An amazing Rags to Riches story..

One of the biggest ways to learn is to learn from others successes and also their mistakes. Which is why the emergence of executive coaches has become a phenomena of its own.

Like in professional life an executive coach helps one , there needs to be coaches ( not financial advisors) that you can turn to for advice in the most unspoken matter...personal finance.


Recently i met someone who is  senior to me in the professional world who shared his life with me. It was unofficially his teachable point of view (TPOV) from a life and financial perspective.

His story is immensely courageous and inspiring. He came from a poor family and lost his father when he was 16 yrs old. They had little to no money and used to sleep on the ground on newspapers. Sometimes they had no money to eat.

When he was 22 years old he got his first job for a salary of 600 Rs. From there on he made life changing decisions and effort and today he is extremely comfortable and has money in crores. His effort shines through as a person who is frugal, humble and extremely business savvy ( him being from gujrat for the last three generations helped him wire his brains right).

From his first salary he tells me that he bought shares ..even though it would have been in the early 90s and with such small amounts he bought shares. He has consistently invested in shares ever since . He does his own analysis , doesn't invest in shares below a market cap of 10k crores and says he has a reasonable expectation of 15% CAGR.

Most of his stocks are in the financial sector with the likes of hdfc bank , SBI , BOB , Reliance  etc.

While i discussed my financial strategy with him he said that you must look at a min 15 yr horizon. He never checks his balance but only looks at it once in 6 months. His guidance is that the power of compounding really comes through post 15 yrs and one must be patient. I told him that i was in the 8 yr frame.. he said.. continue investing... wait for the magic jump at 15 yrs.

Some of his stocks he says over the last 25 yrs has gotten him more than 500 times returns!! With dividends and bonus shares.

On dividends he uses a strategy of reinvesting that in the same share.. hence driving he says the real benefit of compounding.. basically he made it a growth fund.

Now what has this gotten him... today over the last 10 yrs he has taken his family and travelled to over 44 countries as part of his vacation plan. He says this is one place where he likes to spend his money because life is about " Experiences ". Now he is of course quite a senior person and makes quite alot of money from his job...but he is not dependent on it for his financial future.

His needs are small.. stays ina decent home , is humble and always reminds his son from where he came from and how he conquered poverty. Ensures that his son remains humble and continues  to fight the battle against poverty.


I cannot tell you all how much simplicity he has brought  into his life... in all spheres. 

Life is a learning.. Learning from others experiences is tremendous opportunity..

Learn learn learn.. listen to people who have made it big... thats simplefinancialsense