Vishal Khandelwal

Est. 1978

Podcast

The One Percent Show: Sankaran Naren on Market Cycles, Common Sense, and Art of Being a Contrarian Investor

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Welcome to the twelfth episode of The One Percent Show with Vishal Khandelwal. This show is an open-ended exploration into the minds of the wisest people around to help us learn to think, invest, and live each day a little, even if as little as one percent, better.

In this episode, I talk to Sankaran Naren, the Chief Investment Officer at ICICI Prudential AMC, and among the most respected names in the Indian fund industry. He has more than 30 years of experience in almost the entire spectrum of the financial services industry, ranging from stock broking, project finance, investment banking and fund management. By qualification, he holds a B-Tech degree from IIT Chennai and PGDM in Finance from IIM Kolkata.

Naren is a living proof of a money manager who has often taken the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference for his investors. He is best known for his contrarian and deep-value picks, and he avoids chasing hot stocks. As a contrarian over the years, he has developed a knack for spotting neglected sectors and stocks before they become vogue.

Among other things, in this conversation, we talk about his idea of contrarian investing, the challenges he has faced over the years and key lessons learned.

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With respect,

Vishal

The One Percent Show: Monika Halan on Money Mantras, Biggest Financial Regrets, and Handling Life’s Real Wealth Well

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Welcome to the eleventh episode of The One Percent Show with Vishal Khandelwal. This show is an open-ended exploration into the minds of the wisest people around to help us learn to think, invest, and live each day a little, even if as little as one percent, better.

In this episode, I talk to Monika Halan, one of the rare voices of sanity in the Indian personal finance space and author of the best-selling book Let’s Talk Money which provides us a smarter way to live our dream life, rather than stay worried about the ‘right’ investment or ‘perfect’ insurance.

Monika has a Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and a Masters in Journalism Studies from the University of Wales, United Kingdom. In a career spanning almost three decades, she has worked across several media organizations in India and has run many successful TV series around personal finance advice. She is a regular speaker on financial literacy, regulation, inclusion and consumer issues in retail finance. She has been a member of SEBI’s Mutual Fund Advisory committee for more than a decade and has served four Government of India committees.

While I was reading about Monika, I got to know that she considers Sri Aurobindo as her guru which led me to what he wrote in his book The Mother, and I quote – “Human life would be quite simple if the human mind did not extrapolate in it unnecessary complications.”

I see Monika’s work over the years a testimony to this lesson from Sri Aurobindo, in that she has brought so much simplicity to middle-class India on how we deal with our personal financial lives, without trying to add unnecessary complexity to it. I am sure there is a great deal of work that needs to be done on that front, and Monika is certainly leading the charge there, which makes me hopeful.

In this episode, Monika talks about –

  • Key foundational lessons on money
  • Women and money – what needs to change
  • Kids and money – How to get your young ones to learn about money
  • Key money mantras for a balanced financial life
  • Sanity checks while dealing with financial advisors
  • Simplifying asset allocation
  • Biggest money regret people have
  • Monika’s personal financial mistakes and fears
  • How much money is ‘enough’
  • Handling life’s real wealth well
  • And more.

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With respect,

Vishal

A Story on Kindness

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When we study successful people, we always talk about their work ethic, creativity, leadership. Those things are essential, and we can learn a lot from them. But one thing that gets less attention is whether they were kind to others in their journey.

Consider Warren Buffett, one of the most successful people in the world. Once while giving a lecture to college students, he was asked his definition of success, and this is what he replied, “When you get to my age, you will really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you…That is the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.”

[Read more…] about A Story on Kindness

The One Percent Show: Barry Ritholtz on Survivorship Bias, Thinking Independently, and Creating Meaning in Life

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Welcome to the tenth episode of The One Percent Show with Vishal Khandelwal. This show is an open-ended exploration into the minds of the wisest people around to help us learn to think, invest, and live each day a little, even if as little as one percent, better.

In this episode, I talk to the extra-special Barry Ritholtz, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is also the creator and host of Masters in Business, the most popular podcast on Bloomberg Radio. Barry has been called the “blogfather” for his long-standing finance blog, The Big Picture. He is also the author of the book Bailout Nation, which is an engaging look at what led to the financial crisis of 2008.

Barry has been named one of the “15 Most Important Economic Journalists” in the United States and has been called one of the 25 Most Dangerous People in Financial Media. He has spent his career helping people spot their own investment errors and to learn how to better manage their own financial behaviors. Barry’s observations on the economy and markets are unique in that they are the result of both quantitative data and behavioral economics, and a function of his unusual career path in finance.

Barry’s blog is perhaps the most well-known oasis of economic straight talk on the web. I have been reading him for almost 15 years now, and he was one of the persons who was really part of the inspiration for my work at Safal Niveshak in the first place. His is one of the very few financial blogs I read consistently.

In this episode, Barry talks about –

  • Using life’s deficits as superpowers
  • His unusual career path in finance
  • Lessons for young people wanting to enter finance
  • Being called one of the most dangerous people in financial media
  • Survivorship bias
  • Importance of being kind to others
  • Most important mantra for investors
  • Thinking independently in a noisy world
  • Creating meaning in life
  • Favourite books
  • And more.

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Please share with others on WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just email them the link to this post.

With respect,

Vishal

The One Percent Show: Samit Vartak on Success vs Happiness and the Art of Managing Other People’s Money

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Welcome to the ninth episode of The One Percent Show with Vishal Khandelwal. This show is an open-ended exploration into the minds of the wisest people around to help us learn to think, invest, and live each day a little, even if as little as one percent, better.

In this episode, I talk to Samit Vartak, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer of SageOne Investment Managers. Samit talks about success vs happiness, Vedanta philosophy, his stock research process, and the art of managing other people’s money..

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Please share with others on WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just email them the link to this post.

With respect,

Vishal