2022 - Letter to Clients

    The year 2022 started out once again with the highly contagious Covid omicron variant spreading rapidly through the population in India. Fortunately fatalities due to this variant were relatively lower and coupled together with the Government’s active vaccination drive, the situation normalized after a couple of months, only to rear its head once again during June/July. Whereas the situation is normal since then, reports from China suggest that virus can ravage India once again in the near future. The next few weeks will be crucial in this regard.

India markets 

    Here is how the various asset classes in India performed during the year

Asset class	2022 return %
Gold	13.31
PPF	7.10
NSC	6.80
Debt Long Duration	1.83
Debt Medium Duration	3.92
Debt Short Duration	4.10
Debt Ultra short	4.28
Debt Liquid	4.72
Nifty 50	4.33
Nifty 500	3.02
Nifty Midcap Select	-2.41
Nifty Smallcap 100	-13.8
icAdvisorIndia average	-9.79

    As the economy came out of the Covid crisis during 2022, inflation started making its presence felt increasingly, on the back of easy liquidity unleashed by the central bank during the Covid crisis. Consequently gold was the best performing asset class during the year – proving once again that it is a time tested hedge against inflation. PPF and NSC returns were constant during the year, whereas the remaining asset classes – whether Debt or Equity - had a nothing kind of a year. Consequently the icAdvisorIndia portfolios, which are oriented towards Midcaps and Smallcaps, also gave negative returns during the year.

Both Debt and Equity investments were impacted by rising interest rates - the policy stance adopted by the central bank to bring inflation under control. The below chart shows the actions of the RBI (in red) in response to the increasing inflation observed during the beginning of the year. 

As we can see, the proactive repo rate management by RBI during 2022 has already started showing results, to the extent where Inflation has actually dropped below the repo rate at the end of the year. If this trend continues for another couple of months, RBI may actually be encouraged to reverse its policy stance and start lowering the repo rate once again in order to stimulate growth. This is the opportunity that Indian equity investors should look forward to in 2023. If and when such a reversal happens, midcaps and smallcaps will be the biggest gainers – since their prices are already depressed and they will anyway be the biggest beneficiaries in a growing economy. Note that this exact scenario had actually played out last year in 2021, on the back of which the icAdvisorIndia portfolios had outperformed the benchmark Nifty by more than 100%!

US Markets

Turning to the US markets now, the SP500 which is the most popular broad market index, tanked in 2022. This was on the back of a 26.9% gain in the previous year. This was the largest calendar-year decline for the SP500 since the 38% drop in 2008! Investors in the US markets also had a highly volatile time, with prices swinging from one extreme to the next in short periods of time.  Technology stocks, including global leaders, got beaten down heavily during the year. Consequently, the icAdvisorUSA folios, that are oriented heavily towards global technology leaders, also delivered negative returns during the year

Asset class	2022 return %
S&P 500	-19.44
icAdvisorUSA average	-33.63

    The steep correction in the US markets was a reaction to the high asset prices that had accumulated during the previous year on the back of easy liquidity by the Fed. Just like the RBI, the Fed had loosened its purse strings in response to the Covid crisis in 2021 – the only difference being that its actions were more extreme than the RBI. High Inflation made its presence felt in the US in 2022 as well in response to the easy liquidity. And the Fed was forced to raise interest rates in order to bring it under the control. The chart below shows the actions of the Fed (in red) in response to the rising inflation during the year.

    As we can see, the Fed’s actions have been sharper compared to that of the RBI. And whereas inflation does seem to have reversed its direction, it is still not under control. Hence the Fed may be forced to continue its upward policy stance, which means that the pain in the US markets is bound to continue for some more time. However, looking at the chart above, we can expect reversal of stance during the second half of the year, in the most optimistic scenario.  As soon as that happens, we can expect technology stocks to be the biggest beneficiary once again, since they have been beaten down the most during 2022. This is the opportunity that US investors should look forward to in 2023. Note that this very scenario had played out during 2021 on the back of which the icAdvisorUSA portfolios had outperformed the SP500 by more than 20%!

