Will you generate behavioural alpha in 2019?

Now, that we are officially into the new year 2019, why not do something more important. Get sober!

In my experience, an average investor is not sober. He has a terrible repulsion to numbers. Logical reasoning also sounds alien to him. In fact, he is always on the lookout for that shortcut, trick, tip or anything, even a hearsay, that can get him the highest, best, hottest results.

Cut to the chase, the point here is that investor’s behaviour becomes the key input for the results he gets. Garbage in, garbage out! But if you work upon it, you can create significant alpha – we call it the behavioural alpha.

Unovest dedicates year 2019 to help you generate more of behavioural alpha. The market alpha is not in our control so lets focus on what we can.   

Since this is the first day of the year, I want to get you working right away. I expect you will play your part well too. You see, it takes 1 and 1 to make 2.

I am sharing 2 questions for you. Clearly, they are not straightforward. They need you to apply reasoning and a bit of primary mathematics to derive a good result.

Now, the important thing here is not the final result but the process. That’s what you have to focus on.

If you share your process and reasoning with us in the comments (without looking at others’), you might just get rewarded.

So, here we go!

Question 1: This is from the movies. If you have seen the mega block buster, Baahubali, both parts, there are two Baahubalis – the father (Amarendra Baahubali) and the son (Mahendra Baahubali).

What is the likely age difference between the two? What is the age of Mahendra Bahubali?

No, the movie does not give that out explicitly. So, you have to work with the facts to reach the answer. Approximation is fine.

Question 2: I am sure you remember one of the primary math equation, Distance = Speed * Time. Well, let’s see how do you apply to this situation.

Two trains 120 kms apart are traveling toward each other along the same track. The first train goes 60 kms per hour; the second train rushes along at 90 kms per hour. A fly is hovering just above the nose of the first train. It buzzes from the first train to the second train, turns around immediately, flies back to the first train, and turns around again. It goes on flying back and forth between the two trains until they collide. If the fly’s speed is 12 kms per hour, how far will it travel?

(Yes, you can google this but that’s not the point, right! You are taking just another shortcut.)

I am hoping again that you will share your reasoning and results with me.

Finally, this year 2019, Unovest will explicitly focus on creating behavioural alpha that will impact you as well as your investments. You got a taste of it today, hopefully.