1.Happy New CY to all, Have always thought you have to be non consensus in most walks of life esp investing. Lynch wrote long back that if worlds gonna end due to Global warming / cooling / war then last thing that would matter is your investments, remembered that

2.hedged a bit in Feb ( covered it bit early in March) and started buying once the huge liquidity drive started. Experts had no idea but simply kept repeating doomsday scenarios / migrant crisis/ GDP plummets etc while friends from small town and villages seemed very fine !

3.Experts talk to experts who talk to other experts or their cab drivers on way from one conference to another, Talk to real people.

4. Avoid narratives at all costs, ESG this or FAANG that, once a thing becomes so famous to have its own acronym its likely too late a party to join.

5. There is no one right way : growth or value / mid or larecap / debt or equity / RE or Gold. Everything is good or bad depending on the price.

6. One good way to avoid consensus is to avoid headline based investing and actively look for ideas opposite to the headline : GDP is predicted to plummet to 20 year low makes a nice story but a bad investment idea. Everyone knows that and it is priced in.

7. Seek out agendas, where you stand depends on where you sit (Miles law). See where people stand and what is their agenda. ( Birbal story on Akbars barber comes to mind from Amar Chitra Katha - also applies to cab driver research)

8. Understand that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool (Feynman)

9. Practice - Fear not the man who has practised 10000 (different ) kicks once but one kick * 10000 times - Bruce Lee