My friend told me that he's been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
If life gives you sour lemons, turn them into lemonade.
Every Sunday I share what I learn about health, money and business. Here is what I learnt last week:
My friend told me that he's been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
I am a better businessman because I am an investor with Marcellus.
Is screen time a friend or foe for our children’s mental well-being?
Everything is sales.
You can access previous editions of my weekly emails here. Let’s begin!
(1) My friend told me that he's been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
I ChatGPT'd it and it said that it's an incurable condition in which you're in a state of constant fatigue and pain.
Imagine how you feel when you are sick. Now imagine feeling like that for the rest of your life. It's not a pretty picture.
He told me that he did not feel like doing anything. Getting out of bed was a struggle. Getting to work and focusing for any meaningful period of time became impossible. Brain fog followed, as did anxiety and depression. He couldn't do any of the things that he loved doing.
He's only 40.
He runs a business. His parents and kids depend on him.
But he is fighting back now. He has got counseling. He meditates and is slowly building back the stamina to run. While the doctors told him to not stress his body, he is going for small wins that stress his body just enough to feel like he achieved.
All I could do is listen, and encourage him to not look too far out on the horizon. To break it down to one day at a time and at the end of the day just aim for progress. Small wins.
That's what I do. I look for a point on the calendar which makes me feel like I made the most of the day. I try to bring my wandering mind back to the present. Because while we dream about the better future we all want, we live in the here and now. The today.
It's 2024. There is no guarantee that you'll be here in 2050. And I can guarantee that you will definitely be gone and forgotten by 2100. Think of all the presidents, kings and queens who have come and gone before us. They are all but a figment in our imagination.
Look after your health. It makes the journey sweeter.
(2) I am a better businessman because I am an investor with Marcellus.
It is a joy to watch Saurabh Mukherjea talk. He is an amazing storyteller who merges data with rationale and humor. No matter where or how you invest your money, it is worth listen to him in person.
"How do I care what you invested in! All I care about is what money I made and you didn't make me any money." is what one investor said.
In true candid transparent fashion, Saurabh and Rakshit from Marcellus Investment Managers responded with reasons, mistakes and the way forward. Their responses made sense. The packed room listened. By the time everyone left three hours later, I think they all had conviction that they were on the right path. I personally believe that the intellectual horsepower of the Marcellus team is a cut above the rest.
As I sat in the corner of the room and listened attentively, I took notes. Sharing some with you here:
(1) The BSE500 index gave a 39% over the last 12 months. 50% of this percentage was driven by Adani and PSU stocks. The remaining 50% was driven by growth in earnings of the remaining stocks.
(2) How have the portfolios performed over the past 12 months?
- The All-Cap MeritorQ Fund: 37% (without any Adani or PSUs)
- GCP (American and European stocks): 30%
- CCP: 20%
- Rising Giants: 17%.
- LCP 9%
(3) Non-Adani and non-PSU companies have grown 19% in the index. The consistent compounders (CCP) portfolio has grown by 20% over the same period. This maintains the hypothesis that Pricing follows EPS.
(4) India is the 140th poorest country in the world. Over the past decade consumption growth has been 2% and population growth has been 2%. So actual growth in consumption has been 0. The poor have suffered.
(5) Here are 3 reasons why BJP coming back but without total majority is a good thing:
- Fiscal discipline: They are reducing the budget deficit. They are selling loss making PSUs. They are not selling profit making PSUs like BPCL.
- They are very good at execution.
- The BJP has a point to prove: focus is shifting to the quality of life for the poorest 50% of society which is what democracy is supposed to do.
(6) Marcellus's job is to be where the ball will be tomorrow, not where the ball was yesterday. Marcellus is aiming for 18% CAGR over the next five years for CCP. They are expecting the index to give around 10% over the same period.
(7) PSUs make money through government spending which is very unpredictable so Marcellus stays away from adding this layer of complexity in an already unpredictable world.
(8) The one mistake they made was that when valuations were very high and earnings had peaked due to COVID in some stocks, they should have trimmed certain positions. Now they have baked this into the process to not repeat the same mistakes again.
When Marcellus explained why a Reliance cannot take on a Star Bazaar or a Berger Paints cannot take on an Asian Paints, I thought about whether I can implement some of those ideas in my own business. I am a better businessman because I am an investor with them, and a better investor because I am a businessman.
(3) Is screen time a friend or foe for our children’s mental well-being?
In this research 48,775 children aged 5 years or younger were studied with the objective to examine the relationship between screen time and psychological well-being among young children.
What were the results?
For the 3-5 year olds daily screen time of 2 hours or more was associated with:
(1) POSITIVE EFFECT OF FLOURISHING i.e. affection, resilience, curiosity and affect.
(2) NEGATIVE EFFECT OF MORE HYPERACTIVITY AND AGGRESSION.
For the 6 month to 2 year olds there was no association between daily screen time and flourishing.
Children who did not have high screen time flourished more and were not as hyperactive or aggressive, compared to children who spent a lot of time on a screen.
RECOMMENDATION:
Limit your children's screen time to no more than 1 hour per day. And regulate the type of content that they are exposed to. The right amount of screen time and the right kind of content can have a positive impact on them.
(4) Everything is sales.
You an analyst? You're selling your thoughts.
You a cook in the kitchen? You're selling your foods and drinks.
You a customer service rep? You're selling a better experience.
You a field rep? You're selling trust.
You a CEO? You're selling a vision.
Everything is sales. But customers hate being sold to.
Yet they love to buy.
The combined value of everyone in your team, from the lowest level to the peak of your organisation, has to be ahead of your nearest competitor.
And you'll know you're doing well when your customer comes back and brings along others.
Harsh Batra (LinkedIn)
Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
Happy Ratio - The foundation of health is your diet. You should focus on eating nutrient dense meals. But this is not always possible or easy. Happy Ratio is the only quick service restaurant chain that is on a mission to make healthy food available to Indians “when they get hungry”. We are present in Delhi NCR. Try us.
EthosData - If you are running M&A transactions, planning an IPO, or sharing anything confidential online, my team can run your Virtual Data Rooms. Companies like Tata, Reliance and Moody’s trust us.
Marcellus Investment Managers - I am a Marcellus client because their investment philosophy resonates with how I think about investing. I believe that Marcellus can generate average returns of 18% per year over the next 10 years through its funds. That is 5x your money in 10 years. Investing comes with inherent risks so please do your own due diligence before deciding where to put your money. I am also an Independent Financial Advisor with Marcellus.