Nitin Mathur

You hear from us so much, we write blogs to help you understand finance. But we are so much more! Find out exactly what Tavaga is all about? Try Tavaga Application; Google Play Store: bit.ly/1PcUQrV iOS: apple.co/2kMhYsh tavaga.com/blog/uncategor…

Indian men are in a silent health pandemic that nobody is calling a pandemic. No virus. No daily death count. So nobody is panicking. But every Indian man in his 30s is quietly carrying something he doesn’t tell anyone. He’s been told he’s fine. He isn’t. •Hair thinning since 25 •Moobs he’s been hiding for 6 years •Belly that won’t move •Tired all the time •Performance issues he hasn’t told anyone This isn’t five problems in five men. It’s one generation carrying five versions of the same collapse. 1. The hair loss isn’t just genetics. It’s metabolic. Men losing hair before 30 have higher insulin resistance and lower testosterone than men who aren’t. The hair was the first warning. He bought a ₹1,500 shampoo and moved on. 2. The moobs aren’t fat. They’re hormonal. 40 to 60% of Indian men have them. High estrogen, low testosterone, and a body storing fat where it has the most estrogen receptors. He’s been hiding under a t-shirt for a decade. 3. The fatigue isn’t stress. It’s deficiency. Vit D below 20. Ferritin below 30. B12 nobody tested. He’s running a 55-year-old’s hormone profile in a 32-year-old’s body. 4. The performance issues aren’t age. They’re vascular. The arteries that fail here are narrower than the ones around the heart. They get blocked first. This is the warning. By 2 to 4 years. The 28-year-old hiding his chest and the 40-year-old getting a stent have more in common than they think. They’re the same man at different stages of the same pandemic. Nobody is calling it a pandemic because every man is going down quietly. The pandemic is here. It’s just quiet.

@BadCapitalVC 👋

last year, we spent months building this book for our LPs - the india technology review. it became the most special project we put out last year and honestly the thing i'm most proud of. we're now giving away a few copies! it covers everything from meesho's full journey, our AI thesis for india, and how the long tail nature of india's economy creates opportunities most people miss. we also go deep on economic policy & some early-stage bets we're tracking. we built it for our LPs but figured founders, investors & operators would get a lot out of it too. giving away 20 copies at random. drop a 👋 below.

One of the finest dining experiences right by Lake Pichola in Udaipur, Ambrai at Amet Haveli is set in a beautiful 300-year-old haveli. The vibe, the view, everything just feels perfect. If you’re in Udaipur, a dinner at Ambrai is a must! 😍👌🏻 #Rajasthan

