Speculating vs Value InvestingI have had my fair share of little experience in both sides, with ups and downs. Speculating Ups and DownsThe boat I could have gotten off from speculating was a 722% gain. Unfortunately I was too raw and naive in the investing world and fantasised about astronomical gains before I could get out. The worst result from speculation was the grand old Toto where any bet went to ZERO. [Facepalm] Value Investing ExperienceThe upside from Value investing is not as highas speculation for the same time period. My maximal % gain is only 80% currently. However this is excluding dividends and the value of the stock that can raise further if I hold longer. Of course I have had a 84% loss (excluding dividend gains) as well.So how?Although the gains from specu

Recently last month, my investment in $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$  almost reached the famous 2 bagger. (100% increase). Of course this is a worthwhile celebration. However do not that this is NOT a recommendation to buy META, but more of a reflection exercise on what any investor can consider if this happens in their life. The case to SELL One of the initial strategies that I came across while learning how to invest is to sell and take profit once you hit a 2 bagger. In fact, sell 50% of what you have, take back your initial investment, and hold the rest till eternity. This seems like a good proposition until you realise that it's foolish as: 1. On selling, somehow psychologically the price will go up and you will beat yourself up for

[Work or Investing???] How to make 1 million? Well the easiest method that happened to me when i held, not just 1 million, but MILLIONS on my hand and I felt super nervous at the people around me. How is it possible? Well I was a student at that time and I changed my SGD to Vietnamese Dong. So I had Millions of Dong on my hand.[Cool]   Jokes aside, why limit yourself to Working or Investing? WorkIng to Millions Well working to Millions as an Employee seems only privileged to a certain few. With the median income in Singapore at $5k+, it'll take almost an eternity to hit one million purely by employment. The exception however, would be if you are: 1. Working at the C suite or as a CEO like for example$DBS Group Holdings(D05.SI)$ 

What is the best way to hedge your portfolio?There are so many ways to consider when I read this topic. Here are some quick points to consider.1. Hedge? Why hedge? Cost ultimately because you might not have conviction in your position, so perhaps the risk involved is too great and you want to reduce it. Like buying insurance, a bit is fine but if you buy too much, it doesn't make sense.2. Diversification of Assets - gold, property, stock, options, crypto. All of it won't plunge at ago. If it does, the whole world will get hit.3. Portfolio sizing - 3 positions in a stock will be 33.3% portfolio size. This is ok for a small time and initial investor where is amount invested is small. (Think 1k-10k, or 10% of your nett worth). 5-10 positions of sizing will lead to 10-20% of each position. (11

What to do in a market crash?Well first of all CELEBRATE.As a value investor especially during the bull runs, I have been waiting patiently for a crash together with my other fellow investors.Having seen the 1997, 2008 crashes and kicked myself silly for not investing. I subsequently loaded up on minor drips along the way. No regrets. Definately during this drip I will fire in more. However please fire in sensibly and never bet the house.Secondly, I will also review the valuations of quality companies and re look at my strategy which is to invest in undervalued quality companies that have a wide moat. I will also be moreprudent in my spending to load up on my dry powder. I have also been investing in indexes like $S&P 500(.SPX)$.Finally,

$Straits Times Index(STI.SI)$BearishThe trend of the STI index is implying a downward top line with a stronger support line around 3072. The MACD has turned also indicating bearishness.On the fundamental side, Singapore's core inflation has jumped to an all time high of 5.1%. This is a 14 year high. What this means is thatfor all people who DID NOT get a 5.1% increment is effectively burning money now.Even if you were to invest in high interest ratefixed deposits or T-bills of 3%, your money isgoing to lose value over time.The flip side is that I am bullish for banks like $DBS LTD(D05.SI)$. Interest rates going up isgoing to make banking earnings look wonderful although the question is whether th

