Books

1. "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham

2. "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert T. Kiyosaki

3. “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

4. “One Up On Wall Street” by Peter Lynch

5. "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" by Philip Fisher

6. “The Complete Turtle Trader” by Covel, Michael W

Have you heard of or read the above books? I did and I read more than that.

Understanding the ideas, principles and strategies behind these books may not necessarily means you will be successful in investing. These ideas require you to have certain discipline and skill sets. And more importantly, patience.

There is another part of  investment which you need to understand and that is your psychology about money and human nature.

Stock Market Crises / Panic since 1995

1. Asian Financial Crisis (1997)

2. CLOB (Central Limit Order Book) saga between Malaysia and Singapore during the Asian Financial Crises

3. The Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) crisis of 1998

4. Dot-Com Bubble Burst / Scare (2000)

5. SARS Outbreak in Asia (2003)

6. Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008) also known as the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

7. COVID-19 Market Crash (2020)

Were you participating in the market and gone through these market scares with either prolonged uncertainty or recession or just a short scare? I did.

How about the exacerbation of market optimism that seems unstoppable and pushing the market to higher high? I had seen it too.

While there was a trigger point (or warning signs) in the above so-called crises, many are not so clear in the beginning or did not seem so serious until a chain reaction (or more uglies were exposed) occurred.

Lost a 5-figure sum in the CLOB saga when Malaysia imposed capital control and restricted access to the shares and trading.  The CLOB shares I owned  turned worthless when the companies went bust / delisted. I still receive monthly statement up to today to remind me of my stupidity. Mistake: Follow the crowd and follow blindly.

Warren Buffet's famous statement: “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.”

So did I made heaps of money over these crises? Hell no! Because of these factors:

1. Did not cash out before crises start

2. Already fully invested and no more spare cash

3. Need the cash for other expenses

4. Enter too early and the market dipped further south. And no more cash to buy

5. Not knowing what to buy cos everything is on sale

6. No guts despite knowing it could be good opportunity

To sum up: No spare cash to buy more despite the great sale.

Morale of the story: Don’t dump all money in too early. Must give Mr Market sometime to unwind further.

Some of my investments went bust - National Bank of Greece (bank is not always safe), Taxus Cardium Pharmaceuticals Group (don’t touch the stock if you don’t know much about the industry). Losing 5-figure sums over these 2 investments alone.

Have I been burnt by stocks from specific countries? Yes, in the early year, it was Indonesian companies and, in the mid 2010s were the China companies listed in SGX.

Have I been lucky? Yes too. There is a stock that I held on since Subprime and managed to recover all the losses and breakeven recently after averaging down the price. Was lucky to cash out before the sharp drop of the market in early Aug 2024.

Investment Courses

Have I attended investment courses? Yup, paid a couple of thousand dollars to attend a course on Forex and another on stock investment. Courses were run by so called guru and filled with promises like after course support, weekly sharing and meeting, a community of investors and advice from seniors who were doing well etc.

Successful and become a millionaire? Again, the answer is no. Why?  Perhaps it is my lack of discipline to stick to the formula, too many indicators to monitor, too many rules or checklist items to conform to?

But did I gain anything from these courses? Yes. Got to learn the jargons, learn the basic of Forex, learn things like non-farm payroll, triple expiration day and how the financial instruments could be intertwined such as options affecting stock price etc. And see how they cheer and high-five each other for doing well.

My question is must investments be so complicated? Can’t it be simpler?

Rules and Principles

Do I have my rules in investing? Definitely. In the recent year, I don’t over commit. I don’t chase the penny stock. I don’t average down anyhow. I set a certain percentage over the different types of instrument such as stocks in SGX vs foreign stocks in other stock exchange. I set a certain percentage for ETFs, Reits, Fixed-income instruments and equity.

Do I have principle in investing? Yes. So far, I avoid investing in tobacco companies.

The Big Question

Am I in red? Yes, portfolio wise.

Worry? Maybe yes and no. Cos most of the companies I have now are supposed to be blue chips or solid companies. Of course, companies and industries face changes, challenges and market disruptions.

Overall outcome so far? Factoring the dividends I received and profit I cashed out. I am glad I am in blue. However, I have not reached my target and my performance has yet to reach my own expectations. Still have room for improvement.

Will continue to refine this article…