Which Stocks to Invest In? How to Build Your Portfolio of Stocks? [Part 1]

I am going to walk you through how I built my portfolio, what was my core thinking behind it, what research went into it, and finally the thing that matters the most, what my current returns are!

Every investment must have a story around it. This story is what should drive us madly in love with the business we are investing in. Beware, however, that stories change, because, businesses change, markets change, a company's management changes. So we need to re-evaluate the story behind our investment from time to time to verify if our investment is still the same "person" with whom we fell in love it in the first place.

I personally like to invest in companies whose products I, or my near and dear ones use. The reason behind that is I feel I am a difficult consumer to please. I only buy the bare-minimum products that I need to live my life with, and any product that makes it inside my house, definitely must be having a huge market in the outside world. I built my portfolio of stocks by picking out a random day or week of my life and going through everything I directly or indirectly consume.

I wake up in the morning, go to the washroom, and once I'm done with my thing, wash my hands using Hindustan Unilver's Lifebuoy handwash. Then I brush my teeth using the Dabur Red toothpaste. Once I'm done brushing my teeth, it's tea time! I use Hindustan Unilver's Red Label chai patti and Nestle milk for that. I love dipping Britannia Marie Gold biscuits in my tea and having them! I'm still hungry so I decide to cook one of my most favourite breakfasts - Kanda Poha. I use Tata Sampann Poha for this. Post breakfast I take a bath using Procter & Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo, wear my Jockey underwear, my Titan watch, apply Marico's Parachute Hair oil on my head (because hairfall is a real thing!) and leave for work in my Bata shoes, or if it's a casual day, in my Relaxo slippers. I love walking to office in comfortable footwear.

In office during lunchtime over the lunch table, I overhear my colleagues discussing about their mutual fund investments & the insurance schemes they have bought into. Some have invested in HDFC mutual fund, some in Nippon mutual fund. Some have bought into SBI life insurance, some HDFC life insurance. Another colleague is thinking about buying a new car by taking a loan. He is asking another colleague about the loan he had taken a few years back from Bajaj Finance for that. There's another colleague suggesting him to definitely get an insurance for the costly car he is planning to buy from ICICI Lombard.

End of part 1

Click here for Part 2

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