Morgan Housel is as good as ever. A summary with my notes taken as there are many great nuggets. Summary Same As Ever argues that by understanding timeless human behavior and focusing on long-term thinking, we can make better decisions about our lives and our investments. Different but same; we are humans after all History…More
Author Archives: Lifenotes
3Cs of Investing: Contrarian, Consensus and Cult
As investors, we can broadly categorize ourselves into three main types: Contrarians, Consensus Investors, and Cult Followers. Let’s explore the key characteristics of each: Contrarian The contrarian investors look for mispriced stocks. They believe that these “hidden gems” have significant upside potential, even if the market is currently sceptical or fearful. The best contrian investments…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
A Journey of Self-Discovery: 见山见水的三重境界 ⛰️ 💧
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
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