Reading unofficial biography of George Soros, arguably one of the best investor/speculator of all times of stock markets just reaffirmed my belief that being contrarian and disciplined can reap rich rewards in stock markets. Start using short side of market when you have sufficient funds in your kitty. The buying strategy which works best for me today is –

1.        Overall picture, interest rates and wave patterns in monthly, weekly and daily charts.

2.        Stock selection criteria.

3.        Index level entry points for stocks.

4.        Stock level entry points for stocks.

5.        Adding in case of further downturn.

Sequential steps and method to enter –

1.Identify Elliot wave of monthly (M), weekly (W) and daily (D) candlestick chart for index. Don’t get caught in wrong monthly and weekly waves. The Elliot wave calculation can be wrong many times but one can have some idea of targets and expectations.

2. Identify oversold situation in monthly, weekly and daily technical charts for index by –

i. W%R 14 less than -70.

ii. CCI 14 less than -50.

iii. MACD divergence 26,12,9 negative 50% range.

iv. Bollinger bands 20, 2 below the central line EMA 20.

Minimum criteria is weekly oversold, best is monthly oversold.

1. Make a list of stocks of top 100 stocks of index and rank them on the basis of P/E, P/B, ROA%, EPS CAGR%4, 1 YOY% returns, and D/E ratio. Sum of all ranks + sum of P/E, P/B, ROA ranks. Take the best 10 different sector stocks which have good recent Quarterly results.  

2. Apply 1, 2 to selected stocks and enter those stocks which fulfill the criteria. Buy minimum 5 and maximum 8 stocks.

3. Enter 5% of portfolio value at 8% index correction from monthly/weekly top. If starting afresh invest 30% of total amount to be invested at 8% index correction.

4. Enter 8% of portfolio value at 13% index correction from monthly/ weekly top. Invest 40% of total amount to be invested at 13% index correction.

5. Enter 13% of portfolio value at 21% index correction from monthly/ weekly top. Invest remaining 30% of total amount to be invested at 21% index correction.

6. If correction keeps on continuing just check your waves, be patient and give time.

We will discuss the money management, profit booking, use of performance cycles and hedging strategies in further posts.

Corrections in stock markets evoke mixed feelings of fear, anxiety and panic for the most. I love corrections. Everybody must be familiar with year end/ end of season sale where we get great stuff at discounted price. I love to go for bargain hunting then. At 30-40% off the peak rate the stuff seems great. Why then opposite reaction when stock market corrects? We will try to seek the reasons for panic reactions, the remedies and the benefits one takes from these corrections.

Behavioral finance to me is one of the fascinating aspects which reveal a lot about our reactions and behavioral biases and issues in matters relating to finance, investing and stocks. Behavioral finance states that a normal investor has the reactions as described above. But this is the reason for suboptimal performance in the stock markets.

I can tell how I start approaching the correction in stock markets –

1. Look at the degree of correction – 10%+ is good.

2. Look at weekly and daily charts to see extreme oversold situation.

3. Choose fundamentally good stocks on the basis of Graham and Goldblatt’s stock selection method.

4. See 1 & 2 for those individual stocks.

5. If all 4 factors and criteria are met I go and buy around 50% of the cash to be deployed in the stocks chosen.

As soon as I buy there is a chance that market may correct further but that doesn’t bother me much as I take a slight medium to long term view. In case of any further price correction I deploy more cash to buy.

So, one can use these corrections to buy more stocks. I follow exact opposite to gradually sell my stocks. Of course one has to be aware of all the above points and practice a degree of detachment and enter gradually. Obviously this needs a degree of detachment and patience as well little basic knowledge of valuation and charts. For a simple person who doesn’t know would be to invest an equivalent of 5% of his portfolio value at a correction of more than 10%.  This is a sure way to increase your returns and safety in stock markets. Waiting for bottom would be too late for investment.

For details on my exact stock selection method and technical charts one can mail me.

