A Small Entry Quantum per Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Your ears are probably swelling from all this talk about a small entry quantum (SEQ) per day.

However, you are also noticing the practical element of the SEQ, especially during the current correction.

Whatever’s happening in the world is happening. We need to long-term invest on the basis of what’s being offered to us. When we see margin of safety, we act.

However, we could go on seeing margin of safety for years upon end. Therefore, our entry quantum per day is small, so small that we can last out purchasing for quite a while, and still have ample liquidity left over for all other necessary aspects of life.

There’s another benefit of the SEQ though.

Let’s say that one of your holding turns rogue.

It can happen. So many scams are emerging. There’s a new scam every day.

So let’s just assume, for assumption’s sake, that the management of one of the stocks you are holding is involved in a fraud, and this fraud has come to light.

Where does that leave you?

You stop accumulation of this stock immediately.

Don’t expunge it yet. You’ll lose out. What if the scam is a hoax? Find out. It might blow over. Management might change. Your conviction in the stock might be rekindled. Wait for a market high. If you’re still not convinced about the stock anymore, expunge it on a market high.

What did the small entry quantum do for you here?

You had accumulated the stock over some kind of period, SEQ by SEQ, right?

When the fraud exploded, your holding wasn’t that sizeable. SEQ, remember.

A fraud management won’t wait multiple years to let their fraudulent natures act. Sooner or later, a fraud will get caught. Sooner the better. When this one is caught, your holding is not enormous. It’s size depends upon the number of years of holding and conviction.

The greater the conviction, the longer the holding and the lesser are the chances of the management consisting of fraudsters.

Your small entry quantum has ensured that over many, many years, stocks that end up getting accumulated majorly are the ones where conviction strengthens year upon year upon seeing multiple practices of good governance and shareholder-friendliness.

Scammers stop getting accumulated long ago. They are expunged on market highs.

After a decade or two, your portfolio is brimming with honest multibaggers.

Defining a Long-Term Hold

Homework, people, is the most essential element of long-term investing.

No wonder they stressed so much upon homework in school. 

They knew what they were talking about. 

And, it has counted. I always took my homework very seriously. 

Things are no different in the markets. 

Do your homework well, and diligently, and the pay-off might surprise you. 

In the markets, you are not paid off with marks, but with appreciation in the value of your holding. 

So, what kind of homework goes into defining a long-term hold?

Today, we have stock-screeners, so use a stock-screener to spit out some potential long-term holds after defining the screener’s parameters as per your wishes. Choose a stock from the results of the screening that you might want to delve into. Then, delve into it. 

In scam-ridden India, the first things that one needs to look for are honesty and integrity.

Look very, very hard.

Do repeated fraud / scam / bribe searches. The web is your oyster. 

Look into salaries of top personnel. Low is good. If salaries are on the higher side, is it justified? Specifically, scrutinize the salary of the top promotor and the CEO. If not justifiable, just drop the stock. 

Look for acts of good governance. 

Openness.

Sharing.

Shareholder-friendliness.

Truth.

Responsibility.

Once honesty and integrity are established, go over the fundamentals. 

Overall, fundamentals will either meet your parameters, or they won’t. Also, it is you who is going to define the fundamentals you wish to gauge, and what you wish to see. 

Are you seeing what you wish to see?

No?

Discard.

Yes?

Proceed.

Is the stock going to be around even after ten years?

Gauge. Product, business-model, circumstances…

You think no?

Discard.

You think yes?

Proceed.

Is the business scalable?

No?

Rethink.

Yes?

Proceed.

Is there debt in the equation?

Are you comfortable with the level of debt?

No?

Discard.

Yes?

Proceed.

Get the overall picture. 

Are you comfortable with the overall feeling you are getting?

No?

Discard. 

Yes?

Proceed.

Look for an entry point. Open the chart and try and enter upon a base or some other technical level. If none is available, wait for a level to come, and then make your entry. 

Thus, you have successfully defined and entered your long-term hold. 

 

How do you manage your Fiefdoms? 

Are your subjects happy? 

Is there surplus going around? 

Is dealing smooth and efficient? 

Are you content with your performance? 

Do you have the vision and the energy to enhance your fiefdoms into a kingdom? 

What are we talking about? 

How are these questions relevant for a career in finance? 

We all establish some position or positions of power, in the many areas of our lives. 

These are our fiefdoms. 

Inside these, we rule. 

Inside these, people or objects seem to be temporarily under our control. 

The micro reflects the macro. 

Our behaviour while governing a fiefdom hints at what / how we’ll be like when governing a kingdom. 

Get your acts together, people. 

Good governance is a habit. It starts small. Ultimately, it becomes a way of life. 

Your many fiefdoms multiply as you progress into a kingdom of sorts. 

Applied to finance, your kingdom is then your market footprint at your peak. Good governance thrown in, you’re rocking already. 

How did it happen? 

Baby steps of good governance multiplied into giant ones. 

It’s as simple as that. 

The most coveted things in life are also the simplest ones. 

🙂