Dear Reader,
This story dates back to 1991. On a early-summer afternoon, two young men graduated from the same college in a small town from Rajasthan, India. They were very much alike. Both had been better than average students during school and college, both had pleasant appearance and manners…and both were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.
Recently, these two men returned to college for their 25th reunion.
They were still very much alike. Both were married and had two children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same automobile company in North India after their graduation, and they were still there.
But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.
Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t always a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t.
The difference lies in what each person knows and how he or she makes use of that knowledge. The difference lies in being a learning machine, and one that just rusts away in the commotion of daily tasks.
You see, most people go through life not really trying to learn anything new to get better and smarter. Why? They simply won’t do the work required.
It’s easy to come home, sit on the couch, watch TV, have your dinner, and hit the bed. But that’s not really going to help you get smarter.
Sure you can go into the office the next day and discuss the details of the political fight showed on prime time news television, or the economic issues they discussed on business television. But that’s not knowledge accumulation, it’s a mind-numbing sedative.
Most of us have, as T.S. Eliot asked said years ago, forgot to ask those important questions – “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
These questions, I believe, find much greater relevance fifty years later, in an age of accelerated information and information overload, when people are living larger parts of their lives acquiring a lot of information but gaining less and less in wisdom.
Consider investing.
Value Investing Almanack brings to you the best and biggest ideas in value investing, human behaviour, and business analysis, which you must grab to become smarter in your investment decision making.
It is a monthly newsletter, where we cover the following –
- Spotlight: Big ideas from Value Investing and why applying them in your investment decision making will be a great deal
- Behaviouronomics: Deep analysis of human behaviour and how it impacts investment decision making
- StockTalk: Thorough analysis of businesses of listed Indian companies (without any stock recommendations)
- Business Snapshots: Quick snapshots of great and gruesome businesses
- BookWorm: Reviews of the best books on Value Investing and related subjects
- InvestorInsights: Interviews with experienced and upcoming value investors
- Life 2.0: Practical and effective ideas on living a simple, sensible life
- What We’re Reading: Links to a great external sources we’re reading
In short, there’s a great amount of learning packed in just one newsletter. And this is not all!
Apart from these monthly issues, subscribers also receive one Special Report at the end of every month, which includes a view (without any prediction) on the stock market, or a company analysis, or an additional book review, or any such special analysis that would benefit investment decision making.
By the way, here are some of the super-smart value investors we have interviewed over the past few months….
What Subscribers Have to Say…
When you subscribe to VIA, you also get free access to my premium online course in financial statement analysis. It’s called Financial Statement Analysis for Smart People (FSASP), and I’ve designed it to help people gain a deep understanding of how to read financial statements, and in a very simplified manner.
By taking up this course that comes free along with VIA subscription…
- You will not only learn how to look at each number in the three financial statements – Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement – but will also learn what numbers to look at deeply and which ones to avoid.
- You will learn how the three financial statements are inter-connected and how you can assess a company’s true financial health by studying the inter-connections.
- You will learn how to calculate the most important ratios to be able to separate the visibly good numbers from the actual ones.
- You will learn how to read an annual report, especially the key sections that will give you a lot of ideas on what the company has done in the past, and where it is headed in the future.
- Very importantly, you will learn how companies commit financial frauds – known as ‘shenanigans’ – and how you can identify them so as to reduce the number of mistakes you make by buying bad businesses.
Through the FSASP course, you will get…
- 10 comprehensive PDF lessons on – Reading annual reports, understanding financial statements, conducting comprehensive ratio analysis, and identifying financial shenanigans.
- 4 hours of classroom-style video lessons
- Several real-life examples of Indian companies to help put things into perspective
I sell the FSASP course at a price of Rs 3,999 plus taxes. But when you subscribe to VIA for 1-year, you will get this course absolutely FREE.
Imagine the amount of time you’ll save reading the VIA and other special resources – like the FSASP Course – instead of searching for the best ideas on investing from hundreds of books, websites, and other resources.
When you subscribe to VIA, you will also get access for free to our two special reports –
- 5 Big Ideas from the World’s Best – This 41-page e-book contains five big ideas each from ten of the world’s best people from the fields of investing and business.
- A Guide to Reading for Investors – This 56-page e-book contains the most comprehensive guidelines on what you should read as an investor, how you should read, and how you can learn to retain what you read. Plus, you will also find a detailed list of timeless reading resources on value investing and behavioural finance and also the reading lists from a few of the world’s best investors.
To sum up, here are all the benefits you can achieve when you subscribe to VIA –
- 12 power-packed issues of VIA containing the best practical ideas on value investing, human behaviour, and business analysis;
- 12 special reports (market view/company analysis/book review);
- Free Course – Financial Statement Analysis for Smart People (otherwise priced at Rs 3,999; available only for 1-year subscriptions to VIA); and
Now, if you are interested..