Investing lessons from Sachin's incredible career

There is plenty to learn from the Master Blaster. Here are a few lessons

Every one of Sachin’s innings tells a remarkable story, whether on or off the grounds. His incredible career parallels wealth building, trading and investing in more innings than one.

Two pillars: Temperament; Consistency
All masters have great temperaments. Sachin was not needled when Shoiab walked down the pitch swearing at him. He kept his cool even in the clamour of the crowd, even when booed. Investing is similar. There's much “noise” emerging from television, print, blogs, etc., with hundreds of experts passionately echoing not only dissimilar views but also contradictory ones. Sachin focused on the game and always looked at scoring runs. Keep your eyes on the sphere of investing, and purchasing good investments regularly. He looked for the loose ball and tonked it for a four, and made the most of the mistakes the bowlers (read markets) make.

Patience scores “runs” of wealth

When the Master Blaster began his career, he started with zero runs on board. In 24 years, he’s amassed a huge fortune of 34,347 international cricketing runs. That's a considerable amount of wealth. The point is that it didn't accumulate in days or weeks or months, but over nearly a quarter of a century. Years. Ducks there were (read, suffered losses in the market), but he always returned to the game the next day. Investing is for the long term. You cannot amass a fortune in days. Losses stun you once in a while, but investing regularly over the years allows you to accumulate more and more wealth. Tools such as systematic-investment plans afford you the opportunity to invest regularly in this merry market.

Stay focused on goals
Sachin's grandest achievement was that he played two hundred tests and stayed focused for that long in cricket. When he started he probably did not consider that he’d end up with two hundred test matches in his career – but he did set his goals high. When investing, set high those goals – such as buying a retirement house on a hill station. Break those goals down into a daily innings of accumulating one and two runs (and the fours and sixes when the opportunity arises), and before long you’ll be on your way to stocking your kitty.

Every new innings begins from the baseline (zero)
Whenever Sachin started a new innings, he started from zero. He had to play all those balls and score runs each time he stepped out on the pitch. Likewise, every investment starts with zero returns, and some might even initially hit your wicket. Every trader or investor starts without profits in the bag. But, slowly, as you wield the bat with greater fluency and handle the bowling with rising confidence and send the fielders sprinting, the runs – and the returns – will mount up.

Net practice is homework
Even as he multiplied those runs, Sachin never omitted practicing. He practiced with rubber balls when he had to face bouncy wickets overseas. Before you invest, you need to do your homework. You have to see what pushes a company's earnings, how it is growing its business, which are the areas a company is focusing on. This is basic homework -- and practice will have you up to speed regarding what to keep your eye on.

Tons are your multi-baggers
They come rather rarely. But when they do, they are like the icing on the cake, the light at the end of the tunnel, the sun breaking through the clouds, the shot that signals the final home run to the century after struggling to hold till there. Sachin never focused on snagging those multi-baggers. In 781 international innings, he scored one hundred centuries. They were his multi-baggers. Not all his 22-yard plays turned into multi-baggers. He probably thought that whenever he took the pitch he would command the balls and hold the bails. Often he didn’t succeed. On many occasions, your investments too will not to do well. But, once in a while, through the many innings (and outings) you’ll probably hit more than a few multi-baggers. Buy into a sound investment – and give it the time it requires to soar over the pavilion.