@ravihanda Congrats on the new car 🎉

Got a new car - Hyundai Venue. 🥳

Today I turn 55. I’m the fittest, sharpest, and happiest I’ve ever been. If I’m an outlier, it’s not because I’m built different or discovered a secret formula. The truth is far less glamorous: It’s a million tiny choices, compounded over decades. Here are 55 of them: 1. Walk 15+ miles a week, even if you do other exercise. Humans are uniquely made to move slowly over long distances—it’s critical to longevity. 2. Develop a writing practice. It’s the single best way to sharpen your mind. And remember, you don’t have to be a good writer to write. Start with 10 minutes a day. 3. Swap out your toothpaste, deodorant, lotions, soap, shampoo, and other personal care products for natural versions. Here’s a rule of thumb: Don’t put anything on your skin that you couldn’t safely eat. 4. If you have a positive thought about someone, don’t keep it to yourself—share it immediately. Encouragement defies the laws of physics: When you give energy, you also receive it. 5. Wear shoes with a wide forefoot (I like Topo Athletic) and wear toe spreaders around the house (search “yoga toes” on Amazon). Spine health begins with the feet. 6. Get sunlight regularly. Moderate sun exposure (without sunscreen) is hugely important for overall health. 7. Do a 3-minute deep (“ass to grass”) squat every morning. Deep squats are often called the anti-aging exercise. It’s been said that, “It’s not that you can’t do deep squats because you’re old, it’s that you’re old because you can’t do deep squats.” 8. Explore minimalism (it’s not what you think it is). 9. Set boundaries on toxic relationships. We tend to cling to relationships past their expiration date, and it takes a bigger toll on our health than we recognize. 10. Eat real food. Not too much. Don’t eat garbage. Binge occasionally. Fast occasionally. That’s the diet. 11. Learn about FIRE. It’s a great framework for financial success. 12. Don’t take antibiotics except in emergency situations. They’re massively over-prescribed and aren’t needed in most cases. Antibiotics have done untold damage to our guts, which is where health begins. Great natural alternatives are out there. 13. Get 8 hours of quality sleep each night. To optimize sleep: —Don’t eat after 6pm —Get blackout shades and cover LEDs with black tape —No screens 2 hours before bed —Try ashwagandha (an herb) to calm the nervous system 14. Stop drinking, even in moderation. People find all sorts of ways to justify drinking, but there’s no escaping the simple fact that alcohol is a toxin and it limits your potential. 15. Travel as much as possible. Nothing expands the mind like seeing the world. And travel doesn’t have to be expensive—the best experiences happen outside of fancy resorts, when you live like a local. 16. Let go of resentment. When you forgive someone, you release the prisoner, and the prisoner isn’t them… it’s you. 17. Show up on time, every time. Poor time management limits success more than most people realize. If you struggle with punctuality, stop everything else and fix that first. 18. Spend lots of time in nature and touch the earth. Humans evolved over 300k years to live in harmony with nature, and only recently have we retreated indoors. If you don’t spend time outside, you’re fighting biology (hint: You won’t win.) 19. Stop doing dumb things. As Leo Tolstoy said, “People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.” 20. Find your happy place and (eventually) move there. Most people live where they live because... that's where they live. We are products of our environment—choose yours carefully. 21. Find a hobby and pursue mastery. You can’t have a happy life without a passionate pursuit that isn’t your vocation. Your work—even if you enjoy it—isn’t enough. 22. Avoid mainstream medicine except as a last resort. The results are in—our healthcare (or more appropriately, sick care) system is badly broken and only makes people sicker. 23. Have a mindset of abundance. There is no advantage to being a pessimist—even if you’re right, it’s a miserable way to live. In a very real way… whatever you believe, you’re right! 24. Do hard things. Choose courage over comfort. Everything you want is on the other side of fear and hard work. As Jerzy Gregorik said, “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.” 25. Ignore haters. Hurt people hurt people. Negative/toxic people live in a prison of their own design. Don’t join them! 26. Say no. Protect your time and energy like it’s your most precious asset… because it is. 27. Become a water snob. As an alien said on Star Trek, humans are “ugly bags of mostly water.” You are what you drink—literally! We have Mountain Valley Spring water delivered in glass 5-gallon jugs and also have whole-house water filter (Aquasana Rhino). 28. Stop drinking sodas and sugary energy drinks. After a few weeks you won’t miss them, and a few months later they’ll seem disgusting. Refined sugar causes inflammation, which is the root of most disease. 29. If you’re over 35, find a good functional/longevity medicine doctor and start tracking your hormones. Modern life is hell on the endocrine system and restoring healthy hormone levels can change your life. As we get older, we either accept a slow decline in performance or we do something about it—choose the latter! 