7 Investing Lessons From Mahabharata

Mahabharata is one of the greatest and most loved epics in Hindu mythology. This was written by Sage Vyas. The story is about the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. It’s a good vs evil, virtuous vs vile story. The story helps you to differentiate between the good and the bad. Your grandparents might have told you about this epic and how it provides valuable lessons on life, relationships and success. However, there are hidden investing lessons in the story. Want to learn about them? Here are some of the main investing lessons from the Mahabharata.

7 Investing Lessons From Mahabharata

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Knowledge is your strongest weapon

Yudhishthira, Arjuna, and Bheema had to do hard penance and travel long distances to get their wisdom and their divyastras. They did this much before the actual battle of Mahabharata. These held them in good stead in the most important junctures of their lives. Arjuna never stopped learning. Arjuna worshiped Varuna and got the Varunastra. He went to various gods and sages, gathering blessings and astras. He got the Pashupatastra from Shiva himself. He treated Yudhishtra and Krishna as his guide all life too.

The important of all the investing lessons is that you should never stop learning about investments. Taxation keeps changing every year and many financial products that are getting introduced like the Bharat Bond ETF. You need to keep reading about finance and investments to ensure that you are making the right investments. Knowledge in investing helps you achieve higher income from your investments. There are many not aware of the various investment options one has to secure their earnings. The inadequacy of knowledge of mutual funds amongst investors acts as a barrier in creating wealth. Take a cue from the Mahabharata and keep learning all your life. Financial ‘knowledge’ will be your ‘Divyastra’ in achieving your financial goals, securing your future and the future of loved ones. Knowledge will help safeguard you from choosing the wrong investments and from fraudulent agents too.

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Set goals and stick to them

As you might know, Dronacharya was the guru for Kauravas and Pandavas. During one of the training sessions, he took the young princes to an open area. Dronacharya placed a wooden bird on a branch and decided to put everyone through a simple test. He gathered all his students and asked them to strike the wooden bird. But before that, he asked each one of them a question – ”What do you see there?” To which all except Arjuna talked about the wooden bird, the branch, the tree, the leaves moving and other birds. However, when Arjuna was questioned, he said: “I can only see the eye of the bird. “He successfully brought down the bird with one arrow by hitting the eye of the bird.

Follow Arjuna and stick to your goal. Never lose sight of your financial goals. You need to identify the goal first, invest for the goal and then stick to your investments to achieve the goal. Even if the markets aren’t rallying in the short term, you need to stick to your equity investments so that you get good returns in the long run and you achieve your goal. It is advisable to identify investments according to the time horizon of your goals. Equities are good for long term goals while fixed-income investments like liquid mutual funds are ideal for short term goals. You should monitor your portfolio to stay updated and not panic during short-term volatility.

Don’t be blind

Dhritarashtra had blind love for his son. He loved his son too much to stop or correct him even if he was bothered by his son’s actions.

You might be very comfortable with some asset classes but that doesn’t mean you should invest only in that asset class. Typically, people like to stick to bank deposits. This will mean lower returns in the long run as returns from deposits do not beat inflation in the long run. If you love investing in stocks, you might be risking your capital. Blindly sticking to an asset class will not help your portfolio. You need to have a strategy and asset allocation before you start investing. That is why you need to invest in different asset classes to maximize returns and minimize risks.

Also read: 14 Lessons from Warren Buffet that you should learn before investing

Don’t go overboard

In the battle of the Mahabharata, the 5 Pandavas could eventually defeat the Kaurava clan of 100 brothers. How? It is easy to handle a team of 5 people rather than 100 people. Strategy wins more battles than sheer power. Lack of harmony in the team led to the defeat of the Kaurava clan.

You can follow this for investments. When you have too many investments it will be difficult to monitor them. Keeping track of dividends, stock split, share price fall or rise will be tough if you have many stock investments. For mutual funds, handling fund management changes and fund strategy changes might be difficult. It is good to stick to schemes or products with a focused portfolio that has a lesser number of investments. Over diversification will lower your returns.

Keep it simple

Shakuni conspired to call on Pandavas to Hastinapur and then helped Duryodhana win the game of gambling against them. Yudhishthira lost his kingdom, his brothers and wife too. After Dhritrashtra restored the wealth, they again lost everything in the second round and were sent to exile.

As an investor, don’t be lured by high return schemes. Schemes that provide high returns come with high risks. Stick to simple investments like mutual funds that are well regulated and give reasonable returns in the long run.

Also read: 5 Lessons that investors must learn from Bikebot & IMA scam

Follow your guru

Since childhood, Arjuna was destined to be the greatest archer of all time. In a remote corner of the city, was another archer, Eklavya. Dronacharya wasn’t allowed to train him since he wasn’t a part of the royal family. However, Eklavya made a statue of Dronacharya and thought of  him as his guru. He followed Dronacharya when he taught his disciples and mastered the art of archery.

You could adopt Eklavya’s tactics and follow stock market gurus like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. You don’t need to meet them. You just need to follow their investment strategies, read about their investment philosophy and check how they handle market volatility. This will give you insights into investing.

Get expert help

The Pandavas would not have won the war without Lord Krishna who was the mastermind behind all the plans. Having a guide helps you execute your job in a planned way and attain your financial goals. Lord Krishna acted as a mentor and coach to the Pandavas.

The last of the investing lessons is that if you have limited financial knowledge, you must take the help of an expert. Given the time it takes to understand equity markets and various investment options, it will save you time and effort if you consider wealth management platforms like myMoneySage.

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Disclaimer:

This article should not be construed as investment advice, please consult your Investment Adviser before making any investment decision.

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About the author

KishorKumar Balpalli, believes that financial literacy and discipline is the key to one’s financial freedom. KishorKumar is a Certified Financial Planner, Personal Finance Blogger & the Founder of myMoneySage.in an award-winning Wealth Management platform. myMoneySage simplifies investing for individuals and amplifies business growth for Registered Investment Advisers by leveraging Artificial intelligence and machine learning. The AI of the machine plus the intellect of the human advisor enables comprehensive & client-centric advice at a fraction of the cost of a conventional adviser.

myMoneySage.in is an award winning personal finance platform. It helps you aggregate all your personal finance accounts like FD, Equity, Mutual Funds, PPF EPF, NPS including, Credit Cards & Loans etc. It's one place where you can track, plan and invest seamlessly. myMoneySage.in empowers you to invest in zero commission direct plans of mutual funds thereby helping you generate higher on investments. The best part is it comes with a lifetime Free plan.


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  • meenal kedari says:

    Thanks Sir, that was a lot of information. Keep it up.

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