2023 outlook

    What can be look forward to in 2023? Here is IMF’s GDP forecast for the leading economies in the world for the coming year

    As can be seen from the above forecast, among all the large economies, India will be the only country that is expected to register a healthy GDP growth in 2023. The Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has forecasted that India will become a $10 trillion economy by 2035. This translates to an average GDP growth rate of around 10% for India over the next 13 years. However, this forecast can be negatively impacted in 2023 by the unfolding of one or more or the following risks

• Covid surge in China spreads to the rest of the world, in a repeat of the scenario that played out during early 2020

• Ukraine war gets out of hand – either by spreading to other countries in the region or through  the use of nuclear/biological weapons

• Central banks over-tighten their monetary policy, delaying or even denying growth

• Higher interest rates and EMI burdens cause a mortgage payments crisis, similar to 2008

• European energy crisis impacts industrial output, leading to recession

• Higher bond yields cause fund flows from Equity to Debt

    Many of these risks are difficult to assess, leave alone forecast. The good news is that the collective intelligence of the market factors these risks into asset prices on a continuous basis. If any of these risks do occur, they may even create an opportunity for long term investors to accumulate quality businesses into their portfolios at rock bottom prices.

Summary

    In summary, 2022 was a nothing year for investors compared to 2021, when they experienced fabulous returns, both in India and in the USA. While 2023 holds out the promise for robust economic growth in India, stock market returns during the year may be subject to the unfolding of one or more global economic risks outlined above. Long term investors should widen their time horizon and look for opportunities to accumulate quality assets into their portfolio at every opportunity.
Meanwhile I am using this opportunity to reiterate the fundamentals of long term investing here, once again:

1. Asset allocation – Diversify your financial assets across Debt, Equity, Real Estate, gold, International Equity, etc. depending on your risk profile and age. Real Estate and Gold assets should ideally be used to satisfy consumption needs only. One simple rule of thumb to do this quickly is to subtract your age from 100. The number you get should be the percentage of your assets that you should allocate to equity - the rest should be allocated to Debt and other assets.

1. Financial planning - Identify your financial goals and classify them by time horizon – short term, medium term and long term. Use Debt assets to achieve short term goals, mix of Debt and Equity assets to achieve medium term goals and Equity assets for achieving long term goals. This will be the basis of your financial plan.

1. Reviewing your plan - Review your financial plan yourself or with the help of your advisor ideally once a year and make adjustments to your asset allocation depending on the prevailing market situation.

1. Invest right - When it comes to equity, invest in quality businesses with a reasonable margin of safety and then have the patience to allow the markets to give you returns. This calls for persistence in the face of volatility. Speak to your financial advisor whenever you are in doubt and need a second opinion.

    I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for putting your faith in our investment thesis and in our icAdvisor service with your hard earned money. Your continued trust makes us stay committed to the vision encapsulated in our tagline – ‘Growth through Knowledge’. I am available to address client queries at all times and am approachable via email or whatsapp. 

    Finally I wish you and your family a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2023 in the hope that our relationship will continue to strengthen and grow in the years ahead! 

Abhijit Talukdar

Founder, Attainix Consulting

SEBI Registered Investment Adviser - INA000006703

Investing lessons from the COVID pandemic

 2020 has been an eventful year for investors – one that they are unlikely to forget anytime soon in their lifetime. In many ways it has been similar to 2008, the only difference being that both the downside and upside in 2020 has been much more rapid than in 2008. Surely 2020 is one for the ages – tales about the pandemic and how investors first lost money and then made more money will be narrated to progeny on many a dinner table. So what investing lessons can we take from this pandemic? Here are some that I have put together in no particular order.

