Beta to Alpha - The Journey to Outperformance | April '20 Update
Dear Reader,
Good Afternoon to you. Hope you're indoors and you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.
At the onset, I would like to thank you for subscribing to this Newsletter. The endeavour of this newsletter would be to get you updated with the articles published during the month centered around Indian Companies, Finance, Book Reviews, Music and interesting things happening around the globe along with a selection of hand picked content from the web that warrant a view. Would you like me to add more? Feel free to write back with your views.
Why the title Beta to Alpha?
In the world of Finance, Beta stands for Uncertainty and Alpha stands for out-performance. The posts are aimed to create the structural shift from systematic Risk (Beta) around information overload and noise to outperformance with curated content.
April, 2020 - Update on Articles
When it comes to decision making, we are all faced with difficulties. There are inherent biases that are within us termed as Cognitive Biases. Here's a summary of top 11 cognitive biases that affect our decision making.
April had an interesting set of events happening around the world. At this point of time only one thing seems to be certain - the uncertainty around uncertainty. It has technically re-wired the definition of what a Black Swan event looks like. A list of possible changes that we can see in the future was discussed in this forward looking post.
Indian Companies
With the Facebook Deal, Reliance Industries Limited has given a whole new meaning to the value of diversification. This was discussed in detail here.
While we have all enjoyed Nescafe, Maggi, Kit-Kat, Munch and a host of other products that Nestle India has to offer, Nestle India has silently built a virtual monopoly around a product we are probably not aware of. Find more about it here.
N Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons which controls 28 enterprises listed on exchanges having close to USD 111 billion dollar in market capitalization and Manish Sabharwal, the Chairman of TeamLease services (a USD 0.6 billion dollar enterprise) sit on the RBI Board together. Read about TeamLease in detail here.
Ting ting ti-ting. The iconic Britannia jingle instantly rings a melodious tune in our heads. The Company has slowly made itself transform from a biscuit company to a total Foods company. Read a detailed review of the transformation here.
Finance 101
While much has been talked about returns and asset classes, risk is something a lot of us do not ascertain and often tend to misjudge. Here's a quick two minute post on "Risk and Return in Investing" as described by the legendary investor Howard Marks himself, memos of which are read by Warren Buffett.
Book Reviews
Talking to Strangers is the latest release by the famed author Malcolm Gladwell; you can read the review about it here.
Coffee Can Investing is now the bestseller w.r.t. Personal Finance in India written by an Indian author. The review can be accessed here. It also gives great insights in the form of Investing 101 - ideal for both a DIY investor or someone who is really experienced.
Curated Content from around the web
"Our greatest myth is that a political system creates a society. The fact is that the character of people makes some political systems possible." - Read Manu Joseph's Opinion piece here.
"If you haven't defeated the virus everywhere, you haven't defeated it anywhere." - Watch Professor Raghuram Rajan in an hour long podcast with the Managing Director and Chief Economist of DBS Bank here.
"The best time to ask intensive-care patients to quit smoking or lose weight is just after they leave the intensive care unit." - Read Manish Sabharwal's Opinion piece on what can India do to come out as a winner from the Covid - 19 crisis here.
Looking Ahead
While we get ready for the next month, we are working on better researched insights on Info Edge and the Franklin Templeton debacle that occurred this week. (I say we because some readers have expressed interests to contribute jointly.) What else would you like me to write on? Feel free to write back to me with your inputs.
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Regards,
Saket Mehrotra
You can reach out to me by dropping an e-mail at saket.mehrotra93@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: No content on this blog should be construed to be investment advice. You should consult a qualified financial advisor prior to making any actual investment or trading decisions. All information is a point of view, and is for educational and informational use only. The author accepts no liability for any interpretation of articles or comments on this blog being used for actual investments.