Inflation and Interest Rates

Inflation and interest rates have the ability to change the returns on our investments, but do we understand how they affect them or pay a lot of attention to them?

Diworsification

This is a sequel to my previous post on diversification and is intended to cover (on the contrary) why we shouldn't diversify too much as well.

Diversification

Are we doing diversification wrongly? We may think that we are well-diversified when in actual fact we are still concentrated largely in one area or type of investment. Why should we even practice diversification in the first place, wouldn't it dilute our returns on the good investments?

Reading Annual Reports

It's the time of year again, where companies with financial years ending on 31 Dec have sent out or are in the process of sending out their annual reports (Wooo......) Is it important to read through the annual reports? Yes, of course it is. Here are some of the reasons why and things to look out for when looking through the annual report of the company

Past Performance as an Indication of the Future

When looking at whether we should invest in something, it may be convenient to look at the past trends for the investment or company and make our decision solely on that, believing that the company will continue to perform as it has in the past. Of course, looking at the past is better than looking at nothing at all, but choosing an investment solely on the past performance of a company (such as investing in a blue chip when it is cheap and just believing that it will continue to deliver the results of a blue chip) is probably not the best investment decision that you or I can make.

Missed the Boat..... Again!

Just 2 weeks ago I was still debating whether I should be getting Keppel and more of Sembcorp Industries, but it seems that I may have missed the boat again. From somewhere around $2.60 for Sembcorp 2 weeks ago to its current $3.14 and just about $5 to above $6 now for Keppel. Sigh, maybe I acted too slowly, so what should I be doing now?

What Makes a Good Investment

What should we be looking out for before making an investment? Profits, history, dividends, balance sheet, there are so many things that can affect our investment, so which are the most important ones for us to refer to before we decide to invest in something? I'll cover the 5 most important things (with the most important at number 1) that I think we should factor into our decision to invest in something

What would you do if you won the lottery?

The $12 million Hong Bao draw is this Friday and I haven't got a ticket (a lottery ticket is one of the worst investments you can make), but it's still nice to fantasize about what I can do if I win the lottery.

Are Oil and Gas Companies a Good Buy?

The last few weeks haven't been very kind to oil and gas companies, especially Keppel and the two Sembcorp companies, with Sembcorp Industries reaching 2008 crash levels before rebounding on Friday as well as Sembcorp Marine before rumours that its parent, Sembcorp Industries would inject funds to save it or take over full control of it. With such low prices, are oil and gas companies a good buy at their current price levels.

Enjoy the Journey

I came across this article (I'd Rather Be Young by Budgets Are Sexy) online, where the author mentions that he prefers to be young rather than be an older person who has accomplished a goal that he is striving towards (eg buying a house, retiring or paying off debt). I think this is an interesting take on things. Why do we keep rushing to complete our goals, be it attaining financial freedom, buying a house, etc, instead of enjoying the now.

Thinking to Myself

This is going to be a short post.

So, the stock market is still not doing well and blue-chips are falling to quite cheap prices relative to the past few years, especially the ones to do with oil and gas, such as Sembcorp Marine and Keppel. It feels so tempting to buy these blue-chip shares at these low price, but then again, nothing's been stabilized and share prices may fall further. 

Or maybe it's no point timing the market and just slowly buy on the way down and then slowly selling when the price has reached my intrinsic value of the share, but even then, at what rate should we invest more? As the topic says, this post is nothing much other than me thinking out loud, feel free to comment/answer some of my thoughts :)

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2016

Happy New Year! As a Chinese saying goes: 一年之计在于春，一日之计在于晨, the planning for the year should be done in the spring and the planning for the day should be done in the morning. To start to year right, we have to start planning earlier on the year so that we can enjoy the fruits at the end of the year. So, I'm going to write down my resolutions for 2016 in the first post of this new year.

Opportunity Loss

What is an opportunity loss? For this post, I'll take it as the loss in opportunity to make more money by investing our money rather than keeping it as cash in the bank, or in other words, the returns that we have given up by not investing our money. 

REITs

I realised that I hardly touch on REITs in my blog posts, so thought I should share some quick thoughts on them as well as acting as an update on an earlier post that I did on REITs. I still don't think that REITs make good investments at their current prices, but I may reconsider this in the near future as market conditions changes.

Should We Look at Book Value?

Is book value an important consideration for you before you invest in a company or do you focus more on the earnings and the potential of the company? While I think that earnings and the potential for the growth of the company are important (maybe most important), but we should also take book value into consideration

3 Ideas to Make Investing Simpler

Investing can be complicated and to some, an abstract concept, but there are some ways to view it to make it easier to understand. We do not need to have a PhD in Statistics or Economics in order to do well in investing, we just need to have the right ideas and mindset towards it (a good attitude is a plus as well). I'm going to share some of the ideas I've had that may make the concept and the process of investing sound simpler.

Is It Always Best to Buy At Dips?

Paying sky high prices for your investments is definitely not a good idea to grow your money. So, is the opposite, buying during the dips, a much better strategy to follow? I think so, but we also have to be careful when applying it as well

Staying Calm

Going through rushes of different emotions can really mess up our decisions. I think this applies to all aspects of life, letting our emotions influence our emotions is really something that we shouldn't do or we make end up making long-term decisions based on short-term interests

Ostrich With Head in The Sand

The market seems to keep on going down, ok, maybe except for today, but the rest of the days seems to be having a downward trend. I was thinking, maybe being busy at this point in time is actually a good thing, with less time to check the market and worry over past decision. It's like when a ostrich hides its head in the sand (I know this is a myth, but I'm just using the metaphor) when it faces problems, what I don't see doesn't bother me.....

Love What You Do

Came across this article online: http://www.businessinsider.sg/people-who-love-their-jobs-get-richer-2015-8/. It basically talks about how rich people generally do what they enjoy for a living and that's what this post is going to be about