Trading, Freedom & Life in India

I am so grateful that I learned how to trade properly with Marc. It revolutionised my life. The freedom to work from home and travel when I want is incredible compared to my previous life.

During covid, I was employed by a large US company that entailed working 50+ hours a week. I was responsible for ensuring that raw materials arrived on time at four factories in Poland which employed 100’s of people. If I screwed up it would be very expensive and the covid situation made things much more difficult. When a colleague left they had me doing his job as well for no extra money. I was stressed, exhausted and miserable. The final straw for me was that my mum was taken seriously ill in India with the virus and they would only give me 3 days compassionate leave. It takes longer than that to get there and back!

12 months later I was able to quit the well-paid job.

Work from home and travel whenever I want.

I am in Prague this weekend for my best mate’s bachelor party.

I have never been there and heard it is a beautiful city with a lot of history, looking forward to it.

I thought to write something a little different this week, about trading for a living & travelling to exotic places.

My family are originally from Goa in India, but I grew up in England.

Lets look at India’s performance in the stock market, the quality of life there compared to the UK and how inexpensive it is if you were thinking of visiting or even living there at some point in the future.

As most of you know I moved to India in 2022, 3 months before my wedding and stayed there for another 3 months after travelling around the south of India. Honestly, moving there for 6 months was one of the best decisions I ever made that year after quitting my well-paid job. It was in fact an idea given to me by Marc.

After quitting my job I started working with FMP and trading funded accounts having a share in the profits. Apart from the time difference I was able to still trade & work from India. It is about 4.5 hours ahead of the UK. So I would wake up in the morning, have breakfast, and go to the gym for an hour (where I had hired a personal trainer for £30/ month with the gym membership fee!) as I wanted to get back in shape for my wedding.

I used to get back home by 8 or 9 am, have a shower and then do any pending jobs. At around 11 am I would turn on my computer, answer any emails, look at the charts, and put forward orders if any setups looked interesting. If there were no setups I would give myself the day off 🙂

I had time for myself in the mornings, I didn’t have to wake up and go to work immediately. I remember when I was in the UK and living in Swindon. I had to commute twice a week to Southampton, a 1.5-hour drive. So I had to wake up at 5.30am so that I was out of the house by 6.30 to reach there by 8.00. I would then finish at 4 and be home by 6.30 pm knackered and just felt like going to bed and I was only 25!

By comparison in Goa, everything was close by in the area I lived in.

If I wanted to grab a snack, go to the market, have a cup of tea or go to the beach it was within a 5-15 min bike ride.

I miss that here in England.

I have to drive 2 hours just to go to Bournemouth beach!

Also, you have many ridiculously cheap options if you want to grab a quick snack outside and it really is not expensive.

I remember when I went to a stall on the streets in the evening and the street food guy sells freshly made onion fritters, omelettes, samosas etc.

We had about 4 or 5 food items, and 2 soft drinks and the bill came to 120 rupees which is equivalent to £1.20. I paused for a moment staring into my wife’s eyes like is this even real because we are just not used to it in England. You are looking to spend at least £20 for a fast food meal at McDonald’s or KFC for two.

Anyway, I went to India recently in March and as I landed it just felt like I was home, I missed it.

Below is a pic I clicked in Kerala around 7 in the morning.

I bought my wife a new bike for her Birthday 🙂

Indian stock markets

When I was in India I saw a lot of articles in the news about the Indian stock market being one of the best performers compared to other stock markets.

I didn’t know much about it but I do know that the West have begun to start investing.

Blackstone will invest at least $2 billion a year in India for the next five years, a top company executive said, citing the country’s fast-growing economy and booming capital markets.

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager, with more than $1 trillion in Assets under management (AUM).

Blackstone to invest $2 bln a year in India

The Indian stock market recently dropped slightly as the Bharatiya Janata ruling Party(BJP) failed to get the majority of seats. However, they still won and Modi will be the PM for another 5 five years. The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. However, experts think this could be temporary and the markets could continue the bull run.

Modi Lost His Majority. Should India Investors be Worried?

We have also seen GOLD rising to all-time highs this year as investors look for a place to hedge their assets and protect their money from inflation. GOLD is very popular in India, especially during wedding seasons and also festivals as most GOLD shops will have discounts in place to attract customers. My investment in GOLD paid off as I bought some while I was in Dubai a couple of years back when it was at a very good price. I’m currently up 20%.

Remember the BRIC countries are already in the process of launching their own currency backed by GOLD. Russia, China, and India have been involved in buying GOLD heavily in the past few years. This will only push the price of GOLD up higher as the supply decreases and demand increases.

‘Perfect storm’ steers gold to another record high; silver jumps

But anyway back to the topic of living in India. We already own the house there so we don’t have any mortgage. We have our own well (spring water well) so we only pay for electricity and property maintenance. But I used to spend roughly £300/ month to live comfortably. That included having some meals out in local restaurants from time to time but not every day. Of course, if you went to eat something more fancy most of the time, then it would cost you more. I have been to 5-star restaurants with my family a couple of times. We ordered as normal and shared between ourselves as the portions were a decent size. For around 6 people with drinks, it came to around 5000 rupees which is around £50! Yeah, I’m not kidding. You can enjoy that lavish and expensive lifestyle out there if you are able to make a decent income every month.

If you or your partner are considering moving out of the UK or wherever you live in the world, I found this article by Wise to be quite accurate in terms of costs. However, it looks at the top 5 major cities in India and has given the costs of living there. I went to Mumbai Last year and Hyderabad this year. I wouldn’t recommend Mumbai if you don’t like busy and crowded cities. Imagine London with 10 times more people. That is Mumbai, it’s a city that never sleeps. I actually enjoyed Hyderabad, very delicious food and the best Biryani I have tried in my life so far. Sorry if your mouth is watering.

Cost of living in India: Your guide

However, you get delicious food in all parts of India it just depends on where you eat as the culture and history are different from North to South. If you were looking to move to Asia I would recommend India. I live in Goa. It is one of the options me and my wife are considering in the future if the standard of living in the UK becomes unsustainable. But it is something to think about.

Below are some pictures from Hyderabad. The moral of this story is that if you REALLY want to make it as a trader and give yourself the same opportunities, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Apply yourself. Be willing to take the risk. I can tell you the rewards are incredible.

My wife enjoying the shade when it was 38 degrees