By Dr. Jyotsna Shukla

Have you ever imagined that more you eat more you will lose weight. This is possible with the help of negative calories diet. A “negative caloric effect” means that the number of calories your body has to expend to chew, digest, metabolize and eliminate the food is more than it gains from the food itself. A classic example of a negative calorie food would be celery, which is made primarily of water and cellulose (fiber that your body can’t digest), and non-caloric vitamins and minerals.

1. Motivate yourself by recording your weight & target weight you want by weighing on same weighing machine.

2. Try to make lifestyle changes permanent.

3. 7500 calories = 1 kg of weight. Decrease your calorie intake by about 1000 calories a day.

4. Boost your BMR by daily morning exercises.

5. Know calories of food you are eating.

6. Drink 10 glasses of chilled water everyday, as most pangs are thirst not hunger pangs & it burns upto 400 calories/ week.

7. Whenever you feel hungry eat negative calorie food like kheera, kakdi or fruits.

8. Eat a big bowl of negative calorie food salad before lunch & dinner.

9. Green tea boosts metabolism, burns 50 calories/ cup if taken with sugar free.

10. Healthy switchovers:

a. Try to use skimmed milk(or Amul Lite milk) instead of whole milk.

b. Green tea instead of normal tea.

c. Sugar free instead of sugar.

d. Whole wheat atta (Aashirwaad) instead of plain atta.

e. Buy Amul lite butter instead of routine butter.

11. Avoid cold drinks, oil, namkeen, potato, biscuits, movie snacks, naan, paratha.

12. Negative calorie food has to be eaten raw & unpeeled as far as possible.

13. Eat vegetables of negative list without least peeling.

Negative Calorie Vegetables

1. Asparagus

2. Fennel

3. Aubergine

4. Gourd

5. Broccoli

6. Leek

7. Cabbage

8. Lettuce

9. Carrots

10. Marrow

11. Cauliflower

12. Peppers

13. Celery

14. Radish

15. Chicory

16. Spinach

17. Cress

18. Tomato

19. Cucumber

20. Turnip

Negative Calorie Fruits

1. Apricot

2. Mandarin orange

3. Blackberry

4. Melon Canteloupe

5. Blackcurrant

6. Peaches

7. Clementines

8. Plums

9. Damsons

10. Raspberry

11. Grapefruit

12. Rhubarb

13. Guava

14. Strawberry

15. Honeydew Melon

16. Tangerine

17. Lemon

18. Watermelon

Negative Calorie Vegetables easily available in India

1. Pattagobhi green

2. Phoolgobhi green

3. Palak

4. Methi

5. Chaulai bhaji

6. Karela

7. Lauki

8. Taroi/ gilki

9. Gajar

10. Safed kaddu

11. Hari mirch

12. Lettuce (salad patta)

13. Kheera

14. Kakdi

15. Mooli

16. Shalgam

17. Green pyaaz

18. Leek (green lahsun)

19. Saunf

20. Chukandar

21. Nimbu

22. Tamatar

23. Asparagus

24. Celery

Negative Calorie Fruits easily available in India

1. Tarbuj

2. Kharbuja

3. Santara

4. Alubukhara

5. Aadu

6. Khurmani

7. Amrood

8. Apple

9. Pineapple

10. Papita

By Sanjeev Shukla

Have you been intimated by the fear of failure? I believe that everyone in their life pass through this phase. This has happened with me and can happen with you. And there are many times when we get so intimidated that we do not even have the courage to take the first step towards what we want to achieve.

Fear of failure is one of the greatest fears people have. Fear of failure is closely related to fear of criticism and fear of rejection. Successful people overcome their fear of failure. Fear incapacitates unsuccessful people.

The Law of Feedback states: there is no failure; there is only feedback. Successful people look at mistakes as outcomes or results, not as failure. Unsuccessful people look at mistakes as permanent and personal.

Buckminster Fuller wrote, “Whatever humans have learned had to be learned as a consequence only of trial and error experience. Humans have learned only through mistakes.”

Most people self-limit themselves. Most people do not achieve a fraction of what they are capable of achieving because they are afraid to try because they are afraid they will fail.

