What a humble khichdi taught Edelweiss’ Radhika Gupta about investing

The experience of eating this humble dish made from lentils, rice and some selectively picked spices and usually served along with mango pickle and papad taught her a few things about investing as well: One should not forget simplicity.

“In all the global, thematic new ideas, let’s not forget the core of our portfolios should be dal-rice — basic, simple funds and companies that are good for us,” said Gupta in a tweet on Sunday.

“As an AMC head, my learning is I should perhaps learn how to sell dal rice more innovatively too!” she added.

To be fair, Edelweiss Mutual Fund manages a fund in almost every category, and not just ‘dal-rice’. The house has funds specifically investing in offshore markets and recently listed IPOs.

Best multibagger stock

What was the best multibagger stock of 2021? It was not a little known Raghuvir Synthetics that delivered 4,635 per cent returns or Tata Teleservices sitting on 1,936 per cent year-to-date returns, at least not in the eyes of Gupta.

“The greatest investment is not a mutual fund or stock. Debate the pricing, but what’s inspiring about the IPOs is how Indian entrepreneurs from often humble backgrounds are building great companies and creating great personal wealth. Freshworks produced hundreds of new crorepatis,

gave us a female billionaire,” said Gupta.

She added that to every young person trying to create huge wealth from the markets, their greatest asset is their talent. “Use that to build wealth. It’s a multibagger that the market can’t match,” said Gupta in a series of tweets about learnings from 2021.

Freshworks and Nykaa were among the most talked-about IPOs of 2021. The former, which got listed in New York, made 500 of its employees crorepatis. While Falguni Nayar of Nykaa became a billionaire with a wealth of $6.6 billion.

There were also others who became members of the richie-rich club as the secondary markets lapped up their shares during the year. They included Nitish Mittersain of Nazara Tech, Deepinder Goyal of

, Ajaykumar Patel of Tatva Chintan, Vinod Kumar Agarwal of GR Infraprojects and Ashok Ramnarayan Boob of Clean Science.

The advent of new-age IPOs also forced analysts to devise ways to analyse such companies, whose business model does not conform to any traditional idea. In fact, their business model seems to do something that no one has ever done.

“New companies and new business models listed, and challenged our minds that were used to ‘consistent compounder frameworks.’ The easiest thing to do was making comparisons about how one food delivery was worth more than all real estate and hotel companies, and ignore the segment,” said Gupta.

“Not all of these issues were good, not all were bad, but the mind needs an open but honest approach to understanding how to value the new age beast because it’s not going away anytime soon.”

Investing not a horse race

Gupta also highlighted that patience can be a virtue in investing. Always rushing towards new fads is not warranted, and if you wait long enough, things that you understand, things that may create value for you will come along your way.

“No opportunity in the markets requires you to act today, especially if you don’t understand it. NO is never a bad option, and most things don’t run away,” she said, adding that she observed FOMO (fear of missing out) in the case of those investing in IPOs and cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies and meme stocks came into their own during the year. Some of them surged thousands of per cent in a day, drawing a flock of risk-loving new generation investors, and many times those who did not understand what they were investing in.

“In stocks, funds, crypto, a social media world has made FOMO much more powerful in investing. Having a strong sense of personal goals to anchor matters because finally investing is about satisfying them, not winning a horse race,” the 38-year-old market veteran said.

She also gave an example of a friend who made a huge corpus because that person left their holdings in Nestlé India untouched for more than a decade. “Investing is about compounding, but how do we think for decades in a world of 10-minute grocery delivery. The quick returns of the year have made time horizons shorter when equity investing is a decade long game. And at these prices, investing demands more time,” she advised.

The greatest wealth

The greatest wealth is not what lies in your portfolio or how much land you own in a Mumbai suburb. It is something else, something more abstract, suggested Gupta, a daughter of diplomat parents about whom she often talks.

“I grew up with middle-class parents who made little compromises in their own lives so we could have a better one. Their friends, the same.

Thankfully they planned for retirement well. And now, when I went home, what a joy to see them comfortable, laughing away at 70, enjoying their money, but more than that their time and relationships, she said. “When invested wisely, money enables a peaceful life. But the pandemic has also reinforced that life is much more than money. Save it, invest it, but don’t forget to enjoy it.”