A New Beginning

It came as quite a shock when I found that my laptop was stolen. Not only did that have my office documents and a lot of personal information, it also contained a year's worth of research into shares and real estate investing. And while the former were backed up in the form of mails and soft copies, my investment research was gone forever. I'd have to start all over again.

Somehow, however, I feel that's not such a bad thing. Sure, I'd lost a lot of work but then there was also a fair amount of baggage there, wrong conclusions, poor assumptions etc. that I was willy-nilly carrying around. Perhaps these were even colouring my perceptions of the value of my investments. And then there were also some 'pet' stocks that I refused to give up on even though there were all indications that they were - or were about to become - lemons.

The value of research in not in documents and records. Research is best applied when it is internalized and over a year I'm sure I've learnt something. It will definitely not take a year to make up the lost ground and perhaps I'll gain some more insight in the process. Yes, there are worse things than losing a laptop.

Having said that, I think I'll blog everything just to be on the safe side!

These postings are mainly notes to myself and as such are not expert comments on investing. I'm no expert. However, I am a keen student with a strong desire to create wealth and achieve my financial goals at the earliest. As a result, this commentary is necessarily serious, practical and much of it would be applied on my own finances. That might make some of these notes interesting reading.

The research will focus on my home country - India - though the applications would perhaps be generic across markets. Being a private investor with no particular axe to grind, I would be touching upon all forms of investment that might intrigue me - stocks, bonds, art, real estate, business et al. There are many roads to wealth creation and this journey would probably take me through all - even the bad ones! It's only the beginning.

A final point - I would be grateful for comments from wiser fellow investors who may wish to save me from bankruptcy and point me in the right direction from time to time. Your experience and knowledge would greatly enrich (no pun intended!) the contents of this page and also add value way beyond my personal, fumbling efforts at prosperity.

So, who wants to be a millionaire?