My Investing Philosophy

Building a Community & Learning Together: Onward to Financial Independence!🚀

Hi Readers,

In this edition, I want to share the path I took to become a value investor, my investment philosophy, and what you can expect from my future posts.

If you missed it, here’s my post detailing my journey to becoming an investor.

My Background & Early Struggles

I was an engineer, and for most of my childhood, I was surrounded by people in non-finance careers. I always had an interest in investing, but the advice I received was often discouraging: “It’s the same as gambling,” or “You’re just throwing your money away.”

Despite this, I was fascinated by the stock market. At some point—though I can’t remember who said it—I heard, “The way to become financially independent is to make money even while you sleep. That can be achieved by investing in the greatest wealth creation machine—the STOCK MARKET.” That statement resonated with me. It was then that I got serious about investing. I started listening to stock market news on TV and reading the stock market section of the newspaper every day.

My First Investment: A Disaster

At 20, I made my first investment—blindly buying a stock based on the advice of so-called experts on TV. Within months, my investment had lost over 80% of its value. It was a painful lesson, but in hindsight, I’m grateful for it. That early failure taught me the critical importance of research, patience, and discipline in investing.

It was around this time that I discovered Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. I devoured everything I could find about them—their books, speeches, and interviews—and decided I wanted to become a value investor.

Learning from the Greats & Finding Community

I immersed myself in the philosophies of legendary investors like Howard Marks, Nick Sleep, Peter Lynch, and Mohnish Pabrai. Yet, I still lacked confidence and a community to discuss ideas with.

That changed when I pursued my MBA at the University of Chicago and joined the Investment Club. Every two weeks, members would present new stock ideas, backed by thorough analysis, and we’d discuss whether they were good investments. Being part of this group significantly shaped my investing mindset.

My Investment Philosophy

Through years of learning and experience, I’ve developed a structured investment approach:

✅ Know My Circle of Competence: I only invest in stocks and ETFs. I am not an expert in bonds or other securities, so I stay within my area of expertise.

✅ Invest in Great Companies: I look for businesses with:

• Strong balance sheets

• A durable moat and competitive advantage

• Low capital reinvestment needs

• High Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)

• Consistent revenue and earnings growth

• Owner/founder-led leadership (Charlie Munger once said, "Show me the incentives, and I will show you the outcome." Owner-led companies tend to outperform others by 3%-4% annually.)

• High-caliber management teams

• Monopoly-like dominance or high barriers to entry

✅ Seek Mid-Cap Growth: I focus on mid-cap firms with significant growth potential—companies that could become 10-baggers over time.

Why I Started Writing

Despite my passion for investing, I had no finance background and no one to guide me. The stock market felt intimidating, and it took years for me to believe it wasn’t just a casino.

I’ve been investing for over five years, and since tracking my performance in mid-2022, I’ve achieved a 40% CAGR by following a disciplined approach. Now, I want to share my learnings with others—especially those who feel overwhelmed by investing but want to get started.

Can I promise that return in the future?

No, I don’t think the returns will be that high. But I believe with consistent approach and help of this community we can definitely beat the market by a few percentage points!

I want to learn from you all as well! This is a community!

What You Can Expect from My Future Posts

📌 Breaking down investing concepts into small, digestible pieces.
📌 High-level analysis of interesting companies I’m tracking.
📌 In-depth stock analysis (weekly/bi-weekly) on potential investment opportunities.

What I Value the Most

🔹 Honesty & Transparency – I want to build a community based on trust and shared learning.
🔹 Skin in the Game – Every stock I recommend is one that’s on my watchlist or a potential buy for me. When I make a purchase, I’ll be transparent about my portfolio and allocation.

Goal

• Beat the market by 3%-4% in the long-term

Join the Journey

If this resonates with you, please subscribe and share with friends and family who might benefit from it. I was once in their shoes—feeling lost in the world of investing—and I want to make the stock market easier to navigate for everyone.

Let’s Build a Transparent Investing Community & Let’s learn, grow, and invest together! 🚀

Please comment or reach out to me if you would like me to focus on any companies or topics.