Dear Friends,
The events of the last few weeks leaves me in a state of discomfort. The mindless mudslinging by a few hiding behind the burkha of internet pseudo names - with a motive that is as elusive as their real identity has left a bad taste. I am surprised as to why most people would rather bring somebody down than try and stand up to his height.
Maybe this is a way of life which I am getting used to.
Added to this was the selective leaking of research write ups and all other information that I used to share on this platform. In fact people created What's Up groups where sharing of copyrighted material had become a norm. One person had conveniently put my research report on a Facebook group with over 2000 members. All this has been a pain to deal with. I have the names and voice samples of the culprits here but have resisted in going ahead as they are young professionals with a few decades of work life left ahead of them.
In my nine years of online activity I have never backed away from an argument. But those arguments had always been with people whom you knew existed. And not with people who just had a mischievous intent where one person created half a dozen identities and kept posting across the web. I refuse to be drawn into a fight where my opponents identity and existence remains hidden from the real world.
I am willing to argue with anyone on anything - anytime. But the person should first lift his veil and reveal his identity. As I always say internet blog sites are a funny place. It is an arena where people who buy 50 shares scream the loudest while the ones who buy 5000 don't write they just read.
I have always believed that people will value integrity, over intelligence and intelligence over wealth. I have played the game fairly for all the past nine years and need no proof from anonymous onlookers to prove the same. My subscribers most of whom I have known for almost a decade continue to back me on this with full might and strength.
It is true that Basant's Corner was creating ripples. Who likes to see people learn and earn - both at the same time? Business strategy suggests that clients should be educated only up to a point and not beyond it. But I went ahead as my subscribers were not clients to me - they were a part of my extended family.
I have had requests from people as far as Australia & America and as near as Dubai that they are willing to fly down on 24 hours notice to any place that I suggest to vouch for my credibility. My inbox is full with hundreds of mails of appreciation and accolades. Thank you all for your help and support. I wish I could have reciprocated the same by being with you for ever.
People come to the market to make thousands. At Basant's Corner we made crores. It was a collective effort where people postponed buying off houses; cars and jewelry as they embarked on a journey to financial freedom through stock market investing.
Most of them have succeeded and the others are well on path to it. Maybe this worries the onlookers.
It isn't easy to create reputation in the online world. The reputation and support that I have created is easily the subject matter of envy for many. It has disrupted thought processes all across. Moreover, it has encouraged people to be smarter in their financial dealings making them better managers of their own money. Maybe this also hurts. Who knows?
No one becomes rich by envying others; no one grows in life by feeling jealous. Being envious and jealous doesn't help one to swallow someone else's gain with a little less pain either. In all it just increases the suffering. But that is not my problem as I have always tried to learn and excel rather than abuse and insult.
Then there is this talk of me blocking off people on Twitter. This is true. If you have an intelligent discussion to make I welcome you with open arms but if you just have an axe to grind - my doors shall remain closed for you. I do not engage in needless accusations and unnecessary fights so the best thing to do is to raise the boundary wall of my house.
Guys, we talk of our 5,000 year old culture; we talk of India becoming an economic superpower can we do that if we keep engaging in mindless mudslinging? Had I been a thick skinned hippopotamus engaged in cutting corners I would have continued to run Basant's Corner instead of closing it. Someone told me that politicians get insulted all the time but still do their job. My answer was 'Maybe that is why I'm not in politics'.
No one closes down a business which is in its prime. I could have doubled subscription rates and kept back 80% of my subscribers but making money wasn't as important as sleeping well at night. I never took this job as a business or else I would never have closed it.
All this talk of me closing this out of fear is as bizarre as the other allegations. At an oportune time I might show as to why I have got nothing to fear about. But I am unwilling to open my defence in front of all and sundry.
My members have been under my skin to ignore this even as my phone rings continuously. But once a decision has been made we can't go back.
My final message for my friends who are so near and dear to me remains the same:
'Dare To Dream with Stocks
&
Invest without fear'
I wish you all the very best in the times to come and my sincere apologies again for leaving you midway like this.
Maybe life has a bigger role for me. Will surely come back to you then.
I look forward for your support and well wishes.
Yours Truly,
Basant Maheshwari
Not able to retrieve my old passwd for last 9+ years so decided to open a new one. What to say never thought a month before that i have to see this day or read your Goodbye message from you. All those happen in a few days. Cant even that what will i do from Wednesday's evening. After office i user to glue to BC like a Gluestick. Leave apart my Wife even my 10 years old son used make fun of me as he used to say OH NO BC AGAIN whenever he user to see BC in my Laptops screen. He used to say "Basant Guruji Ghan"....... In my 44+ years of life, a few good things happened in my life and i rank TED & BC within TOP 5. I am still not out of the shock that TED & BC is closing.
