Capitalmind Podcast - Masala Money: Krish Ashok X Deepak Shenoy on Food and Finance

Masala Money: Krish Ashok X Deepak Shenoy on Food and Finance

05/05/22 • 164 min

Two engineers get together to discuss two life essentials - food and money!

Our food expert is Krish Ashok. Ashok is Global Head, Digital Workplace at TCS. He is a techie, a musician and an author. He talks about the science behind food, the history of food and offers a lot of food for thought for us to explore further. If you are interested, a good starting point is his famous book - Masala Lab.

Our money expert is Deepak Shenoy. Deepak talks about the importance of managing your finances, the myths about investing, the fallacies that investors should avoid, and his take on cryptocurrencies. It is quite a treat to listen when he shares food metaphors to explain financial concepts. So listen in!

Topics & References:

02:00 - Science of Indian food & cooking Refer - The parable of turkey and how things are done13:30 - Do modern food habits cause lifestyle diseases? 21:45 - Wait, it's the opposite? Butter is ok but the Naan is not? 25:30 - Basics of food everyone should follow Refer: Michael Pollan: Three Simple Rules for Eating37:00 - The play of sugar & salt 40:00 - People hate changing food habits 45:00 - Each of us processes the same flavor differently 49:00 - We don’t like something because its unfamiliar, not necessarily bad 52:00 - Misconceptions about Food Refer: Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years56:00 - The myths of Genetic Modification Refer - The Story of Norman Borlaug, the American Scientist Who Helped Engineer India’s Green Revolution01:01:00 - How do we make more people cook? (especially, the men) Refer - Apple Cider Vinegar Rasam01:07:00 - Does the online food delivery phenomenon change things for food and our food habits? 01:11:00 - Switching roles - Ashok Asks Deepak about Money 01:13:00 - Building a relationship with money Refer: Book: The Lexus and the Olive Tree01:17:30 - What money can do for you? 01:23:00 - How an adult should learn the basics of Finance? Refer: Book: An Economist Gets Lunch01:43:00 - How should salaried professionals think about Income Tax? 01:50:00 - Working as an employee Vs working as a businesses 01:54:00 - Understanding Inflation first before learning about investment returns Refer: What you know about inflation might be wrong02:01:00 - How do you make money work for you? 02:09:00 - How to allocate between Equity & Fixed Income? 02:11:00 - Ways for your money to make more money? 02:16:00 - Importance of diversification in Finance & Food 02:19:00 - How should one think about their own risk appetite? Refer: Harry Markowitz and Modern Portfolio TheoryRefer: How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking02:28:00 - Is there a tool that helps track personal financial growth? 02:37:00 - Deepak’s thoughts on cryptocurrencies Refer: Blockchains Are a Bad Idea (James Mickens)Refer: Selling Shovels in the New Startup Gold Rush

You can buy Krish Ashok's book on the science of Food - Masala lab. You can buy Deepak Shenoy's book on investing - Money Wise.

Check out our wealth management service - Capitalmind Wealth (PMS)<...

Two engineers get together to discuss two life essentials - food and money!

Topics & References:

You can buy Krish Ashok's book on the science of Food - Masala lab. You can buy Deepak Shenoy's book on investing - Money Wise.

Check out our wealth management service - Capitalmind Wealth (PMS)<...

Previous Episode

The creator economy with Amit Varma, and lessons from Deepak's book Moneywise

Today's episode is a crossover with The Seen and the Unseen podcast, hosted by Amit Varma. Amit and Deepak discuss how their careers - as creators - have evolved with the digital age. And their journey of discovering their own authentic voices. They take a first hand look at the creator economy and how it's shaping the media today. 2:32:00 onwards, they discuss key lessons in Deepak's new book, Money Wise, along with some behind-the-book stories.

Next Episode

Is it a good time to invest in gold?

In this episode, Deepak and Shray unravel different aspects related to investing in gold.

Gold has been around as a store of value for a couple of millennia, probably longer, because of how little there is and how difficult it is to get out of the earth.

Now get this - all the Gold mined would fit in a crate with sides of 21 meters. That’s roughly the length of three and a half standard containers.

Yet, in the last decade, this scarce and loved asset class has done just enough to match inflation. This means, adjusted for inflation, gold has returned nothing!

Now, after putting returns of gold into perspective, we get on to the theme of our podcast - Does it make sense to invest in Gold?

We look at gold from different lenses while we determine -

If gold is a hedge against inflation?
Can gold protect you in a crisis like war?
Is gold investment to create long-term wealth?
Is there an efficient way to invest in gold?

Show notes and references:

01:30 - Is gold the safe heaven when everything else falters? 05:00 - Today all assets classes act alike and correlated

Refer - How Gold has performed over years?

08:00 - Gold hasn’t outperformed inflation in 2011! 12:30 - Times when gold did outperform the Nifty 15:30 - The second-order effects of gold smuggling 17:30 - Buying gold for emotional and goal-based reasons 20:00 - Should you buy gold to hedge against a crisis like war? 23:55 - Is buying digital better than physical gold?

Refer - What is digital gold?

36:30 - Is gold as an ETF a good option?

Refer - What are Gold ETFs?

38:30 - Sovereign gold bonds as an avenue for investing in Gold?

Refer - What is the Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) scheme by Govt of India?

43:00 - What is the best way to buy gold?

If you loved listening to Deepak talk about money and finance. You'll also find his book quite interesting - You can buy the book here – Money Wise.