Investing As A Profession In Nepal: Is It A Wise Decision?

January 12, 2020 | Som Thapa

Is it possible to make a living out of investing, especially in Nepal? Can investing be taken seriously as a full-time job in our country? The question paralyzes me every time it occurs in my head. I, personally, would like to believe that investing could be counted as a job both on monetary terms and on the social status it provides. But, the reality is exactly the opposite of my perceived fantasy. Investing, especially in Nepal, is a side affair that a person manages beside his regular job. The reason investing is not given a priority as a job or business is because it does not fulfill both the monetary and social needs of the person.

Monetary and Social Benefits of Investing in Nepal

Monetarily, investing doesn’t provide a consistent return to make a livelihood. The returns it provides may be higher than the income from other jobs but it is highly inconsistent. Sometimes, a person may make a killing on their investment making him believe that he is special and can make regular profits on his trades. While other times, he may lose more than he can afford to make him miserable. And most of the time, there is no movement in the market where a person can make neither profit nor loss. This is the hardest and dullest phase of the investor’s life. Doing nothing may seem easy theoretically, but practically it is the hardest course to follow.

The reason investing is not given a priority as a job or business is because it does not fulfill both the monetary and social needs of the person.

If we look at the social needs of the person, investing does not provide the social recognition the person craves other than bragging about your profitable investment at parties and other social affairs. The recognition you get by introducing your profession as an investor is exponentially lower than you get when you introduce yourself as a doctor, lawyer, businessmen or especially government employee in case of our country.

The reason for this is because people believe investing can be done by anyone and they tend to take matters in their own hands. Hence, it has less social value.

The Real Benefits of Investing

The above paragraph may already make you feel depressed if you were thinking of making a career out of investing. But hope is not lost. Because there is one thing that could make you believe that investing might just be the greatest job in the world. Aside from making money, investing will teach you to be the man you want to be. It will carve your manly characters and make you the better version of you. And that is, in my opinion, the real job needs to do-make you better. Before you dismiss my opinion, let me explain myself.

First Benefit

The first thing the investor learns is to make his own decisions if he wants to pursue his career in investing. Making your own decision is the best thing a man can do in his life. The decision you make on your own makes you accountable for the consequences of your decision. You cannot blame others if anything bad happens and you tend to live by your decision peacefully even if you made the wrong decision. If you made an investment that turned sour with time, you are responsible for the loss and you know it deep in your heart that no one is to be blamed. You will learn to embrace the consequences of your decision as time passes.

Making your own decision is the best thing a man can do in his life. The decision you make on your own makes you accountable for the consequences of your decision.

Second Benefit

The second thing the investor learns during his investing career is the importance of patience in one’s life. How often we hurry through life to achieve what we covet. We want everything now so we can enjoy it at the moment. Human beings are impulsive beings. We want instant gratification but nature does not work that way. Warren Buffett said it right when he said, “You can’t give birth to a child in 1 month by making 9 women pregnant. Some things just take time.” Throughout your investing career, you will see your investments going through the various cycles of the economy and you will learn to be patient with them. You will learn to wait for the manifestation of results of your decisions (investments) and you will learn that the result was worth the wait.

Third Benefit

The third and probably the most important thing that investing will teach you is to learn from your past mistakes. Throughout investing in life, an investor will make many mistakes. He will lose money on them. It will make him frustrated. But he will get second chances to amend the mistakes he made previously. He will learn to analyze his mistakes and use his knowledge of past mistakes to avoid making the same in the future. This will help him to move forward in life and improve his chances to be successful in his endeavor.

If we look from the perspective of making money, investing can be very rewarding in the long run. Though the income from investments is highly unpredictable in the short period, the returns are more consistent in the long run. An investment, if properly watched and nurtured, will grow from small seeds to a big tree bearing fruits for you and for your generation to come.

The current income might be low and unstable, but your overall wealth throughout your life will be higher if you do your investing job right.

Making a Career Out of Investing in Nepal

Thus, if you are thinking about making a career in Nepal out of investing, and you may be wondering if your decision is right, the only thing I can say is “Do it”. After you make this decision, you will follow its path and you will know whether the decision you made was right or not. If you turned out to be right, you will be successful. You will get your money and the social recognition that you craved so much. Glory will come with your success and you won’t need to brag about your profitable investments in parties to show off how good you are. Even if it turned out to be a mistake, you followed a new path which was full of ups and downs and it will be an adventurous life. In the words of Ben Graham “Excitement is guaranteed”.

I can’t claim whether you will be successful or not and your decision to enter into investing may turn out to be good or a mistake as time passes. But I can say one thing: You, as a person, will never be the same again.

An investment, if properly watched and nurtured, will grow from small seeds to a big tree bearing fruits for you and for your generation to come.

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