This is a keystone post that I update regularly as my understanding and perspectives evolve with time. This is one of my biggest learnings in 2023. 见山是山，见水是水；见山不是山，见水不是 水；见山还是山，见水还是水。 Translation:Seeing the mountain is the mountain, seeing the water is the water.Seeing the mountain is not the mountain, seeing water is not the water;Seeing the mountain is…More
A bright future: Own the game ⚽🏀
Life can be difficult. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do we blame our lives for being unfair, whine and resigned to fate? We cannot solve life’s problems except by solving them. Hope is not a strategy. We have to take responsibility to solve the problem.
Own the game.More
Embracing the finiteness of life and what remains ⌛
The Death Paradox: You must know your death in order to truly live your life.
Don’t wait and assume. We will never know when and how our health and mental capacity will deteriorate. More
The races and journey of life 🏁🚗🚘
Life is not about a race for grades followed by the corporate rat race and then, retirement. Life needs not to be a race that everyone else is running to. Rather, it is about defining and living on our own terms.More
Redefining our meaning of money 💰 and life 😊 towards financial independence
Life > Get good grades + Earn good money Most of us study hard to get good grades, learn a skill, work to earn money and save. Many assume we will be healthy, and work until retirement to enjoy life. Ironically, we are not taught what to do with the money earned and saved. Some…More
The great investing myth (11): Generalisations to make money
Many generalise when they invest. Examples: Generalisations can be dangerous. Here are some ways people generalise: Generalizations can be useful for forming quick judgments or making decisions, but do beware of the following: Here are a few traps when investors rely on generalisations to invest: How have we generalised? These are usually from our past…More
My mother
A short story Her story was collated by my second brother Birthplace Born in Jinsha village about 30 km from Shantou in December 1927, she grew up in a multi-generation house built by her great-grandfather. Imagine a central building that served as the main hall to receive guests with a big courtyard. There were rows…More
📚 Best Loser Wins: Why Normal Thinking Never Wins the Trading Game by Tom Hougaard
Note: While the book is about trading, it is applicable to investing too. Most traders lose money. Two main reasons are: The net effect is that they can have a high win rate, but, on average, they profit less on eachg winning trade and they lose more on each losing trade. Hence, they end up…More
The Picasso Bull of Investing 🐂: How to identify high-quality companies with a few metrics
People generalise to make sense of the world. Generalizations allow us to organize our thoughts and experiences, and to make predictions about new situations. It allows us to make decisions quickly and efficiently. However, there can be biases and inaccuracies. What we need is an approach that simplifies and yet, captures the essence. Abstracting and…More
📖 Building wealth through REITs (3rd edition) by Bobby Jayaraman
Overview of REITs Attractiveness of REITsThe biggest attraction about REITs is that it is a very simple business to understand: raise money from investors (equity) and take a loan from banks (debt) to fund and manage properties. Here are reasons why REITs make good investments: There are some major differences of the loans a REIT…More
The Truth About REITs: They’re Not as Simple as They Seem 😈
Many investors like REITs because of their consistent dividend payout which can be 2 or 4 (half-yearly or quarterly) times a year. While the business model is simple, there are details that investors must be aware of and be careful with their implications. Similar to equities and any businesses, only a handful are high-quality where…More
📖 Making your millions in REITs by Gabriel Yap
Business model of REITsThe fundamental operation of a REIT is that the manager undertakes loans and issues new equity to buy assets, lease the assets and collect rental from the assets. Total shareholder returnThere are two components of total return for REIT shareholders: (a) a rising Distribution Per Unit (DPU) and (b) a rising REIT…More
🎥 Netflix: After Life
I was watching an interview with Daily Ketchup with Ng Kok Song, a candidate for the Singapore Presidential Election. He was talking about his last 19 months spent with his last wife; a segment worth watching and re-watching. The host mentioned the “After Life” series he was watching. Wow, what a discovery! It is certainly…More
⚠️ Can Beng Kuang Marine turn around and get out of SGX Watch list?
Nothing in this article is intended to be financial advice and should not be taken as such, please do your research before investing. ⚠️ This is considered a high-risk stock. Introduction The principal activities of Beng Kuang Marine Limited are the provision of corrosion prevention services relating to repairing ships, tankers and other ocean-going vessels…More