Thursday, December 27, 2018

Free Value Investing Webinars

Will value investing webinars help my audience learn the art of investing? I have been pondering over this question for some time now. To place the question in context, for many years now I have been spreading value investing mostly through writing - blogs, investment reports. Of course, I answer questions on this great forum “Quora”. I am grateful to God that I a number of people read and benefit from the articles and blog posts.

I have also conducted a number of seminars/ workshops for an audience. It has been a wonderful experience for me. However, it takes a lot of time, energy and resources to organise live seminars/ workshops.

For some time I have been seriously considering the question, “Can Value investing knowledge be spread more effectively through Webinars?”

Free Value Investing Webinars


I plan Value Investing Webinars

After lengthy contemplation, I want to conduct free and regular webinars. I want to conduct one webinar on a fixed day and time every week - say every Saturday at 10.30 am. Even if a weekly webinar is too ambitious, at least once a month I think is minimum.
However, I am plagued by the following question:
  1. Are people interested in attending webinars on this subject?
  2. If yes what will be the most convenient day and time for the most?
I am exploring my audience's interest in value investing webinars through this blog post.
So dear readers:

1. Do you also think that webinars are a good medium to learn value investing?
2. If so will you be interested in participating in one?
3. Which day and time of the week will be most suitable t you?

Please believe me that I do not have any hidden agenda. I don’t want to sell you anything. This is a promise.

If you are interested in participating in the free webinar, please drop a mail at anand@wealthvidya.in so that I can send you an invite when I can organize one.

Thank you,

With Best Regards,

Anand

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Free Value Investing Webinars

Will value investing webinars help my audience learn the art of investing? I have been pondering over this question for some time now. To place the question in context, for many years now I have been spreading value investing mostly through writing - blogs, investment reports. Of course, I answer questions on this great forum “Quora”. I am grateful to God that I a number of people read and benefit from the articles and blog posts.

value investing webinars

I have also conducted a number of seminars/ workshops for an audience. It has been a wonderful experience for me. However, it takes a lot of time, energy and resources to organise live seminars/ workshops.
For some time I have been seriously considering the question, “Can Value investing knowledge be spread more effectively through Webinars?”

I plan Value Investing Webinars

After lengthy contemplation, I want to conduct free and regular webinars. I want to conduct one webinar on a fixed day and time every week - say every Saturday at 10.30 am. Even if a weekly webinar is too ambitious, at least once a month I think is minimum.
However, I am plagued by the following question:
  1. Are people interested in attending webinars on this subject?
  2. If yes what will be the most convenient day and time for the most?
I am exploring my audience's interest in value investing webinars through this blog post.
So dear readers:

1. Do you also think that webinars are a good medium to learn value investing?
2. If so will you be interested in participating in one?
3. Which day and time of the week will be most suitable t you?

Please believe me that I do not have any hidden agenda. I don’t want to sell you anything. This is a promise.

If you are interested in participating in the free webinar, please drop a mail at anand@wealthvidya.in so that I can send you an invite when I can organize one.

Thank you,

With Best Regards,

Anand

Friday, November 9, 2018

Which is Better SIP or SWP?

Investors frequently ask me, "Which is Better SIP or SWP?". In short, mutual funds create the two products for entirely different situations. A SIP creates wealth. Whereas an SWP breaks down an existing corpus into small, regular payments.


Which is Better SIP or SWP - Feature Image


The dilemma is similar to, "What is the difference between Dividend and Growth Fund? Which is Better"? The answer is also the same. Dividend or regular income plans suit a person who has a big initial corpus and wants to live out of it. Regular income plans invest in interest paying investments like bonds. On the other hand, a growth fund is meant for creating a corpus or wealth.

Before we go deep into the differences between the two let me first explain what is a SIP and an SWP briefly.


Which is Better SIP or SWP? - Meanings

The word SIP stands for 'Systematic Investment Plan'. A SIP is a plan for making small investments in a mutual fund scheme at regular intervals. Usually, the interval period is a month. Therefore a SIP is only a commitment to make a regular and periodic investment into a particular mutual fund scheme. However, it is not a type of mutual fund or investment instrument.

SWP stands for 'Systematic Withdrawal Plan'. It is a scheme for converting a certain lump sum fund or money into a stream of small payments over a certain period of time. Again it is only a scheme designed by a mutual fund and not a separate type of mutual fund or investment instrument.

