Must-follow investment principles for smart investors

'Rome wasn't built in a day' - a phrase you've likely heard countless times. Legend says that it took an astounding 870 years to build Rome into one of the ancient world's greatest cities. The same principle applies to stock investing as well. Becoming a successful stock investor isn't an overnight process. It takes years of practice to learn how to combine intuition with knowledge, trust your instincts and unearth opportunities others might not know of. Yet, to do so, having a sound framework from the get-go is important. Thankfully, Benjamin Graham, the 'father of value investing,' has provided a roadmap to navigate this complex journey. His book, 'The Intelligent Investor', presented such a framework, which Jason Zweig further distilled in its later edition, making it more accessible to all. Let's delve into the five principles of the framework in detail. 1) A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price. By investing in a stock, you own a piece of the underlying company's growth story. You become a part of the business's journey, where the ups and downs of the stock price are just one part of the adventure. Remember that the true value of a stock lies in the business's performance and not just its current share price. Let's take the case of Tata Co

This article was originally published on July 03, 2024.