I Congratulate all my fellow ted & BC members for this wonderful platform, without their help TED & BC could have never reached this height. WISH you all the very best in life.
How can I put in few words or few sentences what it means to be part of BC. I am in stock market since 15 years and had lost almost my lifetime of earnings in the hands of HBJs of this world. I came across BC at retirement stage of my career and decided to give it a try. I did not follow BC recommendations and advice all the time because of my bitter experience with various equity consultants who had managed to reduce my capital to 5% of its value.
As time went on at BC, I realized that here was a gem of a person � the one and only KOHINOOR with a crystal clear honesty and integrity and intelligence whose advice could be followed towards financial freedom. I did not fear retirement as I knew there was a rock solid support at every stage. So what, if, being a Muslim lady I do not believe in taking bank interest, I was sure Basant Sir would be always be there to generate sufficient returns for me on my investment.
As BC winds up within next 24 hours, I wish for a glorious future ahead for Basant Sir. May you keep on shining bright and be able to find a way to assist many more in future towards financial freedom. Ameen.
When I started working I was just wondering what to do with the saving, though I was well qualified I was totally ignorant about finances(as most doctors)
I was going through all the articles /blogs/websites/magazines/business channels, so started with MF, till 2009 without much understanding.
Then on one very fortunate day stumbled on TED. Read many old posts & topics & finally came enlightenment, till then thought direct stock investing is not for common man (courtesy so called experts & advicers on TV).
Started reading books & Put significant money in stocks with good results.
Then came BC & so the daring to dream with stocks. your wisdom and philosophy in life and investing will be missed by all good fellows.
The greatfulness can't be explained in words
Thank you sir for educating & guiding us. Wish you all the success & peace of mind.
Hoping for an opportunity in future to learn from you.
THANK YOU
Sathish Kumar k m
Bangalore
Dear Basantji, it is a great loss to small investors that they would miss a great guide/teacher in you. BC created lot of crorepathis. Your teachings to us will remain forever and would guide us. When in doubt or confusion, we can refer to our bible, The Thoughtful Investor book. You are so open that you revealed all your experiences and stock market nuances in your book and also online.
What i learnt from you:
1. Dare to dream with stocks. Invest without fear. I never wait in cash to wait for THAT great moment to deploy cash (where that moment would be filled with greatest fear to enter). No more market timing. After deploying the cash, everybody would be fully invested and i dont understand how some people advice to maintain certain cash levels always (when do they invest it then).
2. Portfolio allocation is more important than stock selection. When an opportunity strikes, invest with greater weight.
3. Borrowed conviction is more dangerous than borrowed capital.
There are lot of pseudo advisory companies which become member of stalwarts like you and then make money by echoing the recommendations. These people hardly understand the key USP of Basant's Corner and wrongly touch the lion (mkt) to get beaten up while putting the blame onto you in online communities/message boards/social media. No true investor following the quintessence of your teachings in basant's corner can lose money in stock market. You created wealth for your subscribers and more to it, built confidence in them to approach the market as our companion in wealth building.
We will miss you a lot for sure. Wishing you the very best in life and hope to see you even BIGGER. You are the epitome of integrity and preach what you follow yourself.
BTW there were few tweeter stalwarts who echoed that basant is advising his members to go on leverage etc. You are the only one in the world to have dealt this topic in detail in your book and also prescribed guard rails for leverage and also its pitfalls/demerits. So called buffett followers in India do not understand that buffett's wealth is mainly due to the FLOAT (another form of leverage). You taught us that debt is not a sin and when used wisely with guard rails, companies as well as investors can create wealth.
Thanks,
Raj
I didn't know much about Warren Buffet, didn't at all know about Graham, Lynch, Munger but first Guru I saw on net in TED and I was amazed with open mouth while reading every word typed by him because I was 100% sure that stock market is Las Vegas of poor gamblers. Basantji, why I call you my Guru from very deep of my heart because you changed my perception about stocks investing upside down. You taught us to focus on few but very important jargons like ROE, business scalability and longavity etc. Now whenever I see new stock, I even don't rush to see it's price but it's market cap, then it's RoE and other few parameters. Your philosophy of investing I admire the most. All talk about 8th wonder online but I will talk about 9th wonder which my Guruji gifted to BCians - that is - "PERCENTAGE ALLOCATION OF STOCKS IN A PORTFOLIO" which leads to 'CAPITAL PROTECTION IN AUTOPILOT MODE'.
GURUJI, YOU ARE AWESOME, ORIGINAL, SINCERE, HONEST, and so many words (my bad english, less vocabulary).
YESS, YOU ARE RIGHT, WE ARE READY TO PAY EVEN 2 LAKHS FOR UNPARALLED QUALITY OF YOUR ADVICE AND MENTORING/TEACHING.
