The Hindu Business Line : Be a tiger, not a hen

As a pointer to investment success, Warren Buffett once said, "Be a tiger, not a hen'' with your investments. He meant target a few large, meaty investments like a tiger, rather than pecking away at numerous small pickings like a hen. By researching and focussing on a few, select investments, Buffett demonstrated excellent long-term investment results.

Declutter it

There is another reason to avoid over-cluttering your money with dozens of small-value investments and that is to save time and reduce costs. In today's world, each investment is typically accompanied by a plethora of paperwork, numbers to remember, regulatory do's and don'ts, tax treatments and transaction/maintenance fees. By spreading money wide, the collective time, trouble and expenses are rarely worth whatever returns they deliver.

Upon reflection, how do we end up with such a cluttered portfolio ? It is because we don't say `no' enough. The sequence is like this: Each time a company or a financial institution wants to raise money, it launches an IPO or a new product designed partly to increase its own size and stature. The timing and nature of this investment may hold no relevance to us, yet we sometimes get excited by this "hot new IPO'' or this "uniquely innovative product'' and invest our funds without too much thought.

Control it

The solution is for us to retain full control — tell yourself that you will invest only when convenient and appropriate to you, and not whenever an institution and their marketing brigade decide they need some extra money. There is an inherent divergence in interest between you as an investor and the various players earning revenues in the financial industry.

Assuming you have started with a sensible investment, the less you transact, the faster your money grows. However, the well-being and performance of many of the financial intermediaries depends on how `active' you are and how fast you keep your money moving. In short, each time you transact, you lose and they gain.

Slow it down

This is not to say you stay stuck and stationary with your investments... just slow them down. Each time you move, ensure you get a convincing reason from your financial advisor as to why they are recommending a particular switch or a new investment.

The tax implications and extra accounting that accompanies each transaction should further make you pause and reflect before signing on to a new destination for your money.

In conclusion, reduce the number of your investments, control when and where you make them, and slow the pace of your transactions — a clear case where `less' usually leads to `more'.

(The author is former CEO, Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund, which is now part of Franklin Templeton.)

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