I tabulate the differences below:


I list below links to a few interesting articles relating to mutual funds you may like to read:

Conclusion

I conclude that a SIP and SWP are antonyms. While a SIP is an attempt to create wealth, an SWP is a scheme to distribute a lump sum of money into an annuity. I hope I was able to set at rest the dilemma, "Which is Better SIP or SWP"?

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Should You Follow the Stock Market Every Day?

No, I don’t follow the stock market every day. Of course, I do read about the market, albeit with a bit of amusement, in the newspaper headlines. Financial papers often scream “Market Crash Wipes Out $ 50 billion Investor Wealth”.

follow the stock market every day - feature image


Why You Need Not Follow the Stock Market Every Day?

My guru Warren Buffett says that when you invest in stocks think that the market is not going to open for the next 50 years. As a value investor, I am trained to think that when I buy a stock it is like investing in a proprietary business. Proprietary businesses are not listed on a stock exchange. Does the proprietor have a way of knowing the value of his business every day? Does she worry about the market value of her business every moment? It is the same when investing in the shares of a company.

The day-to-day or moment-to-moment fluctuations in the price of a stock do not bother a real long-term investor. The reason for this is that a real investor does not invest in stocks merely for the gains arising out of the price fluctuations.

She is into stocks for the copious dividends good companies pay over lifetimes. She is keen about dividends because 'dividends are the investor's wages'. A company that pays dividends consistently at say 10 per cent every year pays back the investment more than three times over a period of three decades.

Of course, she is also interested in the long-term price appreciation of the stock. But she looks for it not from the day-to-day price fluctuations but on the back of the real growth of the company.

Then, Who Follow the Market Every Day?

Only day-traders follow the market every day. In fact, they follow it every moment. Why? Because they intend to make gains out of the price fluctuations.

When they buy stocks, day traders do not think they invest in a business. Speculators consider the share in a company is not ownership of a piece of the business. For the speculators, the share is a separate asset by itself. For them, it is like the stock-in-trade which is intended to be held for as short a period of time as possible and rotated as many times in the trading activity as possible. Every trade produces a small gain or loss.
This is not investing. My guru Warren Buffet says, "Just Looking at the Price is Not Investing". Day trading is pure gambling. It is highly stressful. We should learn the art of ‘Stress-Free Investing’.

I conclude by saying that I do not follow the stock market every day. I don't think shares of a company are stock-in-trade meant to be transacted. On the contrary, I a long-term investor consider a stock like a fixed asset meant to employed in the business to produce goods (dividends) also appreciate in value over a long time.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

What is Dividend Policy

The board of directors have the actual power to declare dividends. The board also decides the proportion of profits to be distributed by way dividends. This is the dividend payout ratio. I am a value investor. To me, the dividend is very important. I consider dividend as investor's wage. Therefore I would like to know what the dividend policy of the company is.


what is dividend policy - post feature image

Dividend Policy - Definition

It means the longterm belief or commitment or view guidelines of the company's management towards distributing the profits of the company to its shareholders by way of dividends. The policy will state under what circumstances can the shareholders expect or not expect dividends. It will also state the financial standards the management will use to decide the dividend.

I discuss the topic only in the context of dividends belonging to equity shareholders, even though the word dividend includes dividends attached to preference shares also,
As I mentioned earlier the power to declare the dividend rests in the hands of the board of directors of a company. Until recently companies were neither required to declare their dividend policy nor they did voluntarily. Boards followed their own rules. Some managements showed a longterm trend of paying handsome dividends. Some boards never paid a penny. Ans some other were stingy in paying dividends.

Things started changing for the good from the year 2016. Finally, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued guidelines. The government of India also issued an internal circular to companies in which it had major holdings regarding dividend distribution.





SEBI Guideline

SEBI Issued guidelines in July 2016. According to this the top 500 listed companies by their market capitalisation shall:
  • Formulate a dividend policy and
  • Publish it in the companies' annual reports and display it on the corporate websites
  • The policy shall state the circumstance under which an investor may expect or not expect dividends as well as financial parameters used in deciding the declaration of dividends.

The market capitalisation as on 31st March of every calendar year will decide the top 500 companies.

It also encourages other listed companies not falling in the top 500 bracket to follow the guidance voluntarily.

You can download the full notification by clicking here.


