Review: The Joys of Compounding by Gautam Baid

Joys of Compounding

Gautam Baid has an interesting personal story to tell. I saw some of his interviews online and read his interviews to make sense of his investing philosophy. He has, no doubt, a good understanding of finance and fundamental analysis for investing. He is also associated with Chapter.

However, I won’t spend much time glossing over his background. I read this book at the beginning of this year, and it probably takes the top position in the most boring books ever read by me. It is the same gibberish of ‘stay invested, let stocks compound’ rigmarole that is repeated ad nauseum in this book. After reading few chapters, I was wondering what was the even point of writing this book. Whatever Gautam wants to say could have been said in few tweets or a Twitter thread but nothing more than that. This book is so mind numbing that I actually felt like smashing my digital reading device. I kept waiting for that piece of investment wisdom that will come through in the next line, in the next paragraph, maybe on the next page, or definitely in the next chapter. It never came.

If you haven’t bought this book, and are considering reading it, then don’t even think about it. I would happily ship my digital reading device to your address and save you the agony of buying this book. For those who haven’t heard of this book, count your stars!

If I had a physical copy of this book, I would have burnt it. Happily.

Review: Yes Man by Pavan Lall

A cousin of mine had joined Yes Bank in NCR region of India around 2007-2008 period. He was in sales and used to tell me how aggressive the atmosphere was in the bank (and would have been the same elsewhere too, but probably more so in Yes Bank because of the pace at which it was growing or rather wanted to grow). This book is a chronicle of how one man’s ambitions led to unbalanced risks and ultimately to the downfall of the institution and loss of confidence in the financial sector of India.

The anecdotes in the book outlining Rana Kapoor’s personality and ego are well-researched and also show that Kapoor was so enamoured by himself that he considered himself to be always right. In fact he even tried to outwit his own family members who had share in the bank and denied them a seat on the Board. Rana was not considered by many in the same league as them in the Indian Investment Banking space because of his non-IIT, non-IIM background. But yet he was good in sales as he proved himself to be a tough taskmaster in his previous roles in sales when working with American investment banks.

In his quest to outdo them all, Kapoor started lending to questionable businesses, which ultimately led to a windfall crisis when some of the major lenders defaulted. In fact the loan book was so concentrated that it flummoxes how was this even allowed by the Board? But the story is the same: the Board just wants the comforts of the perks they get by the virtue of their seats.

It is yet another cautionary tale thrown to the winds where regulators, Boards, auditors, and management are either hand-in-glove or too callous to raise red flags.

Review: The Billionaire’s Apprentice by Anita Raghavan

The Billionaire’s Apprentice

This book had been on my radar since so many years that I have lost count. Everytime I wanted to pick it up (as in pick up the iPad on which I read), some distraction would head my way. Anita Raghavan traces the rise of Rajat Gupta and Raj Rajaratnam and how their lives intersected in one of the most high-profile corporate scandals of the last decade. Rajat Gupta was the ‘big boy’, hobnobbing with Presidents, Prime Ministers, CEOs, Board Members, Venture Capitalists, and, of course, the head at The Firm (McKinsey) multiple times. Raj, a self-made, bravado-dripping, an MBA from Wharton, had founded Galleon Hedge fund and was later held guilty of insider trading based on his various contacts within different firms and industries.

However, the beauty of the book is not about the boring proceedings of the court (which are covered in extensive detail towards the last few chapters as boringly as one could), but in the way Anita has covered all the characters as human beings who were not just about money, stocks, and finance but who had personalities, like Raj always being the boisterous boy, Rajat the unperturbed thinker, Kumar the aloof one with supremacist attitude and so on.

The book is a must read on how often insider information was (and probably still is) being shared around big time investors and other players. It also highlights the fact that Preet Bharara had taken it upon himself to bring down the South Asian folks, probably to buttress his own prospects with the government. When Preet denies, for example, not knowing that Rajat Gupta’s indictment was on Diwali, it is impossible to believe! A person with Indian parents and who regularly interacts with the South Asian community not knowing it is Diwali is like a doctor not knowing hba1c.

My only grouse is that the book was quite dense in the details. While they were needed when it came to how information was shared, but really when it came to profiling the complete background of Gupta’s father and grandfather during British rule in India.

Nonetheless, a good, gripping book. I finally read it, 9 years late nonetheless. However, there is more the story. I would also be reading Gupta’s version and Raj’s version on the same. Anita has been as impartial as anyone can be, but it doesn’t hurt to hear from the horse’s mouth!