• Take volatility in your stride

Stock markets are volatile in the short term. That is because all kinds of people – from traders to Institutional Investors with different time horizons – are plugged into the markets every day, each one trying to work it for their own benefit. Consequently ups and downs are a natural attribute of the stock market. Hence do not be perturbed by volatility. Learn to ignore it or if possible even take advantage of it – to invest even more on every significant correction. 

• Invest for the long term

Remember that behind every stock that is trading in the market, there is a real business that is serving real Customers and generating real revenues. As long as the overall economy is growing (which it will, because this is a common objective of all Governments worldwide), many of these businesses will prosper and grow faster than the economy and will be rewarded by the stock markets. This takes time – months and even years. Always invest for the long term and have the patience to let the markets reward your conviction.

• Stay Diversified

In the past 20 years, not a single investment asset class — Large Cap Stocks, Small Cap Stocks, Real Estate, International Markets, Gold to name a few — had the best returns in back-to-back years. Each year the best investment category flip-flopped. Staying diversified, as per your recommended asset allocation, gives your portfolio the best chance to benefit from all asset classes in the long term

• Focus on Asset Allocation

Long term wealth is created not so much from superlative returns in the stock markets as much as from a judicious mix of asset categories in your portfolio. Assets such as Debt, Real Estate, Gold, etc. have their days in the sun and are also capable of generating superlative returns. Hence always focus on the asset category mix of your portfolio in order to generate wealth for the long term.

• Rebalance your portfolio regularly

Business performance changes over time with changing market conditions. For instance, in 2020 Technology stocks have done very well due to the high demand for Work from Home whereas Airline stocks have languished due to the diminished travel demand. If you could have foreseen this change in March/April 2020 and rebalanced your portfolio accordingly, it would have performed very handsomely at the end of the year. At this time technology stocks have run up too much and further upside may be limited. This may create demand for value stocks once again. Hence rebalancing your portfolio for this change may help you in 2021.  

So there you have it – a mini capsule of investing lessons from 2020. These lessons are not revelations – they have been repeated ad nauseam by various investment experts using different words and sentences. Yet many of them remain in theory and rarely get implemented in their true spirit. This is where an Investment Adviser can help. If you are not able to implement these lessons on your own, then consider hiring an expert to advise you on your portfolio and be by your side to help you navigate the markets ups and downs. 

2019 - Letter to Clients

After a lackluster 2018, 2019 turned out to be another difficult year in the stock markets for Indian investors. Here is how the year panned out for various asset classes during the year.

Asset class	2019 return
Gold	23.8
PPF	7.90
NSC	7.90
Debt ultra short	6.92
Post office 3-year deposit	6.90
Debt Liquid	6.32
Fixed deposit (1-3 years)	6.25
Nifty 50	12.02
Nifty Midcap 100	-4.32
Nifty Smallcap 100	-9.53
icAdvisor average	-2.84

No one could have guessed it at the start of the year, but Gold was the star performer during 2019. Appreciation in Gold, an unproductive asset, normally signals a defensive approach by investors. The stock markets were anything but defensive though. The Nifty started the year at 10,862 and ended it at 12,168 – giving a healthy return of 12.02% in the process. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 on the other hand gave negative returns of -4.32% and -9.53% respectively. This was the second consecutive year when these two indices gave negative returns. This means that investors with growth portfolios in the midcap and smallcap space will have to increase their investing timelines in order to first break even and then generate a positive return. As far as our icAdvisor advisory service is concerned, the annual return of client portfolios under our advice clocked in at -2.84% this year. More than 90% of our client portfolios are Growth oriented and with this constraint we were still able to outperform both the Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices. Here is how many of our client portfolios outperformed the three indices in percentage terms

Index	% folios outperforming the index
Nifty	32
Midcap 100	68
Smallcap 100	79

 2019 was also a year which was marked by a peculiar trend – large cap quality stocks that were already costly became more costly at the expense of quality midcap and smallcap stocks, which were shunned by investors as being too risky. This led to a situation where the Nifty ended the year at a PE of 28.3, very close to its lifetime high of 29.9 and two standard deviations away from its average of 19.8. At these dangerously high PE levels Nifty stocks have only two possibilities – either deliver increased earnings to justify the stratospheric PE or face a price correction. The December qtr results which are starting later this week will be interesting to watch from this point of view.

