'Time, tide and stocks wait for no one'

If you think that the market crash on January 21 and 22 has unnerved investors, especially the young ones, then you may be way off the mark.

For, young investors in Gujarat and Maharashtra seem to be looking at the crash as an opportunity to buy more of good companies and mutual funds.

Says 25 year old Harsh Taneja, a BBC employee: "The market crash on January 21 tempted me to buy more. I wanted to buy the world on that day."

"Time, tide and stock markets wait for no one," says Harsh, sounding like the wise old man of Dalal Street.

According to him one of his best habits is that he does not trade on a day-to-day basis. Over the last two years he has been buying good stocks like Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Gammon India.

"My portfolio value has increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 75,000 before the crash happened on January 21. However, I am confident that good companies will surely make a comeback in the days to come."

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Like a sage he counters that the crash happened because of global concerns. "There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Indian growth story so far," he adds.

Harsh, it seems, has got company.

26-year-old Anup Nair from Citigroup says he'd rather put his money into growth-oriented mutual funds after the crash. "This is indeed a good time to invest your money into stocks and mutual funds."

However, he too has a few words of wisdom to offer. "The important thing is to stay invested for the long-term," he warns all those youngsters who think that making money in stocks is quick and easy.

The common strand that runs across all these young investors is they are not afraid of such short-term wild gyrations in the stock market. All of them think they are in the game of making money in stocks for the long-term.

Khyati Mehta, 25, an accountant and a recent entrant into the stock markets, says she is not into the markets for the short-term. She has as much as Rs 1,67,000 spread across January 21 and 22, on which the markets crashed by more than 2,000 points all together.

"I have bet my money on stocks like Kirloskar Pneumatics, Power Grid Corporation and Tata Teleservices," she says.

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Khyati is confident that her gains two years from now will beat the returns from gold, mutual funds or bank deposits.

Having said all this, there are also a few youngsters who have suffered losses in the recent crash. By their own admission, you can blame short-term trading for that .

Ehsaan Rizvi and Alok Tripathi from Rajkot, friends aged 19 and 22 respectively, are habitual day-traders (ie, they buy during the day and sell on the same day).

The earth moved from under their feet on those two fateful days. While Ehsaan had bought stocks like ICICI Bank and NTPC for the short-term, Alok had positions in small cap companies like Cinemax and Hindustan Oil Exploration.

"I was terribly upset when the markets crashed by more than 2,000 points. However, my trading losses will be recouped in a month's time," says an unnerved yet confident Ehsaan. Alok, though, is not too sure about when and how he will make up his losses.

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While stock markets across the world, including India's, were pepped up this morning after the US Federal Reserve reduced short-term rates by 75 basis points (one per cent = 100 basis points), it's early days yet for traders like Alok.

The bottom line then is: Patience in the stock markets pays in the long-term.

Yes, investing in stocks seems a bit risky. Hence one should diversify investments into safe assets like gold.

If you want to make returns then patience is the name of the game. Young investors should read a lot about any company's balance-sheet before putting in their money. After they invest they have to be patient, vigilant and alert as to what's happening in the company, in the country and global markets.

The important thing is to stay invested for the long-term.

Market crashes are bound to happen because of the volatile global financial markets. Young investors should be smart enough to adapt to changes quickly.

Of course, the stock market is a better place to make money provided investment decisions are made wisely.

I wouldn't advice anybody to do short-term trading. Do it only if you are ready to bear huge losses and know a thing or two about trading. Otherwise, stay invested in this market for the long term.