When investing was easy

Life was much easier for us as investors in the 1980s, and perhaps even in the 1990s. The internet has created a lot of noise along with  information. So unless you know what is information and what is noise, you cannot use the internet well in any field. Even as a runner, cyclist, photographer you are thrown so much stuff, that in case you bite all that you may not be able to chew, or eat – forget digesting.

I would look at a company watch it for a few years and then buy and then hold. Say I bought shares of Asian Paints or Berger Paints. First of all not much information was available about these companies. Supreme Industries is so low profile even now I am sure many of you have not heard about it. One of India’s sharpest investors had asked me to prepare a research report on Supreme in 1988. Apart from a fee of Rs. 25000 I got to spend a lot of time with the company’s numbers and I decided to buy shares of Supreme (RoI of time spent on research is INFINITE, and I am not joking).

I did not know whether it was doing well quarter on quarter. I did not know whether the owners of the company had pledged their shares to borrow money for some other venture. I did not know anything other than what the balance sheet said. We used...

Read more at http://www.subramoney.com/2019/02/when-investing-was-easy