In terms of trends the Nifty once again saw three broad trends during the year – two uptrends and one downtrend. The quantum and duration of these trends were as follows:

Trend	Quantum%	Period
Uptrend	14.3	Jan to Jun
Downtrend	-11.9	Jun to Oct
Uptrend	15.0	Oct to Dec

This can be seen visually in the daily chart of the Nifty during 2019 below

The previous year also witnessed three broad trends in the Nifty and 2019 continued this trend. Consequently volatility remained high during the year. In response to this volatility we continuously advised our Clients to sit on cash whenever possible. During the end of the year we saw the emergence of a new trend although in small proportions – booking profits in stocks that had run up way too much and investing into quality names in the midcap and smallcap space. 2019 was also marked by a lot of upheavals in individual businesses, notable among them being DHFL, Mcleod Russell, Cox and Kings, Thomas Cook, Yes Bank, Sintex, Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Communications, Café Coffee Day, Jet Airways, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital, Jain Irrigation, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Vodafone Idea and HDIL amongst others. All of these stocks lost more than 80% of their market cap during the year. It was perhaps the consequence of this kind of literal carnage in so many stocks that investors flocked to quality large cap names and kept pushing up their price to stratospheric levels!

On the economic front there was bad news all around. The GDP growth rate slumped to 4.5% during the year, the lowest growth rate in decades. Unemployment continued to be high and GST collections also slipped during the year confirming a slowing down of the economy. These and other indicators have put the Governments target of $5tn economy by 2024 at serious risk. On the bright side, the Government was active in acknowledging the problem and took many remedial steps to reverse the trend including a lowering of corporate tax. The cumulative effect of these measures is likely to show result in the next couple of quarters.

What can be look forward to in 2020? The Indian economy has slowed down but the Government is making all efforts to revive it once again. The fact that the elections are behind us and that there is a stable Government at the center with an even larger mandate is assuring for investors. The stock markets have run up already in anticipation of the moves made by the Government. Quality large cap stocks are trading at stratospheric levels and are due for a correction unless their December quarter earnings support their high prices. Quality Midcap and Smallcap stocks however are looking very attractive at the moment. This I believe will be the sweet spot for 2020.

At the end of this difficult year, it is a good idea to take a moment and review the fundamentals of long term investing. We enumerate them here for quick reference:

1. Asset allocation – Diversify your financial assets across Debt, Equity, Real Estate, gold, etc. depending on your risk profile and age. Real Estate and Gold assets should be used to satisfy consumption needs only. It means that your financial assets should be invested only across Debt and Equity. One simple rule of thumb to do this quickly is to subtract your age from 100. The number you get should be the percentage of your assets that you should allocate to equity - the rest should be allocated to Debt.
2. Financial planning - Identify your financial goals and classify them by time horizon – short term, medium term and long term. Use Debt assets to achieve short term goals, mix of Debt and Equity assets to achieve medium term goals and Equity assets for achieving long term goals. This will be the basis of your financial plan.
3. Reviewing your plan - Review your financial plan yourself or with your advisor at least once a year and make adjustments depending on the prevailing market situation.
4. Invest right - When it comes to equity, invest in quality businesses and then give markets time to give you returns. This calls for patience in the face of volatility. Speak to your financial advisor whenever you are in doubt and need a second opinion.

