Who influence you into investing? (3)

Read? Who influence you into investing? (2)

My friend was telling me so-and-so bloggers and so-and-so Higher Immortals have made so much money in their weekly or monthly summary reports claiming their achievement.

My advice to reading these cyber posts by bloggers or High Immortals. Summary results can be nicely trimmed for intended presentation. We have to learn to be wiser and don't trust the number easily as there is no way for us to back track their actual transactions and add the number up.

Few bloggers will dare to post per transaction near real-time.

Scare of losing face when losing har???

Actually there is nothing to hide as LOSING is always part of the Game!!!

Who influence you into investing? (2)

Read? Who influence you into investing?

In investing, it is like 8 Immortals crossing the river .....

Once, after all 8 Immortals have crossed the river they looked so powerful with their methods and strategies. Soon, they will have devotees following them and hoping to gain their magical powers if they worship them long enough.

Who should we learn and follow?

When you go around reading more and more investment, trading and financial blogs, you may trip yourself into confusion and somehow realise one Immortal's magic seems more powerful than the earlier Immortal whom you have been following so closely.  At the same time, you are hearing some Higher Immortals said that you have to burn $3,000 to get their blessing to impart that little magic of theirs to you.

So how, devotees?

Who influence you into investing?

invest, me & my money, june 26, 2011 thesunday,

He was influenced by a former colleague who was making huge profits in the stock market.

Read? The truths behind the ideas of making money in the stock market.

Somehow, I was quite re-assured and confident after knowing that these Lao Jiao ex-colleagues have make it big in the stock market. I began to believe that I am the promising Eagle. I can fly!

May be you should open your eyes wide and look around your office. As we spend lots of our precious time in the office and if we can find people in the office who are successful in making money in the stock market. It can be truly influencing and believing as you see them with your own eyes everyday.

They will only share with you unless they can trust you not to back-stab them. LOL!

The truths behind the ideas of making money in the stock market.

Read? Major STI market cycles - Horrible Bears and Beautiful Bulls!

Read? Harsh lessons from 1997/98 and 2007/08 stock crisis

Read? I did it my way – Singapore Man of Leisure

Personally, I have witnessed my father-in-law and brothers-in-law all badly burnt in CLOB saga. How could I not fear the stock market? Actually, my spouse forbid me from the stock market and I did it like keeping mistresses outside. It has to be top secret or else the hell will break lose. LOL!

But I also heard from three “Lao Jiao colleagues' mouth different stories:

(1 ) One day, this "Lao Jiao" hearing us debating on the "truth" of making lots of money from the stock market. I think he must be "buay tahan" and told us off. He said: "My house and everything in it are paid by the stock market."

(2) Another "Lao Jiao" told us his daughter's overseas university education in Australia was fully funded by the stock market.

(3) One day, the last "Lao Jiao" whom we knew he was making good money from stock market casually remarked this: "If you don't want to make money from stock market, you are stupid!"


I believe the three "Lao Jiao" may have encountered their own failures but finally they have found their ways and have huge success in the stock market. I still believe that the stock market is only for the truly committed players in the long run or else you will become lunches for the predators.

Do you have any true stories of success and failure in the stock market to share?

Freedom at 44

Freedom at 44

Last week, we discussed how retiring young and rich can be an attainable goal if one plans early and invests wisely. Today, we run a personal letter from RONALD HEE, who shows it is possible to become financially free as a hardworking salaryman, without needing to rob a bank or be a corporate high-flier

To the graduating class of 2008:

YOU are entering a world of amazing possibilities - possibilities that people of my generation barely believed would be possible. The world is, quite literally, your oyster. You also enter a world fraught with challenges and dangers, and ever rising costs of everything.

In our day, the options were limited, but inflation remained low most of the time, and there was job security. I still have friends who are in the same company since they graduated 20 years ago. For you today, inflation is roughly twice the interest the banks are giving you. You will probably change jobs every two to three years. And you can be fired from any of them at any time. Or, any company you work for could downsize or close down just when you least expect it.

So, for middle-class working Joes like us, does it mean that just to survive, we will be chained to our desks until the day we die - if we're lucky and not get replaced or downsized? Is financial freedom at the tender age of 44 - for you, 20 years of earning - an impossible dream? It really boils down to one simple formula. Earn more than you spend; invest what you save.

The first thing, of course, is to find a good job. There will be many, here and around the world. But don't rely on your company or your boss to take care of you. You have to take care of yourself, regardless of the profession you choose. Assuming you are not in the lucky handful who will inherit a fortune or get a job that pays you in the six figures, or win the lottery, the career you choose is what makes your path to financial freedom possible. But you have to plan that path.

Let's first look at the cost side of the equation. Buy what you need and some of what you want and know the difference. Do you really need a 200-inch high-definition plasma TV, complete with state-of-the-art home theatre system? And how many hours per day are you going to enjoy that system? Instead of spending tens of thousands on something you will use for a few hours a week, consider instead how that money could work for you.

One thing that surprises me about the younger generation is your propensity to spend on credit. Why buy things you don't need, with money you don't have? To impress people you don't like? Here's a crazy idea: Have the bank pay you interest for your money, rather than you pay the bank interest for their money. Twenty-four per cent interest? That's approaching loan shark rates.

Always, always, pay your credit card bills in full. Can't afford to pay? Simple solution. Spend less. Be low maintenance.

At some point, you'd probably want to buy a car. With an excellent MRT and bus system, and taxis when you need them, is it worth getting a car? Unless you have a real need - you're a salesman, you have a family to ferry around, your child is sick all the time, your mum is old, your girlfriend will leave you otherwise - the reality is that a car is simply not worth it. Over 10 years, a $50,000 car will cost you about $130,000, once you factor in petrol, road tax, repairs, car payments and interest on the payments, parking tickets, a few minor accidents... Again, it's better for that money to work for you.