[Reflection of 2023] It's been almost 2 years of reflections for me for my Robo DCA vs S&P (bottom shot) vs Tiger investments. How did I fair? Robo To be fair, Robo had most of the cushooting when the sky was falling in 2022 due to its bond and widespread allocations into various mutual funds. To date, I am proud to have DCAed my Robo into a postive 0.23%[LOL] [Grin]   Allocation here was a larger amount and it comprised of investments meant for long term and lower risk so I am fine with the results. If the Fed cuts interest rates and the markets fly to the moon, this portfolio will likewise fly. If black swans hit, I will DCA to get better results with this portfolio so its win-win either way. S&P500 bottom shot My firing[Cool]  was done in 2022 with fixed

Chanced upon an article to state that "Grandfather of Value Investing" Warren Buffett is backing back his own stock. In fact for the past 6weeks, he has bought back $1.3 Billion of his own stock. Why so?Stock is undervalued based on 10X EBTBased on an historical article in Seeking Alpha, Buffet buys back when the stock is only undervalued and one way of assessing it is using 10X pretax earnings (EBT). Based on the author's estimation in 2021, the IV of $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$ is at $194. However BRK.B is now at $268.08. So why the buy back? I did some snooping with Tiger values using the 10X EBT + Cash and my IV was $192.67. Using the numbers in GF, using EPS instead of EBT, I got $436. If I used the GF number and divided

The Best Hedge against conflict With the recent Hamas Israel war breaking out, it seems that we will need to bet for the 22nd century to be a peaceful one instead. That is provided both you and I are around to see it. [LOL]   Jokes aside, given this uncertainty, with oil prices going north, conflict in Israel, US inflation, Fed interest rates, China property going down, what should we invest in? One level of thinking Investing in Gold or gold related stocks such as $Barrick Gold Corp(GOLD)$ would seem to be rationale thing. After all, the greater the uncertainty, the higher gold will climb. After all, doesn't the governments around the world horde gold? Another level would be to look into Oil related and Defence related stocks

$Alphabet(GOOGL)$Bullish about Alphabet in the mid to long term. The price now is in the mouth watering $80s, with lots of attractive valuations. For example, it EV/EBIT = 13.16 with a ROE of26.6% is insane. The GF value of $140.78 stays with a MOS of about 40%. The price is also comfortably below the DCF values and medianPS value. Fundamentally, the stock may plunge further due to negative sentiment as the Fed is still likely to hike interest rates till the employment data or pay data shows inflation abating. However, $Alphabet(GOOGL)$is fundamentally strongwith a very strong ROIC >>> WACC. It's debt to equity is at 0.11, with a 4.02 cash to debt. So what

Level 3,5,6 at differing instrumentsz For e.g. level 3 CPF investor. No risk, compounds 2.5-4% Level 5 Robo investor into various mutual fund, etf. Level 6 Tiger investor, with certain concentrations. Any Level 7’s here? Keen to learn from you. [Grin] @daz88888888 @LMSunshine @melson @Bonta @GoodLife99 @SirBahamut @CaptainTiger

This week has been the week of mega dips.And I must say looking at the dips that I am having, it cannot compare to these mega dips.Firstly there is the amazing 56% plunge that Upstart had when it did not meet the expectations. I recall my friend texting me asking if I wasvested and I said thankfully not.Then there was the mother of all crypto crashes that dipped 98%, and to date 99% drop in Luna. This was widely covered in Tiger news as well as in my investment groups. Imagine your investment going down overnight like that. What to do emotionally?First, come to grips that your own life is more valuable than your investments. We are humanand to be human means we make mistakes. To err is human and to forgive divine. And we need to forgive ourselves for missing that assumption or le

$IFAST CORPORATION LTD.(AIY.SI)$Bullish on iFast even after the whole slew of bad news. Downside risk is that iFast had a large one offlost from the India operations and it's profit margins have dipped from 14.5% to 8.2%. Aside, there was a history of dilution of shareholders before, leading to a massive sell off. On the upside, it has a 0% debt equity ratio, and that was 5 years ago. No coverage is needed from operating cash flow and no payment of interest is needed. There has also been 91kshares bought in the past 3 months by insiders, with none selling out. Over the past 12 months, 4 insiders and 2 companies buying, while only 2 insiders selling. And the selling is around36k only for 12 months. Fired another bullet