To The Moon

You know, I just had a thought. About the good things we have seen this year and of the bad. The Good When I watched the final last week, I thought it was the best match I've ever seen. The thrill of the two teams fighting hard. Even though it was 2 am (Singapore time), I was glad to say that I was there. Having seen one of my childhood heroes finally win the World Cup was something I thought was impossible, but now it was in front of my eyes. Messi hugged the trophy, slept with it and basically lived with it for a while. But did you know that there was a guy who won 3? A Brazilian our parents (or for those of you who are a little older) remember. For them, in their memories, there was a moment (or three) where Pele carried his team, and country 3 times to win the World Cup. Back then, seeing that live would have been memorable. For us, those times are unimaginable now, for we have not seen it ourselves (or rather, most of the people I know). We will never be able to live those moments and they would seem foreign to us. That's soccer. Will we see better or think soccer can get better? I doubt so... The Bad Now... It led me to think about the stock market from the year 2022 (I just started investing, so I can't talk about 2021). I've never seen a stock market crash, multiple times because of the war (heck, it was the first time there was such a big war which happened in Ukraine) and subsequently a recession and inflation which affects so much of my daily live. These events affected me more than when I was a child because the high prices of food hit my wallet, now that I've got a family to support. I've never seen such high interest rates, which will affect me because of my mortgage. I've never seen it go past 3%, let alone 5%. Unfortunately, fixed deposit rates also rose when I had the least capital. All these has profound effects on the stock market and it was the first time I've seen and have been affected by such volatility. So why I am telling you these? Like the World Cup or World Cups many years ago which our parents remember and were shaped by them, so will we, by these moments that have past. In our investment journey, or rather, mine at least, I want to make sure I remember the experiences and lessons learnt because they may never come again and much less even experienced by those younger than us. While my pocket (as per many other investors) hurt, looking back at these experiences have allowed me to grow and grow fast. I'm not sure if that is normal, but as a new investor, it's definitely new to me. I will never: 1. Take low interest rates for granted again, or think that low interest rates will always last. 2. Think that a market crash due to a war or disease outbreak will never happen. 3. Not have emergency savings in case of high prices (food and daily essentials). 4. Ignore macro events around the world. As a habit, I always read the news paper now and ask myself how certain events many seas away from me will affect me. Like how my parents will always remember how Pele won 3 World Cups many moons ago, I hope I will never forget the thrill of the thriller in Qatar. I don't think I'll see better. But for the moments and lessons I've lived through and learnt during Covid-19, the war and the recession. All of these moments have molded the start of my investing journey. We...having been through the worst, can only get better because we survived. Things can only get better (thank you @snoopy123 for the inspiration) @TigerStars @TigerEvents @MillionaireTiger @CaptainTiger @Tiger_chat P.S. A shout out to Pele, whom is suffering from cancer and is critically ill. Even though I may not have seen you play live, thanks for making football what it is today. I don't think anyone can better your feats.