Like most people, your biggest purchase will probably be a home. For most of us, our first home will be a government flat. Whether you buy public or private, consider buying something that you can continue to pay for, for at least six months, should you be suddenly out of work. If you don't mind the loss of privacy, consider renting out any spare rooms. It's not impossible for your rental income to match your mortgage payments.

Now let's look at the income side. Your basic fallback is your CPF account. Let's assume that by age 44, you've worked 20 years. Assuming an average of $1,000 a month, you will accumulate $240,000, not including interest. Invest it if you wish, but the main use of CPF should be to pay for your home, so your cash outlay is minimised. In 20 years, with $240,000, you could quite easily pay off your flat. With your spouse also chipping in 50 per cent for the flat, you should have more than enough.

If you've managed your expenses right, it's quite possible to save an average of $1,000 a month. This, of course, gets easier as you grow older and earn more. Put some away into a savings account as your rainy day fund, eventually building up enough to keep you going for six months or more. Put the rest in the hands of a good financial planner. This is someone who should be able to give you an average return of at least 10 per cent a year. The miracle of compound interest will yield you $756,030 at the end of 20 years, more than three times what you put in!

It's now 2028. Twenty years have passed and it's your 44th birthday. You are into your second or third home by now, or maybe even have a spare house, each time either breaking even or making a small profit. You have a healthy CPF balance that covers basic needs. You've taken care of some health risks by buying insurance policies when you were young and they were cheap. And your investment portfolio is chugging along very nicely, yielding around $70,000 a year, without depleting your capital, so it's sustainable for the long-term. $70,000 a year is equal to a tax-free monthly 'salary' of $5,800. Not too bad.

CPF + savings + especially your investments = financial freedom. Work part time. Start your own business. Do something else that pays a lot less but fulfils you more, such as church or charity work. Become a beach bum in Bali. Or travel round the world for six months. Financial freedom means the freedom to make these kinds of choices.

So, my young friends, my wish for you as you embark on the next stage of your life is that you will plan from the beginning to be financially free. May you have the discipline and luck to accomplish it!

Ronald Hee, 44, is a freelance writer, and just a little shy of financial freedom

Young and financially free

An article from BT
Published January 15, 2007

Young and financially free

This 28-year-old is living comfortably on the income generated from his equities, writes JASON LOW


FINANCIAL freedom may be a distant reality for most youths, but not for this particular savvy private investor.

Well-travelled investor: MrChia's investing style and occupation give him a lot of free time to pursue his interest in trekking in tough terrain

Alvin Chia, 28, gained financial freedom a year ago through private investing and is living comfortably on the regular passive income that his equities are generating for him today. This is a remarkable feat considering that most people find it hard to be financially free even in their senior years.

With a very substantial six-figure equities portfolio, fully paid condominium home and various overseas investments, Mr Chia is very much the ideal investor that youths want to be these days.

When asked how he started out, Mr Chia explains: 'I come from a middle-class family and my parents emphasised the importance of saving right from the start. I did not receive much pocket money and had to work and save to buy what I wanted.'

For Mr Chia, the importance of investing struck him at a young and tender age. 'I made my first conscious investing decision when I was in secondary school while I was selling hamsters to schoolmates,' he says. 'I realised that the more I invested in rearing hamsters, the more the passive income I will receive once the hamsters reproduced.'

Indeed, it is such financially astute decisions that made him the successful private investor he is today. Working as a tuition agent and toiling long hours in other part time jobs, he managed to save $40,000 for investment in equities by age 21.

But like all young investors, he made some costly mistakes at the start but managed to turn the tide since then. In fact, he became so confident about his improved investing techniques that he decided to invest full time a few years back.

'I learnt from my initial mistakes and right now, I only invest in fundamentally good dividend yielding stocks at a discounted price from its book value,' he says. 'These stocks give the investor passive income on a regular basis and the potential capital appreciation to its book value in the long term makes them a highly attractive investment.'

And that has been his investing philosophy for the past seven years. Even when he decided to invest full time, he did not trade in the market.

Instead, he went long on several fundamentally sound dividend yielding stocks and has reaped the dividends ever since. Indeed, his investing style and occupation give him a lot of free time to pursue his interest in trekking in the tough terrains, especially those in Nepal and Thailand.

'I am adventurous by nature and relish the challenges posed by tough terrains,' he says. 'It truly develops my adeptness in making the right decisions in severe conditions, a quality that is vital in making crucial investment decisions.'

In fact, he can converse fluently in both Nepalese and Thai and he puts it to good use. 'Learning to speak the native language is not only essential in understanding the instructions from the trekking guides, but it also gives me the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart chat with the natives to really understand the local environment.'

Indeed, the well-travelled investor feels that local youths are taking the stable and safe environment in Singapore for granted.

'The local youths are so much more fortunate than those in other parts of the world and should really take this opportunity to work even harder in upgrading themselves and contributing to the society,' he says.

Inherent risks

But perks aside, the inherent risks of being a private investor are evident. Mr Chia has no fixed income to fall back on during rainy days and his portfolio value is vulnerable to the volatility of the market.

Thus, he has to monitor the market constantly and does his own in-depth market research. 'Reported market news are usually second-hand information, hence I cannot usually rely much on these outdated information in making my investment decisions,' he says.

He also has this last piece of advice for young budding investors out there: 'Cultivate good investing habits early by reading about Warren Buffet's trading philosophy and learning from the mistakes made by other prominent and successful investors.

'Saving and acquiring financial knowledge are two life-long habits that a young investor must practise right from the start. And while mistakes are bound to be made in the process, take them positively as mistakes are the best teachers in life.'