30. Develop a morning routine and follow it faithfully. Win the morning, win the day! 31. Invest in experiences, not things. People frequently regret buying things, but rarely regret investing in great experiences (especially when shared with loved ones). Remember, there’s nothing you can buy in a mall that you’ll remember in ten years. 32. Explore spirituality. It’s arrogant and small-minded to believe there’s nothing going on in our universe that is beyond our comprehension. We know less about our universe than an ant meandering on a sidewalk understands about this planet. 33. Have a strong bias toward action—doing rather than talking. If you ask a bunch of old people about their regrets, they’ll talk about the things they *didn't* do—the shots they didn’t take—more than the things they did do (even if it went wrong). As Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Most people don’t take enough shots. 34. Stay lean. Men in particular are obsessed with muscle mass these days, but bulk doesn’t age well. The goal is to be strong but lean. The fittest guys in their 50s and beyond aren’t meatheads, they’re lean guys who are serious about a sport. 35. Curate your inner circle carefully. Surround yourself with people you admire and who challenge you to grow. Remember, we’re the average of our 5 closest relationships. 36. Be the fittest version of yourself. Your body is your only vessel for experiencing life—so treat it as such. Fitness isn’t working out a few times a week, it’s a lifestyle. The older you get, the more time you need to devote to your health. 37. Take the time to appreciate art and beauty in all its forms. 38. Think globally, but act locally. Too many people put their energy into far-away problems they don’t understand and can’t impact, while ignoring problems right under their nose. Want to change the world? Start at home. 39. Try psychedelics. It’s one of those things everyone should do at least once, and it might be the breakthrough you’ve been looking for. 40. Limit bad habits, including unhealthy thought patterns. We all have them—practice avoidance and find substitutes. Get professional help if needed. 41. Be a lifelong learner. Your brain is just like a muscle—if you don’t feed and flex it regularly, it will atrophy. 42. Find your purpose. People with a strong sense of purpose are happier and live longer. Lack of purpose sucks energy and magnifies depression. 43. Only take advice from people who embody the traits you want to have. Talk is cheap—emulate those who have DONE it. 44. The goal is not to retire and do nothing, it’s to build a great day-to-day life that you don’t need to escape. A life of leisure is a slow death. Happiness isn’t possible without a little struggle, uncertainty, and skin in the game. 45. Have fun! Do frivolous and silly things that make you smile. As George Bernard Shaw famously said, “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” 46. Whatever you want to do or achieve in life, start NOW. Don’t fall victim to “someday thinking” because someday never comes. 47. Accumulate assets—things that grow in value over time. It’s the #1 habit of rich people, and it can be done in tiny chunks. Instead of spending $100 on an impulse purchase that has no lasting value, put that money into an index fund or Bitcoin. It becomes addictive (in a good way). 48. Don’t ignore the big 3 canaries in the coal mine for health: —Low libido (and ED) —Frequent sinus & respiratory issues —Depression These usually aren’t medical conditions in themselves, they’re symptoms of an underlying problem. Find a good doc (outside of the mainstream) and figure out the root cause. 49. Have a clear vision for your future. How can you decide which direction to go if you haven’t clearly defined the destination? It sounds obvious, but 95% of people haven’t defined their “Ideal End State” in detail and in writing. (Check out my thread on this topic.) 50. Make your own decisions. We live in an era where most of what society tells us is wrong. Don’t be afraid to break from societal norms—if people say you’re crazy, it’s a sign that you’re doing something right. 51. Get hardcore about mobility exercise. As you age, it’s usually the knees, hips, and lower back that limit physical performance. 30 min a couple times a week can spare you a lifetime of pain. YouTube is a great resource. 52. Go all in on family. Get married, stay married, have kids. Burn the boats. In the end, family is all that matters. 53. Be ruthless with your time. Money comes and goes. Time only goes. Audit your calendar ruthlessly—cut the trivial, double down on the meaningful, and spend your hours like your life depends on it. (Because it does.) 54. Have a strong bias toward action. Be curious, try things, meet people—it’s how you increase your surface area for serendipity, the most powerful unseen force in our lives. 55. Reinvent yourself every decade. Over time, we slowly drift off course from our priorities, values, and true identity. Take stock and don’t be afraid to hit the reset button. Bold, calculated moves made for the right reasons almost always pay off—usually even more than you can imagine. 🎁 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, would you give me a birthday gift? Repost or comment with the item number(s) you liked best?

