Tweet Buster: The perils of copy-paste investing. Plus, other gems from Ian Cassel

NEW DELHI: Amid positivity on vaccine development and record high foreign inflows into Indian equities, the benchmark indices touched new all-time highs last week. For the week, the Sensex rose 267.47 points or 0.60 per cent, while the Nifty added 109.90 points or 0.85 per cent.

As the focus shifted to emerging markets, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) pumped in a record Rs 62,951 crore in Indian markets in November. In today's edition of Tweet Buster, market mavens discuss the increasing flow of foreign money into Indian equities, besides sharing tips and strategies on investing.

Record FII inflows
Asking investors to focus on their own goals, Radhika Gupta, MD and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, said FIIs buy for their own reasons, usually as a part of changes in views on emerging markets, while DIIs might have different reasons to buy or sell.

iThought co-founder Shyam Sekhar echoed similar sentiments by saying that somehow Indian retail investors believe FIIs know more. "When they buy blindly, we buy too. When they sell mindlessly, we get perplexed.
Truth be told. Our priorities are very different from theirs. It is possible to stay away from FIIs. And, yet win."
Independent market expert Sandip Sabharwal said he has never seen such frenzied buying by foreign investors in the secondary market.
Copy-paste investing
Microcap investor, author and founder of Micro Cap Club Ian Cassel said you can't just copy someone else's investing style. "You can own all the same stocks but your returns in the end will be different. The investing process is very personal," he said.
Dump losers ASAP
Cassel said successful investing is less about being right all the time than it is about identifying when you are wrong quicker.
Sekhar warned investors that when markets are seeing a rough high tide, one must ensure a move to safety. "Swimming in high tide is very risky. Even if you survive it, you are only going to be in a low tide. Being naked then is ugly," he said.
Buy & hold, not forget
Cassel says buy and hold strategy should not be misunderstood for buy and forget. "It is buy and verify (your thesis), and the smaller the company the more often you verify," he said.