With the “yoyo” market trends out there, everyone of us needs a dose of motivation to keep us going, to maintain our poise and confidence. Especially for new investors and the beginners, it is indeed a trying time as the market trend is so reactive, a lot of us are unsure what move to make.

Here is something I found in my newspaper clipping collections and I wish to share this piece of booster with you, a winning essay by Gan Hong Leong of Bentong, organised by SIDC published in the Focus column of The Star:

continue reading "Words of Advice for Stock Market Investors"

Isn’t it shocking after months of accumulating your stock and fund portfolios carefully and thinking that you are going to sit and watch your money grow, you woke up one morning to see headlines like this “Stocks Extend Plunge…Dow falls 227 points…. Dow falls 306 points etc etc” staring at you in your face. Whether you are investing in America or elsewhere in the world, you are and will definitely be affected. Your heart sink!!

continue reading "Stock Trading – Watch the Chart"

You don’t have to be a qualified analyst or have a degree to trade in the market. To earn good income from trading can be an option for anyone who has a keen mind and a willingness to learn. Time will help you excel in this skill. Here is a few pointers to help beginners get started.

1. Read, Read and Read

The man who doesn’t read good books

has no advantage over the man

who can’t read them.

Mark Twain

continue reading "Anyone can trade in the stock market"

Sometimes when you read on “Investing” topics and “Investing” books, you get all kinds of advice, all kinds of strategies and all kinds of methods to invest. At times you even get contradictory strategy. Some says to diversify, others advise to stick to one; all with good reasons… So, who do you listen to?

Then, you might be told to listen to the successful ones and do exactly what they do and you won’t go wrong. Here again there are so many successful ones with different methods and ways. If you are new to investing, you get more confused. Some might just give up on their quest to invest.

continue reading "Strategise Your Investing"

I was posed a question about gambling. Is gambling in a casino a kind of investing? I always believe that there is actually a very very fine line between investing and gambling and if you are “sober” you will definitely be able to see that line.

Of course, clearly enough, if you go to a casino with a lot of cash, you are going there to gamble, hoping to win more money than you are prepared to lose. And this kind of “hope” has a 90% chance of disappointing you.

Many risk-taking choices are referred to as “gambling” but investments are usually not considered gambling, although some investments can involve significant risk. Some examples of investments can be stocks and shares, bonds, real estate and businesses.

Wikipedia explains that “Investments are generally not considered gambling when they meet the following criteria:”

• Positive expected returns (at least in the long term)
• Economic utility
• Underlying value independent of the risk being undertaken

continue reading "Stock Market Investing or Gambling?"

The age-old saying “Behind Every Successful Man, is a Woman” is true to its being. There is a synergy to balancing in which the Chinese believes in “Ying and Yang”. Some things just need a partner to go with and should not be left alone or separated like “fork & spoon”, “table & chair” (in French table is feminine while chair is masculine), “mortar & pestle”.

This adage is very true in the olden days and I dare say it is still true today except that I believe it works both ways now more than ever. Behind every successful man there is a woman, who can be a wife, a mother, a sister or a girlfriend and behind every successful woman there is a man; a husband, a boyfriend, a father or a brother. God created man to be stronger in physical sense while woman to be stronger emotionally. There is a good balance if we put both sexes together.

No matter how rich you are, no matter how big you have become in the corporate world, no matter how successful your business is, a man requires a balance that a woman can provide and vise versa. There must be the “ying yang” balance otherwise all the treasures you acquired will not have much meaning in your life.

continue reading "Investing – with your spouse"

The first 4 rules were basically telling us to keep a cool head and to ensure we make good decisions as far as stock investing is concerned. Another aspect of being a successful investor is continual learning and having a good control of your portfolio. Stay cool by using your head, not your heart when dealing with your nest egg. Let’s take a look at the remaining 4 rules……

continue reading "Investing in Stock Market – Beat the Odds (Part II)"

Lets take a look at the first 4 “Don’ts” and see how they can help you keep a cool head when investing…..

Don’t panic

Past weeks, you may have read a lot of negative headlines about the economy of the world, how there may be a impending recession coming up, when and how nobody seems to be able to predict but everyone is talking about it. Do not panic. Panic clouds your brain. If you have stocks and funds in your hands, do not just sell and run. Do an inventory; some stocks are worth holding on to while others are not so strong in their fundamentals. Take stock and sell only those you do not intend to keep but sell it with a profit or only if you need to rid of this stock, at a minimum loss. This will take me to the next topic of not to be greedy.

continue reading "Investing in Stock Market - Beat the Odds (Part I)"

“If you know that you do not know”; this is knowledge in itself!!

Time and again, we think that we have already learned and that we have great knowledge but then, when you start to really listen to others you may realize that there are still a lot more to learn.

My grandmother used to lament this all too famous Chinese phrase (literally translated) “Eat till old, learn till old” meaning that there is no ending to learning. And there is another Chinese idiom (also literally translated) “The next mountain is even higher than this one” which means to say that “you may be smart but there are smarter people out there”.

These sayings are true and can be applied to investing and how to invest. Investing is a life’s journey and the destination is never in sight. You learn and get better as you travel along this road. You learn to differentiate the pebbles from the sands and the stones from the pebbles.

The next 2 postings will give you the 8 simple rules to follow that will help you along the fine journey of life. Let them guide you to a fun filled and pleasurable path…….

1. Don’t panic

2. Don’t be greedy

3. Don’t be impatient

4. Don’t take risk

5. Don’t be snobbish

6. Don’t worry

7. Don’t be out of perspective

8. Be specific 

What kind of investment advice does the Generation Y needs?

Does the Generation Y face similar financial problems as their parents? What kind of frustrations are they facing with their financial and investment experience.

Lets us take a look at what the younger generation can do to be financially free:-

continue reading "Investment Advice for Generation Y"