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Hey, I am not currently working and I think I am at this point unemployable/retired (am 41). When I used to work, I was a consultant (‘06-‘21), so had ample time to do my things on the side, reading being one of them. Even when I had a rare full-time job (‘21-‘22) I managed to maintain the pace of reading. It’s not that hard to put aside an hour or two per day to read. It’s an investment in yourself and it can be a lot of fun watching yourself visibly grow year on year.

I am always baffled that people are happy with the knowledge and skills they got out of college and the first few years at work and are pretty much done with it and closed to learning. I am equally baffled that all learning should be towards some end goal – like how it will affect your CAGR, or social standing or some other tangible gain like a degree or certificate. Learning is joyous and reading the perfect way to pick brains of people who otherwise would have no interest to sit with you or are long dead. Also books have durable knowledge (most others sources deal with information that’s relevant for near-term)

You have to first cultivate the interest and nurture your curiosity to learn about various things, phenomena, people, places and times and be ready to go down rabbit holes to sate that curiosity. I can’t imagine reading some of the books i read now when I started out. I would have snored right through the first paragraph but the stuff I read prior to what I am reading now has set the latticework for the stuff am reading now to be relevant and even thoroughly enjoyable.

Start reading whatever interests you – if you have kids get them started as well on whatever interests them. It could be comics, simple fiction, literary classics or whatever floats your boat. Once the habit is formed, the cue → routine → reward loop will take over and you are set for life. This thread started as a part of the “reward” loop – being able to review a book and put it out closed the loop. But of late, I am reading lot more than I am reviewing (almost a 15-20 book gap now) because I have started the painful note-taking process which takes 6-8 hours at least per book (lot of thinking, recollecting and ruminating involved). Now that the habit loop is sustaining without the reward, I have been able to tweak it to add extremely hard business of note-taking. I see this as a creation of durable knowledge of my own – for myself in the future, for discussing with my son (9 now) and for the rest of the world that can benefit from it. Everything we strive to create must be relevant over the years

I know this is a very roundabout answer to a direct question but there are no direct answers – if you are not able to make time, then reading is probably not a priority for you right now. Making it a priority should be your first priority.

Exactly. It’s legal and common.

Jhaveri surged because Vishnupatel acquired stake. Praveg was listed the same way and has created immense value in the last few years. The stock has surged from single digits to highs of 600+.

If you look at the news related to Jhaveri, the promoters will possibly list another unlisted entity. It’s in the domain of solar energy.

Coming back to Praveg, it won another contract for a tent resort in Diu. They are expanding presence in Gujarat, Daman & Diu, Uttar Predesh, and Rajasthan. If things proceed as per plan, they are positioned to deliver robust growth in the next 12 to 18 months.

Bajaj finance board approved fundraising of total 10000 cr.

Bajaj finance ROE is about 25% (ROA of 5% multiplied by leverage ratio of 5 times) Which means they can keep growing at 25% without raising funds. Banks or NBFCs needs to raise funds when they want to grow at higher rate than thier ROE. Mr market is now excited because market now believes that Bajaj finance management has the visibility to grow higher than thier last given guidance of 24-26% which they gave in the last conference call.

When balance sheet attains a particular size there is a risk of slow down in growth. Street was fearful after witnessing recent valuation crush played out in HDFC bank, though there are multiple reasons for that. It looks like Bajaj finance is still some time away from slow down due to large size if that time ever has to come.

The timing of there capital raise is always exemplary. Last they raise the capital was back in 2019 before the Covid at 10 times price to book. That raise enable them to sail through entire covid cycle without any fresh raise of capital when valuations in terms of PB multiples were below there historic levels. And now again they found a period of good valuation for fresh raise of capital.

Disclosure: invested