I want to inform all my Clients that during the year we made further improvements to our stock picking algorithm. These improvements include using advanced technical indicators in addition to fundamental indicators to ensure that we get the timing of investments right also. I believe these improvements are already working in favor of our Clients.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for putting your faith in our investment thesis and in our icAdvisor service with your hard earned money. Your continued trust makes us stay committed to the vision encapsulated in our tagline – ‘Growth through Knowledge’. I am available to address client queries at all times and am approachable via email or whatsapp. 

Finally, let me wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous Happy New Year and hope that our relationship will continue to grow for many years to come!

Abhijit Talukdar

Founder, Attainix Consulting

SEBI Registered Investment Adviser - INA000006703

When to sell your stock?

What others are doing means nothing.

Warren Buffett

As a long term investor in the stock markets, researching stocks and buying the ones that meet your investment criteria is often only half the story. The other half is about knowing when to sell your stocks, book your profits (or losses) and reinvest the proceeds. And although the majority of long term investors struggle with the second half, the process for both of them is surprisingly similar. Yet, investors cling on to their holdings, even when selling them and reinvesting the proceeds into other promising opportunities which are staring them in the face clearly make more sense. There is a psychological aspect to this.

First of all, no investor wants to accept that he/she was wrong by booking losses. This emotion comes into play for loss making holdings. In such cases patiently waiting on loss making holdings becomes the default strategy. I am not saying here this is wrong. This strategy may be advocated when the original reasons for making the investment are still valid and all that is needed is a patient wait for a change of technical momentum in the stock. In such cases, waiting for the market to recover and in fact even buying more at lower levels makes eminent sense. In other words, patiently waiting on your loss making holdings makes sense when the underlying business remains fundamentally strong and has a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. 

Secondly, in the case when the holding is in a profit position, investors are averse to closing their position and booking their profit in the fear that they may lose out on further future gains. This may not be entirely the wrong thing to do either. This approach is advocated only when the original reasons for making the investment are still valid and no other better opportunity is visible on the horizon.

Here are some questions that will help you determine if and when to sell your stock holding.

1. Do you need the money? If you need the money to cover an unforeseen expense then the choice is clear - you have to sell your position. This is the easiest decision for selling your stock.
2. Have the latest quarterly results been in line with expectations? After the announcement of the latest quarterly results, does the stock still meet your original investment criteria? If so, hold it. If not sell it and re-invest the proceeds in the next best available opportunity. 
3. Has there been a recent event that makes a material impact on the business? Has the company admitted publicly to accounting fraud? Has any promoter of the company got involved in scandal that affects the company’s image and its brand? These types of material events are rare but they still occur once in a while. As an investor, when you don’t know the extent of the unknown, it is best to exit your position if you can. Bad news is highly viral and can depreciate the stock’s value so quickly that you may not be in a position to sell your holding at all, because of lack of buyers.
4. Are there better opportunities out there? The business world is a competitive place. Existing businesses who are leaders in their space have to fight hard every day to retain their place. Despite this other upstart businesses are born everyday who either challenge the leaders in existing categories or establish a whole new category altogether. Smart Investors should always be on the lookout for such upstarts and invest in them when they are still affordable, at the cost of selling some of their current holdings. 

What to Do?

One thing is clear – in today’s day and age long term investors cannot afford to buy and hold any more. This strategy does not work very well in the Internet age any more, where upstart businesses challenge existing leaders every day. What is required instead is periodic monitoring of your portfolio and constant scouting for better opportunities. If you have the time, inclination and aptitude for doing this on your own, by all means go ahead take the challenge and prepare yourself to do this task on your own. If not, consider engaging the services of a SEBI Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) who can perform this activity on your behalf.

How to find businesses with wide moats

I was a chartist. I loved all that stuff. I had charts coming out my ears. Then, all of a sudden a fellow explains to me that you don't need all that, just buy something for less than it's worth.