@vikpai @JoleneClub You have to get hold of Rishav/ Ruchi.

India D2C is hard and lonely. The community is tiny, the tech infrastructure is underbuilt for the scale of demand, logistics are chaotic, and there are almost no India-specific resources for founders to learn from. So I’m launching an India D2C Podcast. A show dedicated to D2C founders and operators who are actually building in India’s constraints. I’ll be interviewing the sharpest minds from India’s fastest growing consumer brands and going deep on topics like: • Performance marketing for the Indian consumer • Retention and WhatsApp lifecycle strategies • How brands solved supply chain and logistics disasters • How teams found great manufacturers in India • What actually drives LTV in Tier 1, 2 and 3 • Mistakes, failures, cash flow crunches • And the real playbooks behind breakout brands My goal is simple: help Indian D2C founders learn from other Indian operators so the entire ecosystem can grow faster. Who would you love to see me interview? Comment or tag their name.

The best and easiest way to improve your child’s health is by enhancing your own first. The day you start working out regularly, eating without making a fuss about taste and quit bringing alcohol & namkeen bhujia at home, the day your kid will pick up healthier habits. It is this simple.

Digital gold is unregulated. A timely reminder from SEBI. Most people don’t realize that nobody regulates digital gold, and if something were to happen to the platforms or companies selling it, there’s not much you can do. It’s also a subpar way to get exposure to gold. You pay 3% GST the moment you buy. Then there are spreads of another 2–3%, which means as soon as you purchase digital gold, you’re already down about 6%, and that’s before even factoring in regulatory risk. Now that Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) have stopped, gold ETFs remain one of the safest and easiest ways to get exposure to gold. We wrote about all this on @zerodhamarkets Daily Brief (link in the comments).

Sebi warns the public about investing in 'digital gold'. We wrote about the risks earlier: Buying Digital Gold: Risks and Pitfalls You Should Know share.google/i65pabofkxaBXd…

AI insights with Sandy Never share with ChatGPT or any other LLM, the following 1) Details of active legal cases that identify you 2) Credit card, debit card, and bank account numbers 3) Online banking credentials, routing numbers, and PINs 4) Social Security numbers / national ID numbers (Aadhar) 5) Passwords, authentication codes, OTPs, or 2-factor secrets 6) Passport numbers, driver’s license numbers, or biometric data 7) Crypto wallet seed phrases, private keys, or recovery phrases 8) Private business financials (payroll, tax IDs, investor details) 9) Instructions or material intended to facilitate illegal activity 10) Private medical records or health information tied to your identity 11) Home street address, personal phone numbers, or personal email addresses 12) Client/customer personal data protected by national laws (GDPR), or other privacy rules 13) Company trade secrets, internal confidential documents, or proprietary source code 14) Other people’s personal, identifying information you don’t have permission to share 15) Anything you wouldn’t want leaked, misused, or that could harm you or others if exposed! And why not? Because large-scale generative models (LLMs) and their interfaces are not secure, auditable personal-data vaults, submitting sensitive identifiers (e.g., SSNs, payment credentials, biometrics) can cause irreversible data leakage, unauthorized propagation, and regulatory non-compliance. #AI #AIinsightswithSandy

If there’s one thing I wish I had done differently when I was hit by a stroke last January, it would be to go to the hospital immediately, within the Golden Hour (<4.5 hours), instead of thinking I could just sleep it off. This “nothing will happen to me” attitude is common, especially among those under 50. But the truth is, strokes are rising sharply, up to nearly 30% of all strokes in the last few years, among 30 to 50-year-olds. When it comes to strokes, time is brain; every minute counts. Thanks to @timesofindia for featuring this on World Stroke Day today.

