November 19, 2019
22.09.2018
Lord Ganesha – the Vighnaharta or “destroyer of all obstacles that come our way”, is source of so much wisdom and power that we begin all our auspicious work only after worshipping him. Each year we indulge in 10 days extravaganza to commemorate his birth. On the day of Vinayaka Chaturthi, we bring Ganapati to our home and worship it daily for next 10 days and immerse it on the day of Anant Chatudashi in holy waters. This is a usual process that devotees of Ganesha follow every year. Does this have any resemblance to what we do to our investments? Lets explore and seek some guidance from the Lord of Wisdom.
This whole process involves three sub-processes – Sthapana – placing the Ganesha’s idol, worshipping it for ten days and then Visarjana – immersing it on completion of the period.
Sthapana– It is akin to construction of your investment portfolio. We select a statue, cloths and accessories etc. having an image in our minds as how our God should look like (goal). Similarly we work on determining allocations among asset classes and products to achieve our financial goals. We look and risk and return prospects of individual investment product and see if it matches our risk appetite. So Ganapati-Sthapana is same as the construction of portfolio.
Ganeshotsava – After the Deity has entered the home it is worshipped for next 10 days. Daily new flowers are offered, incensed sticks lighted, prasadam prepared and distributed after offering to the Deity. After we make investments we can’t sit idle. One has to periodically monitor and review the portfolio. We keep evaluating individual schemes and overall portfolio periodically to ensure that it is growing in the right direction and individual investment products are performing as expected.
Visarjana – This is the most important part. We immerse the idols on the day of Vinayaka Chaturthi. This day is fixed. But usually this do not happen in our investments. Most investors do construct their portfolios but usually they forget to attach every investment product to a goal. It is more important to know when you have to disinvest than when to invest. While you can make investment any time but where to invest – answer to this depends on when to disinvest or when you will require these funds.
And absence of this knowledge damages the investments of most of the investors. Each asset class or investment product has its own risk and return proposition and an investment cycle. One has to endure a full investment cycle to realize full benefits of that asset class. But if you fit in an investment product in your portfolio without matching its investment cycle to your goals, then it may cause trouble.
So it is of utmost importance for you to know when to do Visarjana before you do Sthapana.
We at InvestmentMitra wish that Sidhivinayaka shower its blessings of wisdom and happiness over you and all your dear ones.