Good morning my dear readers,

Is it just me or 'Time' is flying away so fast?, Its Friday again so quickly.

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I believe investors evolve over time.

For me, I have been coming to the conclusion that there is a lot of merit in holding 'Solid Companies' for a really long time.

But, the world is so dynamic and cycles are so short, how can investors know which companies to hold for decades?

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Strong Brands in Mega Trend sectors.

Lets take the Food & QSR space for example..

I know people who just cannot change their brand of Coffee that they drink at home.

(Now I do not drink Alcohol, but I have friends who are obsessed with certain brands of Alcohol - Totally Loyal).

Even as growing up, I think 'Maggi' was imprinted in my brain and like a Zombie, I would crave just Maggi every weekend.

(I sometimes still do, am I still a Zombie? 🧟 )

I think it is the same for our favourite Cola, Restaurant, QSR etc, the brand loyalty just becomes too strong in some cases.

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Food companies also have terrific return on intangible assets.

They just have Classic Moats built around the business which cannot be over run by a cheaper, inferior Chinese type product.

Hence, for me, If I am looking for a stock to own for my kids where my holding period needs to be 10 years or so, I would definitely start with a Food or QSR or FMCG company.

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Again, we cannot go any buy something, no matter how good, at 50-75x P/e, that wouldnt make sense.

Hence, as always, such a portfolio should be built around a Bearish market, Market Panics or as always, hunt for special situations.

For example: Coca Cola has had multiple demergers, especially around their bottling operations, which have gone on to create incredible value for long term investors.

Starbucks went on to be STARBUCKS only after the Special Situation of Promoter Change.

Same was the catalyst in McDonald's and even Chipotle.

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Basically, there is actually Big Money in holding strong brands for decades.

And if you ask me, these kind of strong brands are all around us, all we need to do is wake up and identify them.

(Asking your wife or Mom is usually a good starting place).

I think there would be huge winners from Mega Trends like Asset/Wealth Management & Food/QSR spaces.

But only thing to keep in mind, do NOT over-pay for anything.

Personally speaking, I am in love with the food sector hence we have been accumulating young brands from the Food/QSR space in our Startup AIF as well like Blue Tokai, Burger Singh, Burma Burma, Dwija etc.

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That is all from me today my friends.

I think it is time to step away from unproductive activities like Speculation, Trading etc and devote serious time in Investing in strong companies and doing SIP.

(Sure, yes, 1-2% of the population are very good at trading, but the rest 98% tend to lose money and go backwards in life).

Just believe me, quit trading completely, get into long term investing. Find a good investment advisor and invest as per your risk appetite.

We are lucky to be in the right place at the right time in India today and I believe we must make the next 10-20 years count for something.

Conclusion: SIP your Coffee and SIP your equity portfolio too regularly. Stop Trading. Invest in strong brands for very long.

Maja Nu Life =)

My Best,

Neil Bahal

Chief Tasting Officer

Negen Capital

Football weekend is back. Weekends are way better with Sports to watch.

YNWA.

*Too tired for spell checks, kindly forgive as always, just take and understand the bigger picture =)