Have you asked THESE questions of your financial advisor/wealth manager/mutual fund distributor? thefynprint.com/BsGmVcePr

Our latest Iii report : Delhivery Ltd: Delivering A Dodgy Maze

3000 Mutual Fund Distributors have taken away 21000 crores from YOUR pockets. And most of you haven’t realised it. These include everyone from the “friend” who told you to buy a fund to the big private bank you have an account at.

SEBI; Regulated Entities & Fake Fin influencers We are 9+ years old SEBI Registered Investment Advisory (aveksatequity.com) & over 9 years constantly facing strange and at times absurd rules & regulations of SEBI which are ever changing. SEBI demands things from us in very short notice and so short that it is almost impossible to comply. On the other hand, we have almost no scope to reach them even for a simple request like change of address and things keep lying with them for months. We can only write to the supervisory body (BSE) and their standard reply is "things are under process"!! Fin-influencers and frauds are having a free run. Run a scam, pump & dump a stock, sell snake oil and earn 100s of crores and then settle with SEBI paying some fine. All remains happy --- SEBI thinks they did their job and the frauds merrily go around in some other name and in some other place targeting some other stupid people. But real losers in the game are only those fools who got lured by the fraud schemes or courses. And also RIAs like us as people lose faith in the system. Most don't even know rule following and genuine RIAs exist in the first place! Fin-influencers and frauds are having a free run. Run a scamming scheme, pump & dump a stock, sell snake oil and earn 100s of crores and then settle with SEBI paying some fine. All remains happy --- SEBI thinks they did their job and these frauds merrily go around in some other name and in some other place targeting some other people. Can things improve? Possible if SEBI makes rules which are strict but only few and simple to follow & actively promote rule followers and severely punish rule breakers. Today rule followers are drowned by stringent rules and stifling regulations but rules breakers and frauds run without any hindrance and if caught, pay few crores and move ahead. They make their calculations easily. It is the worst system where rule breakers are in hugely advantageous than regulated rule following entities.

@ActusDei @FinRight All the best Neil 👍

After 6.5 yrs in Mint, I'm moving on to build a new personal finance content platform. This is with @FinRight, which does pioneering work in PF assistance. I'm very grateful for your love & support in my journey so far. Help me with suggestions & ideas. tinyurl.com/34r2v9bf

Today @jashkriplani gives you a primer on unlisted shares. Inputs from @SidhojiSawant. The frenzy behind NSE has brought retail investors here. Do note: 1) Price discovery is inefficient 2) Platforms may default 3) 6 month lock-in (cannot flip shares) livemint.com/money/personal…

A recent distress call: a student has taken about ₹70L ($80K) debt at 12% to get a master's degree in a small college in the US. The problem: the job scene in IT is bad, especially so for foreign students and payments on the loan are starting soon. I don't know what we could do in this situation because we have not been hiring much as we transform ourselves for the AI era. That caution in hiring is also because we have a policy of not resorting to lay-offs. I urge students and parents to be cautious in borrowing heavily to pursue degrees abroad. Borrowing heavily to pursue degrees in India is unwise too. I strongly believe we should not trap young people in debt in the name of education. The only smart course is for prospective employers to fund training programs and for the industry to broadly accept such alternative credentials rather than ask for formal degrees. The best investment we make as a company is in training and skill development. I hope companies do this widely so we don't strand young people in debt.

Every web series shows alcohol. Every movie shows alcohol. On social media, many influencers subtly promote alcohol. The problem here is not the promotions. The problem here is that these promotion makes you feel that without alcohol, the 'fun' element in life = zero. That is why, whenever you go out with friends or on a date, your default habit is to order a drink, because your brain now constantly thinks you cannot have a social life without a couple of drinks. That is the reason top politicians and business owners never touch alcohol. They know it is a made-up marketing thing that is being fed to normies like you to keep you hooked and addict.

This is easily my favorite clip of Bill Ackman > His fund was down 30%+ > Being sued by Valeant Pharma investors > Going through divorce with his wife > Elliot, an activist firm, trying to take over his fund Here is his advice on how to deal with the tough moments in life