Valentine's Day masterclass: love, loss and stock markets

Investing is like relationship, both fail when emotions trump discipline and clarity, says Kedia

- Ann Jacob

At the Mint Money Festival 2026 at Mumbai’s NSE Atrium, ace investor and self-described Boomer Vijay Kedia delivered a Valentine's Day masterclass that mixed wit with hard market truths. Drawing on Gen Z’s dating lexicon, he decoded investing with termslike situationship, breadcrumbing and ghosting. The message: whether in love or investing, commitment and clarity drive results.

Emotional collapse

Kedia began by comparing the pulse of a relationship to the fluctuations of a stock chart. “There are two places where intelligence collapses—the stock market and love,” Kedia said.

In both, he argued, impatience and emotional overreach derail rational thinking. When trust and commitment evaporate, the probability of failure shoots up. “Undefined positions create undefined returns, whether it is love or the stock market. You have to know what you're doing, and that is the only way you will be successful.”

Market ‘situationship’

Recounting a conversation with a Gen Z friend, Kedia invoked the term ‘situationship'—a grey area where people meet without clarity about the future. He said many young investors share a similar equation with the markets. “They do not know why they are here, what their vision is, how long they are going to stay here, or how much allocation they will make. They don’t know when they will enter or exit, or why they buy, sell, or hold—they just do not have that clarity,” he said.