Warren Buffet

In the investing world, “moat” is a term that has been popularized by the legendary investor Warren Buffet to mean the amount of competitive advantage that a business enjoys in the marketplace over the competition. Moats create entry barriers for the competition and enable the business to harvest uninterrupted profit from its products and services. Therefore moats are a very desirable attribute for investors, when screening for investment opportunities. If they exist at all, moats can be either wide moats or narrow moats. Obviously wide moats are preferred over narrow moats, not only because of the extent of competitive advantage that they provide to the business but also because such an advantage may even be sustainable in the long run. Businesses with wide moats are therefore the ones that long term investors want to ‘Buy and forget’. In the Indian context, such investments fall in the category known as ‘Buy right, sit tight”.

Wide moats in a business may exist for a number of reasons. Some of these include strong brand, widespread distribution network, loyal customer base, low cost of operations, etc. Whatever be the reason for the wide moat, the search for the source for it always ends in an intangible asset – i.e. an asset that is not present or reported on the balance sheet of the business. Isn’t this strange – the one asset that gives the business a wide moat and hence a lasting competitive advantage does not even make it to the company balance sheet and hence never ever reported to investors. This is the single biggest reason why screening for businesses with wide moats is a task fraught with danger, because the person doing the screening may have to rely on hearsay and assumptions rather than hard facts. Unless of course there was a way to measure the intangible assets of the business and value it in monetary terms, in the first place!

This is where the icTracker comes in. We developed this software explicitly to address this very problem i.e. to measure the intangible assets of the business from the company’s reported financials and value it in monetary terms. Next we developed a ratio called the Knowledge Basis – which is just the ratio of the Intangible Assets over the Total assets of the business. Note that Total assets equal the Intangible Assets as calculated plus the physical and financial assets which are reported on the Balance sheet of the Business. The Knowledge Basis then becomes a simple measure for checking if the business has a wide moat. As a thumb rule we consider that a Knowledge Basis greater than 50% means that the business has a wide moat, else it has a narrow moat. The icTracker software has therefore quantified the calculation of wide moat and made it objective, thus making screening of stocks easier and more importantly, reliable. Our icAdvisor service in fact uses the icTracker database when designing and rebalancing client portfolios.

What to Do

When making investment decisions for your stock portfolio, always ensure that the underlying business has a wide moat. But that is the easy part – the difficult part is staying on top. Moats can disappear very quickly if a new competitor takes over the market for instance using a superior moat. Hence it is very important to check the moat of the business every quarter to ensure that the competitive advantage it enjoyed earlier is still in place. It is well and good if you have the time and passion for doing this yourself. If not, you should approach a SEBI Registered Investment Adviser to help you with this process.

2018 - Letter to Clients

After the stellar run of the stock markets in 2017, 2018 turned out to be somewhat of a damp squib for Indian investors. Here is how the year panned out for various asset classes during the year.

The Nifty started the year at 10,533 and ended it at 10,863 – giving a meager return of 3.14% in the process.  But at least it gave positive returns. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 on the other hand did much worse, giving deep negative returns during the year. In comparison, the average annual return of client portfolios under our advice clocked in at 2.29% this year. Considering that our client folios are made up of a mix of Largecap, Midcap and smallcap stocks depending on the client’s risk profile, this performance was very satisfactory. Inflation was at 4.7% during the year which meant that only the relatively safe asset classes beat inflation during 2018 – none of the equity classes did so, as shown by the table above. 2018 was therefore the year of safety - but more importantly it was also the year of volatility. There were three major trends in the stock markets during the year – two on the downside and one on the upside. The quantum and duration of these trends were as follows:

This can be seen visually in the daily chart of the Nifty during 2018 below.

