Vivek Kaul's Blog, page 14
August 29, 2020
Why is the stock market going up when the economy is going down?
The total collections of the goods and services tax (GST) between March and July stood at Rs 2.73 lakh crore. This is 34.5% lower than what the government earned during the same period in 2019. The stock market index Nifty 50 has rallied by 53% to 11,648 points between March 23 and August 28. It ...
Read moreWhy is the stock market going up when the economy is going down?
The New Indian Express Reviews Bad Money, Calls It Brave and Brilliant
The New Indian Express has reviewed my book Bad Money. It has this to say about the book. “Kaul’s book is brave and brilliant, and must be made mandatory reading for all.” “Kaul’s Bad Money is never less than engrossing.” You can read the complete review here. The book is available at all major bookstores ...
Read moreThe New Indian Express Reviews Bad Money, Calls It Brave and Brilliant
August 27, 2020
India’s MIDNIGHT TRYST with GST is Turning into a Priyadarshan Comedy
Summary: There must be some kind of way outta here Said the joker to the thief There’s too much confusion I can’t get no relief. — Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower. India’s midnight tryst with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a little over three years old and is looking more and ...
Read moreIndia’s MIDNIGHT TRYST with GST is Turning into a Priyadarshan Comedy
August 26, 2020
The ‘GULZAR’ Principle of Investing for Regular Income and Safe Returns
Summary: There is no real way of earning a regular and a safe income that is enough to meet the monthly expenses. The headline was a clickbait. But now that I have your attention, let me explain the logic behind it. The title song of the 1979 Hindi film Gol Maal was written by the ...
Read moreThe ‘GULZAR’ Principle of Investing for Regular Income and Safe Returns
August 25, 2020
RBI Gives a Covid Spin to Cash Touching Pre-Demonetisation Levels
We live in an era of narratives. Politicians create them. Corporates create them. Social activists create them. Commentators, public intellectuals, economists and analysts also create them. And there are days when we are even lying to ourselves in our heads and creating narratives for ourselves. In all this, it is hardly surprising that the Reserve ...
Read moreRBI Gives a Covid Spin to Cash Touching Pre-Demonetisation Levels
August 24, 2020
Why HDFC Finds Homes to Be More Affordable, When They Clearly Aren’t
Summary: HDFC is getting better home loan customers that doesn’t mean homes have become more affordable. HDFC’s conclusion of homes becoming more affordable is an excellent example of survivorship bias. Before I start writing this, I have a confession to make. I have written about this issue before, around five years back. But given that ...
Read moreWhy HDFC Finds Homes to Be More Affordable, When They Clearly Aren’t
August 21, 2020
The RISK of RISK of Investing in Stocks, which OPIUM Managers Don’t Talk About
Summary: Just because you have taken on a risk by investing in stocks, doesn’t mean high returns are going to materialise. The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable – John Kenneth Galbraith. It was sometime in October-November 2010. I had just joined a weekly personal finance newspaper, which for reasons ...
Read moreThe RISK of RISK of Investing in Stocks, which OPIUM Managers Don’t Talk About
August 19, 2020
Is It Time to STOP Drinking Stocks SIP by SIP?
Summary: The idea at the heart of systematic investment plans (SIPs) is cost averaging and it works when the stock market goes both up and down. In the last seven years, the market has largely gone only one way and that’s up. Hence, SIPs have given fairly ordinary returns. In the last decade and ...
Read moreIs It Time to STOP Drinking Stocks SIP by SIP?
August 18, 2020
2020 — A New Beginning
Many of you have read my writing across newspapers, magazines and websites, for close to 18 years now. Unfortunately, that model of the media where writers like me wrote and media houses paid, has more or less totally unravelled. But that’s no excuse to write less. One’s got to keep writing to cut through the ...
Read more2020 — A New Beginning
August 16, 2020
Dhoni’s Final Fall and a Semi-Final Loss 23 Years Earlier … (with due apologies to Salim-Javed).
(This was written in July 2019, after India lost the World Cup semi-final to New Zealand. Reposting with a few updates). It was around 6.30pm in the evening and I was sitting at Kharbucks (as the Santa Cruz Starbucks on the ground floor of Shah Rukh Khan’s office in Mumbai, is more commonly known as), ...
