This is my story.. verbatim :( Invested close to 50% of corpus post Covid crash across 7 VCs with a promise of 25%+ IRR now locked in for another 5 years it’s not even FD return from what they show. All in all looking at a decade of investment opportunity lost for close to 50% of corpus. Index funds and top Indian family business would have done well. Total disaster!!!
I agree. Investments is about getting the return....in a simplified manner, but the charm of something "NEW" to offer and buy has created not-so-good investment experiences.
I have always promoted simple portfolios as an advisor and firmly believe that goal is returns, not products. If people want excitement in their investing, then what is Vegas made for.
Super interesting and spot on. Much of the experiences highlighted here are seen here in the west in this current cycle and with the west having observed such things in a number of cycles prior to this current era.
Indian's are leapfrogging developed economies in a number of ways e.g. India's digital stack, should be able to find a way to do the same for the investment management sector too...
Investments should have only one direction and that is to fulfil your financial goals. When investments become a shopping arcade with super premium products, the real motive is lost and only brands are visible. Let's not investments look like shopping.
Investments have to look boring and simple and then it works. Various clients I have interacted for family office business have always asked me the products we can offer and the capability to bring variety on the table. Frankly i had to let go off the business because what i don't preach, I cannot practice as well. "Making a simple portfolio never attracts large investments"....is the false notion in the market, and that myth can only be busted with experience of simplistic journey.
My cynical take on the whole domestic LP thing is that it is the byproduct of 3rd generation morons who've studied abroad (sum total of life's achievement) trying to replicate their European batchmates (who have vintage in funds, through cycle managers to allocate to & pedigreed advisors)
My personal preference is to have $ capital in any fund - institutional grade LPs only exist overseas (for now).
Can’t argue with the observation...today’s domestic LPs do lack underwriting depth.
...and institutional behavior is forged over cycles, so it will develop over time. That being said, we do think there are a few insti-grade LPs who're leading the way (Premji foundation, sharrp, pratithi, catamaran, Mirabilis)
Glad to see this widely felt sentiment being articulated. In my limited experience with family offices, the same sense of "fatigue" is increasingly visible.
Frankly, we believe that a simple 70:30 Gold-to-Bitcoin portfolio is, more often than not, all one needs—to perform well and sleep well.
At its core, it only requires dedicating ~100 focused hours to truly understand Bitcoin (if one has not already), and learning to embrace short-term volatility as an opportunity to being able to buy at effective prices for long-term rewards.
I understand—but if you go back to Gold’s charts from the 1970s, the parallels are striking.
And much like gold, the launch of Bitcoin ETFs has already helped dampen volatility meaningfully.
The core point is simple: Bitcoin is a young asset, and some degree of volatility is to be expected. But as institutional adoption scales, we are already seeing signs of it stabilising.
That's why a 70:30 :: Gold:BTC portfolio as the solution :)
This is my story.. verbatim :( Invested close to 50% of corpus post Covid crash across 7 VCs with a promise of 25%+ IRR now locked in for another 5 years it’s not even FD return from what they show. All in all looking at a decade of investment opportunity lost for close to 50% of corpus. Index funds and top Indian family business would have done well. Total disaster!!!
I agree. Investments is about getting the return....in a simplified manner, but the charm of something "NEW" to offer and buy has created not-so-good investment experiences.
I have always promoted simple portfolios as an advisor and firmly believe that goal is returns, not products. If people want excitement in their investing, then what is Vegas made for.
Super interesting and spot on. Much of the experiences highlighted here are seen here in the west in this current cycle and with the west having observed such things in a number of cycles prior to this current era.
Indian's are leapfrogging developed economies in a number of ways e.g. India's digital stack, should be able to find a way to do the same for the investment management sector too...
Investments should have only one direction and that is to fulfil your financial goals. When investments become a shopping arcade with super premium products, the real motive is lost and only brands are visible. Let's not investments look like shopping.
Investments have to look boring and simple and then it works. Various clients I have interacted for family office business have always asked me the products we can offer and the capability to bring variety on the table. Frankly i had to let go off the business because what i don't preach, I cannot practice as well. "Making a simple portfolio never attracts large investments"....is the false notion in the market, and that myth can only be busted with experience of simplistic journey.
Good read. Thanks for sharing
Good read
Thanks for sharing
My cynical take on the whole domestic LP thing is that it is the byproduct of 3rd generation morons who've studied abroad (sum total of life's achievement) trying to replicate their European batchmates (who have vintage in funds, through cycle managers to allocate to & pedigreed advisors)
My personal preference is to have $ capital in any fund - institutional grade LPs only exist overseas (for now).
Can’t argue with the observation...today’s domestic LPs do lack underwriting depth.
...and institutional behavior is forged over cycles, so it will develop over time. That being said, we do think there are a few insti-grade LPs who're leading the way (Premji foundation, sharrp, pratithi, catamaran, Mirabilis)
Don't invest heavily in any new product class - best mantra.
Also for private debt funds, make your investment team has 15-20 years plus experienced lenders and not fancy resumes from fancy offices.
Tl;dr anyone?
Glad to see this widely felt sentiment being articulated. In my limited experience with family offices, the same sense of "fatigue" is increasingly visible.
Frankly, we believe that a simple 70:30 Gold-to-Bitcoin portfolio is, more often than not, all one needs—to perform well and sleep well.
At its core, it only requires dedicating ~100 focused hours to truly understand Bitcoin (if one has not already), and learning to embrace short-term volatility as an opportunity to being able to buy at effective prices for long-term rewards.
Happy to dive deeper into this anytime.
Hi Shiv - volatility of bitcoin is an issue for most.
I understand—but if you go back to Gold’s charts from the 1970s, the parallels are striking.
And much like gold, the launch of Bitcoin ETFs has already helped dampen volatility meaningfully.
The core point is simple: Bitcoin is a young asset, and some degree of volatility is to be expected. But as institutional adoption scales, we are already seeing signs of it stabilising.
That's why a 70:30 :: Gold:BTC portfolio as the solution :)