The 3 Pitfalls to achieving Financial Freedom

The goal of Financial Freedom is to break free of the dependence on and compulsions of money.In my advisory practice, I’ve seen those that managed to do so, and those that are unable to do so.So where are the pitfalls? 1 Materialistic accumulations Life is an ever increasing need to experience higher and higher sense …

Understanding how Investment Marketing appeals to our mind

And the correct questions to ask Recently I received a forwarded message about an investment product: First thing to note is that this is a Fintech Product. And looking through the website, it is a crytocurrency trading algo. There are a great many investments free from speculation risk, e.g. FD, bonds... Fintech and Crypto are …

Investment Review 30th Sept 2020

I last posted my Annual Investment Review in January 2017, looking back on 2016. https://aikyong.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/investment-review-2016-revised/ Since then I've stopped investing in single stocks and continued on a diversified plan. I thought I'll look back on my investment performance since it's been awhile. Before I dive into the investments, note that I have dabbled in new …

Why diversify when xxxx is returning x%?

One question I get asked a lot is why I recommend a diversified investment when I know that xxxx is doing so well at the moment. There are many double digit and sometimes triple digit returns, e.g. China stocks, tech stocks, etc. why are we spreading our eggs into many baskets? Sometimes even Warren Buffet …

Fintech Investment Review

Cryptocurrency Commentary: First thing to notice is that Cryptocurrency is faraway the highest return at 61% annualised return compare to 14%/10%/2% for others. This hasn't always been the case as at one point it made a loss. The idea of cryptocurrency is that it is created to counter inflation from government issued currencies. To this …

How low can Interest Rate go?

So Bank Negara did another round of Interest Rate cut, reducing OPR from 2.5% to 2.0%. Soon FDs in bank will start paying lower interest, Money Market Funds will definitely follow suit. But how low can Interest Rate go? Why is it going lower? To answer this question, it may be instructive to review what …

Is it time to invest?

"Heng, markets are up, Donald Trump going to sign trade deal with China, Boris Johnson won (UK) election by a landslide, PMI is up, unemployment is down. But... The ten year recession cycle is coming. Is it time to invest?" This is a very common question, especially if it is hard earned money. It doesn't …

Unraveling Insurance Speak

Do you have a nagging feeling that your insurance agent did not tell you the whole story about the policy he/she wanted you to buy? Do you feel like something is wrong but you couldn't say exactly what it is? Well, you are not alone, and even a Financial Advisor like me needed to be …

On the misconception of trading time for money and trading money for time

“Before diagnosed with C, my father was busy working, earning money. After that, he retired and tried to join in the family’s activities. Before he was always saying ‘you guys go ahead’, nowadays it’s always ‘where you guys going?’. It’s driving me and my siblings nuts!” - Ms W... One thing the family members always …

Stories we tell ourselves about market irrationality

One of the dangers of investing on our own is the abstract stories we tell ourselves about market behavior. Generally, at this point in time, the story is about the market’s “irrational” behavior. There are some stories about how value investing doesn’t work anymore. The investment models and numbers doesn’t map onto the market. There …