If…

I finally have some time alone to write a post. It has been a busy week. Not easy when you have 2 kids with no domestic helper. You can’t really have much alone time to surf the internet.

I came across the below post and the poem as mentioned in the article.

Warren Buffett says investors should heed this 19th-century poem when the market is crashing (read here)

“If” written by the British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling in 1895.

The poem is actually much longer (than what is shown below – in blue). However, I think the first few sentences of the poem are pertinent to investing in the stock market.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

When running in the other direction becomes second nature to you.

When listening to your own mind rather than your heart is easy for you. You are then able to take advantages of the market volatility.

Currently, I think even a 16-years old teenage girl can comprehend that the stock market is ‘expensive’.

Extract from the article below (emphasis mine): “Yeah, it is a tempting thought. But when I calculated, this S$2,550 will become S$30,000 when I retire. The stock market’s too high anyway.” Kate replied.

Want To Know How This 16-Year Old Singaporean Student Stands To Make $30K From Working During Her School Holidays? (read here)

And oh yeah, I have transferred money to my SRS account, transferred from my CPF OA to CPF SA account, and well as updated my tax form (so I kinda know how much tax I would be paying this year).

Pertaining to tax, it really helped that I contributed to my SRS account and top up my parents’ CPF accounts… Also tax reliefs such as Qualifying Child Relief (QCR), Parenthood Tax Rebate helped as well.

With the tax reliefs – my personal tax amount this year has dropped significantly as compared to the amount I paid last year.

Cheat Sheet: Personal Income Tax In Singapore 2018 (read here)

I just spent some time tidying of my personal finances since I didn’t dwell too much on stocks.

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

Of course, I may be wrong. Markets don’t just crash because they are over-valued. There is always a trigger. And what do I know about markets nor the economy anyway?

I like to go into investment blog posts, forums, Facebook groups (related to personal finance and investment), and typically I find a lot of posts pertaining to stock trades. After all, many of the members trade frequently. The hot stocks such as Creative, AEM, LTC…

Hot stock: Creative Technology shares hit decade high (read here)

Extract from above article:

CGS-CIMB’s Mr Yeo told The Business Times on Monday: “If a competitor suddenly announced a competing technology, this whole euphoria could quickly evaporate, just as rapidly as it was built up.

“On the other hand, if Creative manages to execute, then the sky is the limit, as we have seen from the other tech giants.”

Some of the older generations might remember the glory days of Creative. I did not invest in Creative back then… and am really surprised by the sudden rise in stock price. However, I must say, Mr Sim Wong Hoo is someone whom I would respect.

Perhaps many Singaporeans want to believe (even if they haven’t even know how good is the Super X-Fi technology.

Watch this video (Sim Wong Hoo is back).

I think in this case, it could be like Amazon. Investors are very forgiving of tech stocks (even if they are not earning high profits and burning cash) – provided the founder is consistent in their beliefs (through the years).

Occasionally, I would study further into some of the companies behind the stocks to find out more. Perhaps I am wrong anyway.

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

I seriously think I might be suffering from ‘waiting fatigue’.

Waiting for the stocks that I am holding to fly (eg. its stock price).

Waiting for the prices of the stocks I am eyeing to fall drastically.

Waiting for excessive greed or fear in the markets.

Waiting for the crowdfunding platform to resolve or get back a portion of the loan amounts for the invoice financing loans that have defaulted.

I think the biggest waiting for me – is simply saving and hopefully one day to buy my ‘life’ back. That is kind of an extreme way of saying it.

Well, BeatTheBush kind of sum it up in his video.

People might have the misconception that for someone that saves a lot, really loves money a lot. But money is basically a means to something else.

It could mean a trip to somewhere you have always wanted to go, things you always wanted to have… or just a way to generate passive income and to live the life you always wanted to (free from basic worry of money). To have more time to yourself and even using this time to generate more passive income.

Shall leave you with this slow song.