Our Fourth Investor Story- By Picasso Bhowmick

Hi friends! I am Picasso (and before anyone asks, I don’t paint!) Here goes my investment story:

I started my investment journey as soon as I started my career way back in 2010. Fortunately, I did an MBA in Finance and I started off career with a job in financial services industry and hence I had the basic knowledge of finances. I also had taste of financial crisis early on when we sat for campus placements in 2019 and saw few Companies visit campus as it was height of the global financial crisis. The experience of that financial crisis helps later on in life, especially during the ongoing pandemic now.

Long term vs Short term: First year of my job, I started with a Bank RD of a small amount. As the corpus grew in a year or so, it gave me a sense of comfort. Even if I lose job tomorrow, at least I have a runway of 3 months by which time I can find another job. Later on I found out I was saving for Emergency fund.

Direct Equity or MF: I still remember I started with a SIP of Rs. 2,000 in HDFC Top 200 (The most sought after fund at that time run by Prashant Jain). I also opened a Demat account in the same year and took some exposure in Gold ETF. Initially, I was into direct shares and tried my luck in Futures & Options as well. However, I burnt my fingers early on (Luckily with small capital) and learnt the lessons. I realized expertise is necessary but not sufficient condition to make money through direct stock picking. One needs experience and more importantly one needs time. Time to do research, to read balance sheets, to track every big and small news flow on economy, monsoon, industry specific news not just in India but globally. Few can devote so much time unless one is a full time trader. I felt it’s better to be a long term investor and outsource the job of stock picking to fund managers. I have been investing through Mutual funds since then.

Insurance: My father bought a Money back plan for me when I passed 12^th Board exam. However, when I realized there are better options, I stopped further premium into that policy and made it a Paid up policy. I took an LIC eTerm plan as soon as I got married. Since I got it at an early age of 28, I got it really cheap. Later on I have added a Critical illness plan too. Even though my employer provides me and my family with adequate Health cover, I do plan to take a family floater health plan on my own.

Present Portfolio: Apart from starting SIP, I also opened a PPF account during first year of my job which has grown over the years. My portfolio at present consists mainly of Equity Mutual Funds, Debt Mutual Funds, Bank FD’s (small proportion), PPF, NPS (employer’s default choice) and Sovereign Gold Bond. Debt Mutual funds and FD’s take care of short term requirements. Others are for long term goals.

Success and Failure: I had fair share of success and failures in my investment decisions. One such success story has been continued confidence in equity come what may. This SIP journey of more than a decade and continuing has been very rewarding. Among mistakes, I made investment into Infrastructure themed Mutual Funds which lost me lot of money.

Financial Independence: Some 4 years back, I got to know about a concept called Financial Independence & Retire Early (FIRE) and the exciting idea of living off income from investment instead of salary. A situation where I can choose if I want to go to job as my basic necessities would be taken care of by my investment income. I am on track to achieve FIRE by the time I reach 40. Inspired by books like “Your Money or Your Life”, I have become a “Conscious Consumer” as against my earlier version of “Impulsive buyer”. I make conscious effort to save 70% of what I earn as now I buy only staff which are my family’s “needs” and not “wants”. We also buy things which give us sense of fulfillment from inside rather than buying driven by external world.

So, that’s it for now. A bit boring investment story. However, to quote Paul Samuelson, “Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, go to Las Vegas”. Happy investing, folks!

P.S: I would like to sincerely thank Gayatri ma’am for this opportunity to share my investment story with you.