Choosing stocks and spouses

Here's common advice given to equity investors. "Just invest in good stocks, monitor them closely and hold for years." It sounds like an easy thing to do. Let's reverse that for a moment. "Just avoid investing in bad stocks. Whatever remains is good." Doesn't sound very exciting. There's no sense of achievement in just avoiding bad investments. Surely, the heart of making lots of money on the stock markets is to identify great companies; the greater, the better. If you think about it, both approaches are the same, but one is easier. Can you guess which one? Some months ago, I had an interesting chat with Samir Arora, who is the CEO of Helios, a new mutual fund company that is being set up in India. Arora has a long and illustrious history as an equity fund manager, and his approach to stock picking