I followed these steps recommended by Terry Bragg to overcome my fear of failure and move myself forward to getting the result my desire:

Step One: Take action. Bold, decisive action. Do something scary. Fear of failure immobilizes you. To overcome this fear, you must act. When you act, act boldly.

Action gives you the power to change the circumstances or the situation. You must overcome the inertia by doing something. Dr. Robert Schuller asks, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” What could you achieve? Be brave and just do it. If it doesn’t work out the way you want, then do something else. But DO SOMETHING NOW.

Step Two: Persist. Successful people just don’t give up. They keep trying different approaches to achieving their outcomes until they finally get the results they want. Unsuccessful people try one thing that doesn’t work and then give up. Often people give up when they are on the threshold of succeeding.

Step Three: Don’t take failure personally. Failure is about behaviour, outcomes, and results. Failure is not a personality characteristic. Although what you do may not give you the result you wanted, it doesn’t mean you are a failure. Because you made a mistake, doesn’t mean that you are a failure.

Step Four: Do things differently. If what you are doing isn’t working, do something else. There is an old saying, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” If you’re not getting the results you want, then you must do something different. Most people stop doing anything at all, and this guarantees they won’t be successful.

Step Five: Don’t be so hard on yourself. Hey, if nothing else, you know what doesn’t work. Failure is a judgement or evaluation of behaviour. Look at failure as an event or a happening, not as a person.

Step Six: Treat the experience as an opportunity to learn. Think of failure as a learning experience. What did you learn from the experience that will help you in the future? How can you use the experience to improve yourself or your situation? Ask yourself these questions:

(1) What was the mistake?

(2) Why did it happen?

(3) How could it have been prevented?

(4) How can I do better next time?

Then use what you learned from the experience to do things differently so you get different results next time. Learn from the experience or ignore it.

Step Seven: Look for possible opportunities that result from the experience. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, says “every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.” Look for the opportunity and the benefit.

Step Eight: Fail forward fast. Tom Peters, the management guru, says that in today’s business world, companies must fail forward fast. What he means is that the way we learn is by making mistakes. So if we want to learn at a faster pace, we must make mistakes at a faster pace. The key is that you must learn from the mistakes you make so you don’t repeat them.

Although we all make mistakes, fear of failure doesn’t have to cripple you. As self-help author Susan Jeffers says, “feel the fear and do it anyway.”

Today I have the confidence that I can take up any challenge without getting intimidated by the outcome of the result. Reaching this level of confidence is in itself a great achievement.

Detachment in whatever one does is an absolutely essential key to achieving mega success in life. Why this point out of the blue? I had been thinking about writing this article since a long time but could not find time for the same due to laziness or may be lack of time (everybody’s excuse)!!! For those who are into Hindu philosophy or way of life this topic is not a big surprise. For others it might seem little odd. But it is true not only from my own experience but also from the teachings of the masters.

Detachment means performing one’s duties with complete dedication and focus but not getting unduly attached to the fruits thereof. An activity undertaken with a degree of detachment is certain to give better results as the action taken would have an objective screen to it rather than subjective and the results of objective actions are always better than subjective. One of the greatest Hindu texts The Bhagwat Gita (The song divine) illustrates this point wonderfully and one is advised to read that text to have a better understanding.

Attachment is blinding. Love without attachment is one of the ideal ways of living. A person who is in into stock markets will certainly be having an idea of what I’m talking about. Except for traders, other investors etc. will always have a better performance when they are not overly attached to their stocks or business news. I personally had a better performance when I was not watching the news constantly and on the days when I was glued to TV screens my performance was suboptimal.

Truly speaking detachment is linked closely to self discipline and one of the pillars to reaching one’s goals of mega success and mega money. I think this concept of detachment has not got its due in general success books and magazines owing to lack of understanding of the concept. At a more superficial level detachment seems to evoke a feeling of doing one’s tasks without passion but it’s actually the opposite. I feel Sedona Method technique also allows one to achieve a certain degree of detachment in day to day activities.

One is sure to move faster on the track to goals and self realization if one understands the detachment in a proper manner and starts practicing in his day to day activities including the stock markets. For a detailed expansion of the concept as well as any confusion one can mail me.