----------------
I will never say Good Bye to you. We have great example of the dog who entered heaven with the great Pandav Udhishthir. We BCians will be with you always wherever you will be in heaven as well as in hell (as we feel now).
This is my emotional state in front of computer screen -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlV3jJwxPKQ
Debt is not a sin losing capital is. that is why we focus more on capital preservation than on refusing to take leverage.
If a stock is going up forget leverage I will sell my house to buy it. Remember when Repco listed at 170 we used to say - Sell your Home and buy Repco Home!!!
[QUOTE=raj_koth] Dear Basantji, it is a great loss to small investors that they would miss a great guide/teacher in you. BC created lot of crorepathis. Your teachings to us will remain forever and would guide us. When in doubt or confusion, we can refer to our bible, The Thoughtful Investor book. You are so open that you revealed all your experiences and stock market nuances in your book and also online.
What i learnt from you:
1. Dare to dream with stocks. Invest without fear. I never wait in cash to wait for THAT great moment to deploy cash (where that moment would be filled with greatest fear to enter). No more market timing. After deploying the cash, everybody would be fully invested and i dont understand how some people advice to maintain certain cash levels always (when do they invest it then).
2. Portfolio allocation is more important than stock selection. When an opportunity strikes, invest with greater weight.
3. Borrowed conviction is more dangerous than borrowed capital.
There are lot of pseudo advisory companies which become member of stalwarts like you and then make money by echoing the recommendations. These people hardly understand the key USP of Basant's Corner and wrongly touch the lion (mkt) to get beaten up while putting the blame onto you in online communities/message boards/social media. No true investor following the quintessence of your teachings in basant's corner can lose money in stock market. You created wealth for your subscribers and more to it, built confidence in them to approach the market as our companion in wealth building.
We will miss you a lot for sure. Wishing you the very best in life and hope to see you even BIGGER. You are the epitome of integrity and preach what you follow yourself.
BTW there were few tweeter stalwarts who echoed that basant is advising his members to go on leverage etc. You are the only one in the world to have dealt this topic in detail in your book and also prescribed guard rails for leverage and also its pitfalls/demerits. So called buffett followers in India do not understand that buffett's wealth is mainly due to the FLOAT (another form of leverage). You taught us that debt is not a sin and when used wisely with guard rails, companies as well as investors can create wealth.
Thanks,
Raj[/QUOTE]
Thank You Basant Ji for all the knowledge and wisdom you shared with us. Though I have been in equities since many years but it is in last 4 years that I made serious money and all the credit goes to you... Feeling nervous thinking that there will be No BC support from tomorrow...feeling similar to when i was passing out of college and leaving security of friends, Professors and college environment to venture in industry. Hoping that all the knowledge and experience of last four years will help me to sail through .. I wish you All the Best and Hope to stay in touch!! Thank You!
Basant ji, I have been following you for last so many years & your guidance has helped me multiplying my wealth tremendously. I would like to thank you for your regular guidance, knowledge & pearls of wisdom which you shared from time to time.
You will remain a source of inspiration for all of us & I strongly feel that you will reach new heights very soon.
Wishing you All the best for your future.
Thanks once again for everything !!
It
is my sincere wish that you have many many more healthy,successful
& bullish years ahead.
Posted on:6/29/2015 7:05:28 AMus121
Dear Basant,
For me it was more of an institute than an advisory service. In fact, the approach was more of being capable to deal on my own rather than just find an advice and make money out of it. Still fortunately I got both!
I believe the importance of being with BC will never be known by anyone who were never there. Somehow I always had a hidden fear that if BC closes down that what? And hence though I may have hardly raised few queries there, my learning was more of what goes in your mind when you deal with the question from your member. And I noticed how you give customized different advice to each one of them considering their background, risk appetite, temperament and so on.
The biggest benefit if I summarize, they are:
1. Think as a portfolio and never as a single stock. Also understand interdependence of stocks within the portfolio.
2. Work on my own conviction and not on borrowed conviction of any one including advisor
3. Bet heavily when I have got my own conviction. If betting on a specific stock is not good enough to move the needle considerably, efforts are not worth.
4. Keep adding the winners at every point of time as and when a value is seen in them.
5. Good and Cheap generally do not go together and therefore be ready to pay the fair price. And do not off load the Goat from my shoulder even if every one shouts that being a dog, as far as I have conviction (based on my study and data) that it is a Goat.
6. And Last is Dare to Dream and be the reason of Dream for Many, by helping them to move on the path of Financial Freedom.
Thanks for all we could achieve together with entire BC Team. No regret for, terminating the journey as far as I enjoyed the journey well throughout the period I got engaged.
All The Best to You and All The Co-Members who helped to enhance my wisdom.