The One Percent Almanack

Wit and Wisdom on Investing, Business, and Life

Investor Insights: Jigar Shah

Jigar Shah, born and raised in Mumbai, India, is a CFA charter holder and a C.A. He has more than 14 years’ experience as an analyst and fund manager. He has researched global equity markets for an investment firm for five years and has spent nine years in Indian equity markets.

Jigar joined Banyan Tree Advisors in 2011 as a fund manager. He is an avid reader and passionate about researching businesses, moats and investing for the long term.

In this interview, Jigar shares his thoughts on investing, his process, and the key lessons he has learned over more than a decade of being an investor.

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Behaviouronomics: The Peak End Rule

What does the future look like for an eighteen-year-old student who finds himself on a hospital bed wrapped up in bandages? My guess is that life careening off course would have been the least of concerns when he was fighting for his life.

In his senior year of high school, Dan was an active member of an Israeli youth movement. On a Friday afternoon, while preparing fireworks for a traditional nighttime ceremony, a large magnesium flare accidentally exploded near him causing third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.

The next three years found me wrapped in bandages in a hospital, recalls Dan, “and then emerging into public only occasionally, dressed in a tight synthetic suit and mask that made me look like a crooked version of Spiderman.”
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An Early Bird Or The Second Mouse?

It took the world by surprise when Warren Buffett announced that he’d be donating all his personal wealth to Bill Gates foundation. Till then people imagined Buffett and Gates as two fierce businessmen trying to outdo each other for the top spot on the Forbes list of billionaires. Bill Gates has dominated that list for a good part of last 25 years. Buffett has also remained in top five for the same period.

So Buffett’s decision came out as a shocking announcement. However, very few people knew that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates had been very close friends since 1991. They watch movies, go on family vacations and play bridge together.

In 1996, Bill Gates wrote about an incidence when Buffett invited him to play a game of rolling dice. He showed a set of four dice to Gates and proposed that both of them choose once die each from the set and discard the remaining two. Then whoever rolls a higher number most often would be the winner. [Read more…] about An Early Bird Or The Second Mouse?

Pay it Forward

In June 2016, I found myself sitting with a bunch of wisdom seekers. It was a 3-day course on behavioural finance taught by Prof. Sanjay Bakshi at Flame university. We were like a pride of starving lions waiting to lap up every last drop of knowledge.

Prof. Bakshi’s mind is a fountain of insights and we had an insatiable thirst. No wonder the session would start at 9 am and go on till midnight. Even during the breaks, people would swarm him with incessant questions.

During one of the breaks, a course participant asked Prof. Bakshi, “Sir, we have benefited immensely from your teachings. How can we pay it back?”

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Investor Insights: Gaurav Sud

Gaurav did his BTech from IIT Delhi and completed his MBA from IIM Calcutta in 1999. He started his career at KPMG’s Corporate Finance division and since then has worked at Wipro BPO, Keane Consulting, WNS Global Services and Asian Oilfield Services Ltd. In 2006, he quit his job to become a full-time investor.

He has over twenty-one years of experience in investing, M&A, investment banking and financial consulting. Currently, he is managing partner at Kanav Capital and runs his family office. His investing focus is in listed small and mid-sized Indian companies. He also works on event-based arbitrage situations. He lives in Gurgaon with his wife and two kids.

In this interview, Gaurav shares his thoughts on investing, his process, and the key lessons he has learned over more than a decade of being an investor.

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