My learnings from Mr. Raamdeo Agrawal

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A post shared by Harneet Singh Kharbanda (@harneet_singh_kharbanda) on Apr 17, 2020 at 6:55am PDT

I strongly believe that learning should never end and we should try to acquire as much knowledge possible as knowledge is the catalyst required for the chemical reaction. So, whenever I feel that some interesting conference is going to take place anywhere in India, I just pack my bags and head to it. I have attended number of seminars and conferences and I still keep attending them because the day we start getting a feeling that we know it all, that’s the day our downfall will commence.

So I would urge everyone that whatever your interest may be, whatever ignites you and kindles a spark inside you, you should do everything possible to look for the various mediums through which you can get the knowledge and then just absorb that particular subject. Leave no stone unturned, not for the sake of money, but for your contentment.

So it was back in 2017 when I got to know that Mr. Raamdeo Agrawal is coming to Delhi for a conference as a speaker. Mr. Raamdeo Agrawal is the Co-Founder And MD of Motilal Oswal Group and he is famous for his story of how he made Rs. 1400 Crore from 0.

 I already had a portfolio with Motilal Oswal and had read a lot about him but I really wanted to meet him in person because I had been following him on news channels and YouTube for ages and wanted to know more about him.

Mr. Raamdeo ji gave an amazing speech, we all were thrilled to see his wisdom and energy levels. Moreover, the thing that really moved me was his down to earth nature. He was kind enough to give time to me when I requested him after his speech. We sat down in the waiting area of the Hotel and I just couldn’t believe that I was with him. He could sense that I was being a bit nervous and hesitated to ask questions so he even made me feel comfortable and started telling tales from his childhood and about his village. One such story was that his village was so backward that whenever a car used to cross it, he, along with his friends used to run behind it because they hadn’t seen much of those in their life.

He shared a lot of valuable things in his speech and even much more when he was outside of the conference hall with me, which I will now try to summarize in a few points:-

• The first and foremost thing on which he laid emphasis was that we need to be optimistic to be a better trader and investor. If we don’t believe in the future of our nation, we won’t get the conviction to invest.

• He told that it’s good to be diversified but over-diversification is also not a great idea. He himself had around 225 stocks in his portfolio and he was getting average returns at one point of time and after he met his Guru, Mr. Warren Buffet, he brought it down to just 25.

• He told me to make books as my best friend. He showed me that as he was going to go back to Mumbai on the same day, he hadn’t brought any luggage with him, But, he brought his book! He said that wherever in the world he might be traveling, his books are always with him. He believes that " compounding knowledge is important before trying to compound wealth. "

• One of the most imperative lesson that I got from him was to always be humble. I was shocked to see how humble and down to earth he is and he spent enough time interacting with everyone and he didn’t even got time to have his lunch properly. He was so enthusiastic and was talking about stock market like a kid talks about toys! I could perceive that he could have undoubtedly talked about markets till midnight without showing a sign of exhaustion.

• He even enlightened that to make good money as an investor, tailwinds are really indispensable. His major chunk of initial portfolio was made during the Harshad Mehta boom and the Tech boom of year 2000.

• One thing that he stressed again and again was that to make a significant amount of money from the stock market, one has to “Buy Right and Sit Tight”. He believed that money is not made by jumping in and out of the markets or stocks.

• Another very fascinating point that he stated was that we all understand the power of compounding but we don’t really practice it. He laughed that how everybody talked about it and how they get excited when they calculate that how much 1 dollar would be after 15-20 years being compounded at an annual rate of 12-15% etc. but, seldom do they had the patience to sit on their investments for that long and actually experience it.

I consider myself lucky that I was at the right place at the right time and I got lessons for life from a person who had seen it all and made it big. I hope this post motivates you and embolden you to keep growing your knowledge.