This is a shameless plug for Yahoo’s year in review which is a brilliant set of news, views, top 10s, searches, launches, clashes and even a hall of shame.
On the “Exclusive: Opinions” part of the side bar, you’ll find my piece:
2010 has been a challenge and a dream. As I explored avenues to build a business in the financial space, the regulatory framework and high capital requirements posed a challenge. In a world of “easy money”, I realized money was only easy if you already had enough of it. That’s really the entry fee: a success story or two under your belt before you build your success story.
The other important lesson, the hard way: talk is cheap, excel sheets are cheaper. Doing is everything.
This year seems to be when the Indian online financial world explodes. Or so it seems, going by the number of readers on financial blogs, the tough but investor-friendly regulations, the irrationally strong markets.
Markets, towards the second half, taught me a lesson over and over again: Don’t fight the tape. Prices will move inexplicably. And you buy first and ask questions later. Yes, the upwards-move could be purely foreign investor money, or a misled belief in the Great Indian Story that wasn’t perhaps that great, but when it comes to managing money, you don’t want to be left behind. Learning to cut losses is hard enough, but learning to stay in the game despite your deepest fears is tougher. In a way, I know that I don’t know why the market has gone up, so I’ll be happy to jump off if, for whim or fancy, it decides to go the other way.
Finally, clarity on priorities in 2010. Working from home or very close is luxury in the age of insane traffic. To be able to spend honest time with my family and watch my 3-year-old son knit words into sentences, destroy unbreakable cars and ask unlimited questions is truly a privilege. In the words of Metallica, “Nothing Else Matters”.
Read the rest of the columnists – much more brilliant ones, may I add. And enjoy the rest of the year!
More Yahoo Columns:
- The Illusion of Low Risk (Comments)
- Tips about the Tipsters (Comments)
- The Invisible Benefits of Starting Up (Comments)
- Seven myths of buying pre-construction apartments (Comments)
- The Good, Bad and Ugly of Credit Cards (Comments)
- Foreclosure-Gate (Comments)
- Strange Numbers (Comments)
- The Legend of the Turtles (Comments)
- Here Comes The Rally (Comments)
- The Ministry of Mis-selling (Comments)
- Mutual Fund Distribution (Comments)
- The Lack of Nifty Earnings Growth (Comments)
- Too Few Investors (Comments)
- Survivorship Bias (Comments)
- The Problem with Multi-Level Marketing (Comments)
- Planning for the Grim Reaper (Comments)
- Of Options and Choices (Comments)
- Credit Default Swaps (Comments)
- Four Investing Myths Busted (Comments)
- (The Whole Lot)