Although volatility is a basic attribute of the stock markets, high volatility of this kind spooks retail investors and scars them for life. As for our part, we saw the first downtrend coming in early Jan and advised our clients to sell major portions of their portfolio and sit on cash at that time. We got them back in the market after April when the results of the quarter started coming in. This action benefitted all our Clients. However, we missed catching the next downtrend which started in early September, primarily because it was not a systemic downtrend – rather it was based on fears about risk in the NBFC space triggered by default of IL&FS – a leading lender to the infrastructure sector. The extent and impact of such sector specific risks are always difficult to assess but the markets always take a safe route by first pushing prices down and then analyzing the impact. Since none of our Client folios had investments in the NBFC space we considered it prudent not to react to this kind of downtrend but rather ride it out. In hindsight we can say now that this approach did not do too badly for our Clients.

On the economic front, the year was characterized by high crude oil prices (which moderated towards the year end), inflation fears, fiscal slippages and systemic liquidity concerns. State elections in five major states during the year also made the market nervous. SIP inflows into equity mutual funds continued at an increasing pace reaching a run rate of billion dollars a month by the end of the year, despite high selling by foreign investors. These flows found their way mostly into largecap stocks leading to their stability at the expense of midcap and smallcap stocks.

What can be look forward to in 2019? For one, the Indian economy continues to be the fastest growing economy in the world growing at a rate of 7.2%. It is poised to become the fifth largest economy in the world this year overtaking the UK in the process. The central elections are due in May 2019 and this will be a time when we can expect some nervousness and volatility in the markets. If the elections throw up a majority Government, then the markets will settle down and could even start a rally. If on the other hand the elections throw up a fragmented mandate then we could be in for a long phase of consolidation. At this point the best thing to do therefore is to stay invested. Investing is a long term game and those who stock to their convictions during difficult times get rewarded by the stock markets ultimately.

At the end of such a difficult year, it is well worth the time to take a moment and review the fundamentals of long term investing. We enumerate them here for quick reference:

1. Asset allocation – Diversify your financial assets across Debt, Equity, Real Estate, gold, etc. depending on your risk profile and age. In the current scenario, real estate and gold are no longer sources of capital appreciation. Hence these assets should be used to satisfy consumption needs only. It means that your assets should be spread only across Debt and Equity. One simple rule of thumb to do this quickly is to subtract your age from 100. The number you get should be the percentage of your assets that you should allocate to equity - the rest should be allocated to Debt.
2. Financial planning - Identify your financial goals and classify them by time horizon – short term, medium term and long term. Use Debt assets to achieve short term goals, mix of Debt and Equity assets to achieve medium term goals and Equity assets for achieving long term goals. This will be the basis of your financial plan.
3. Reviewing your plan - Review your financial plan yourself or with your advisor at least once a year and make adjustments depending on the prevailing situation.
4. Invest right - When it comes to equity, invest in the right businesses and then give markets time to give you returns. This calls for patience in the face of volatility. Speak to your financial advisor whenever you are in doubt and need a second opinion.

Finally, I want to inform all my Clients that during the year we made optimization improvements to our stock picking algorithm based on observations and our own backtesting. These improvements will ensure that we pick long term winners that have a high probability of returning generating alpha for our Clients. Having said that I have to add that there is always scope for further improvements in our stock picking and monitoring process and with the help of the active support of our Clients we will keep working diligently on such improvements. I also want to thank all my Clients whose active support and trust in us got recognized by Silicon India magazine in their 2018 ‘Consultant of the Year’ award to us.

In passing, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for putting your faith in our investment thesis and in our icAdvisor service with your hard earned money. Your continued trust makes us stay committed to the vision encapsulated in our tagline – ‘Growth through Knowledge’. I believe that we can grow only when you see value in our service and growth in your own portfolios. I am available to address client queries at all times and am approachable via email or whatsapp. I am also open to feedback and suggestions and welcome you to provide the same. I also hope that if you have benefitted from our service, you will spread the word to your own friends, family and colleagues and have them share the benefit as well. 

Finally, let me wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous Happy New Year and hope that our relationship will continue to grow for many years to come!

Abhijit Talukdar

Founder, Attainix Consulting

SEBI Registered Investment Adviser