely nothing wrong with that but not many are sure or confident enough to take a decision on their own.

All I have to say is that I’m no expert; just a constant learner. All I am doing here is sharing my experiences and whatever limited knowledge I have. I truly believe that each one of you can easily outperform any expert or fund manager on your own. You don’t need to follow anybody’s investment advice as long as you have invested in knowledge.

Tap your knowledge

Let’s say you are a doctor. You may have a better understanding of pharmaceutical companies, and which ones have a better brand image, as compared to investment ‘experts’ or fund managers. Today, the experts might tell you not to invest in pharma stocks. But for all you know, after six months or a year, later suddenly all of them might start chasing after pharma companies. So, would it be wise for you to wait till then and follow them? Or is it better to use your own intelligence, listen to your heart?

What my heart told me

I think that the second one is a better choice. Investments are a lot like the incidents and circumstances of life. I have noticed that highly successful people who believe in themselves and do what their heart tells.

There's a huge chance of them facing hardships and failure. But eventually after trying times, success truly belongs to them. All great people have faced hardships and failure; it is a part and parcel of life. People who are afraid of failures never try anything new and are always afraid to listen to their heart. Such people rarely succeed.

In investments, too, don’t be afraid to listen to your heart. Your intelligence is the best judge.

I remember investing in brokerage houses sometime back when not too many people were bullish on them. I invested because my heart told me that irrespective of the fact that investors make money or not, brokerage houses will earn money. When I invested they weren’t doing too great but today we can see how well brokerage houses are doing.

After infrastructure, there's hospitality

Similarly today, I have taken a call on the hospitality sector. According to me in the coming years, it is going to be a success story like the infrastructure sector.

Today, not many people are investing in it but the beauty is in entering now. The hotel stocks in India are still being offered at huge discounts compared to other fast-growing economies.

No doubt the markets have once again become unpredictable and volatile. But that is how markets are. Don’t pay too much attention to the daily ups and downs; just stick to what your heart tells you.  

Invest in knowledge. It is THE best investment you will ever make.