Mind Over Money: This Rs 600-crore fund manager spends 15 minutes daily on yoga & pranayama

In an interview with ETMarkets, Rego who has over three decades of experience in markets, business planning, corporate finance, and M&A, said: “I have trained myself over the years not to get emotional in markets. I believe when one overcomes emotions like fear and greed, one is able to take better, rational decisions,” Edited excerpts:

Thanks for being part of the show Anil. You have over three decades of experience in Business Planning, Corporate Finance, and Mergers & Acquisitions. So how do you keep yourself calm? What is your mantra?
Thank you for allowing me to be part of this interview. I have been in various roles in my career and have seen many ups and downs during this period.

Experience makes you realize that volatility both in personal and professional spheres are part and parcel of life, which we need to face.

I have also used meditation, especially when there are repeated instances where I have lost my cool with specific people.

You manage over Rs 600 crore in AUM – how do you deal with volatility?
I have trained myself over the years not to get emotional in markets. I believe when one overcomes emotions like fear and greed, one is able to take better, rational decisions.

I also avoid being reactive and like to take action based on data and after studying the situation.

Being a contrarian investor helps me overcome my emotions. I see the market falls as an opportunity to invest at the lows.

I also stagger the purchases/sales as my experience has taught me that markets tend to overdo on both sides. (Fall and gain more than expected). Thus, I am rarely stressed by the market and its volatility.

The philosophy at Right Horizons is to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns to our investors which results in lower downsides.

We enhance our communication during volatile markets. Customers get comfortable with this approach over a period of time, and this results in lower outreaches in distress to us.

Yoga and Meditations are great tools to manage stress. Is there a specified routine you follow (daily/weekly/monthly) to make it more effective?

I try to spend 15 minutes daily in the morning for yoga and pranayama. Similarly, I try to do my meditation at night for about 10 minutes. When you make it a routine, I find that we don’t miss out.

Any key learnings from the long marathon walk that you have done? Any learning for investors?
We did the Oxfam 100 Km walk. It is done in a group of 4 members each and there were many learnings:

– Where there is a will there’s a way. Only subsequently I started my morning walks.

– Practice and build-up are important. We did build up our walks to over 40 km in a single day. This was useful as I was not walking in the morning before.

– The company matters (our team in this case) and we motivated each other. There were different points when we faced difficulties.

– There is a lot of difference between the real test and the practice. Eg. We had not anticipated the hot sun in the afternoon, also the rough terrain.

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