Government Circular to Public Sector Companies

The ministry of finance, the government of India issued an office memorandum. It applies to all central public sector companies (companies in which the government has majority shareholding). The memorandum relates dividend policy.
Accordingly, this circular requires:

  • The boards shall continue to have autonomy relating to operational matters, as usual
  • The government views the declaration of dividends is rather a policy matter
  • Therefore, as a major shareholder, the government has a clear say in deciding the dividend to be declared


Building further on the ownership logic the circular requires that:
  • A public company shall pay either 30% of the profits or 30% of the equity investment whichever is higher as dividend
  • The company shall pay special dividend where there is surplus cash
  • Similarly, the company shall consider issuing bonus shares where there are excess cash reserves
  • Company shall not fund expansion plans solely through profits but the companies shall resort to borrowing

I disagree with the caveat regarding resorting to borrowings to fund expansion plans and continue to maintain a high dividend payout ratio though.

You can download the government's official circular by clicking here.


Dividend Policy Examples


Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)'s Dividend Policy

ONGC is one of my favourite stocks. It is a member of our Portfolio 2K15 which I use as an example for teaching investing. I reproduce ONGC's dividend policy inside double quotes.

"Dividends are declared at the Annual General Meeting of the shareholders based on the recommendation by the Board. The Board may recommend dividends, at its discretion, to be paid to our members. The Board may also declare interim dividends. Generally, the factors that may be considered by the Board before making any recommendations for the dividend include, but are not limited to, future capital expenditure plans, profits earned during the financial year, cost of raising funds from alternate sources, cash flow position and applicable taxes including tax on dividend, subject to the Government guidelines described below:

As per the guideline dated February 11, 1998 from the Government of India, all profit-making PSUs which are essentially commercial enterprises should declare the higher of a minimum dividend of 20 percent on equity or a minimum dividend payout of 20 percent of post-tax profit. The minimum dividend pay-out in respect of enterprises in the oil, petroleum, chemical and other infrastructure sectors such as us should be 30 percent of post-tax profits."

Unfortunately, ONGC's website is referring to an old guideline of February 1998 instead of the latest one of January 2016.

Please see ONGC's actual dividend policy here.


Conclusion

What is dividend policy? The answer is it is the longterm view of a company management about rewarding shareholders with dividends from profits. It is important for investing. The investor should know the company's dividend policy before investing.



Saturday, August 18, 2018

Dividend Payout Ratio


Dividend Payout Ratio – Meaning

Dividend Payout Ratio measures the proportion of the profits the company distributes to its shareholders as a dividend. The part that is held back is called retained earnings.



Dividend Payout Ratio – Formula





Dividend Payout Ratio – Example 

Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. (REC)’ earned Rs.6,245.76 crores (1 crore = ten million) as profits after all expenses, including income tax. This sum is called the net profit or profit after tax or PAT earned by the company. REC distributes Rs.1,881.06 crores by way of dividends.

Applying the formula described above, we see that the dividend payout ratio works out to 30.12%.



Importance of Dividend and Dividend Payout

Dividends are the wages of the investors. Whatever may be the companies earnings the fruits or rewards that flow into the hands of investors is only the dividend. Therefore companies should distribute a sizeable portion of the profits to the shareholders in the form of dividends. However, most often we find that management of companies tend to be stingy when it comes to distribution of dividends. They justify the nonpayment or inadequate payment on the grounds that they are retaining the profits for business growth. This is stand is totally unfair and unjustified. For history shows that many companies that have not paid dividends one day became bankrupt. And what did the investors get in return? Nothing! Neither dividends while the company was doing well nor the return of the capital invested - for after becoming broke the shares became worthless.

Now, what is the proportion of profit distribution by way dividends that is considered good?

In my opinion and experience, 25% of the net profits is the bare minimum. 30% is reasonable and good. Anything above 30% is appreciable and welcome.

I present here five companies each that:

  • Paid no dividends despite having profits, 
  • Distributed between 25 to 30% of their net profits as dividends and 
  • Those that distributed over 40% of their net profits in the form of dividends 

The above data relates to the last financial year, that is the year ending 31st March 2017.

Conclusion

Dividend payout ratio means the percentage of net profits of a company distributed by way of dividends among shareholders. As investors, we should invest only those companies that are generous in distributing dividends. The reason is that as investors dividends are the essential, regular returns on investments. We should penalise the companies that pay no or negligible dividends on the pretext of the growth of the company.


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