Learning to play the real game- My Foray into the stock markets
I used to run an online portfolio on the virtual platform Money Bhai and I used to play around with that. So, last year, my grandfather opened my DEMAT account for me and gave me an initial capital fund of Rs. 5 lakhs as a starting gift. While I had that money in my account I was really scared and overwhelmed to use it in the beginning for I was playing in the big leagues now. I had been toying with the idea of investing in a company for, I think, almost the entire last summer. My dad constantly nudged me to be fearless and make some very small, ten thousand- twenty thousand type, investments just to test the waters. Even, after his reassuring words, I did not take the plunge and only after I did the FINtastic Course by the Bajaj Capital led ICOFP institution I made my first investment into ITC. A relatively small investment, worth only sixteen thousand, this was the investment that marked my debut in the stock markets. It was a very enthralling moment for me as I felt the rush of stock markets run through my bones, rattling me to my core. I felt overjoyed and somewhat confident after making my first trade. ITC is a company that at that time had been receiving widespread coverage on the news channels and I remember reading about it on Money Control and Economic Times, the readings were all mixed. My own, amateurish, I must add, reading was that the company was a value investment seeing the company’s strong tobacco business and the growth opportunity present in the FMCG segment. The company was loaded with cash and virtually debt-free. All this made me confident that the company even with government restrictions on their tobacco business could do well as in the FMCG segments they were amongst the top 3 players. This coupled with their strong management convinced me to invest in the company. I invested at 165 and now that the stock price is around 200 I constantly think back to that moment hoping I had bought a little more. Of course, this gain doesn’t guarantee long term returns but just to think that my first trade had sort of done well makes me happy. Realizing that my knowledge is limited as of now and somewhat amateurish, I hope to learn more and more in hopes of building a truly-world class portfolio.