2015 will be a Great Investment Year

2015 will be a great investment year for everyone - if we buy the right investment. Historically over the last 70 years, the third year of all US presidents have been the most positive year in the US stock market. Photo from Kenneth L. Fisher's Market Never Forget, Chapter 7 - Poli-Ticking Above...

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EVERYONE should Invest

Everyone who wishes to retire should invest in their future, regardless of their jobs and status. Anyone relying on their savings for retirement is bound to experience a shortfall in their future income for 2 reasons: 1) The interest rates you get from your savings will never be able to match the inflation rate. 2) If you save 10% of your salary each month for 40 years and aim to retire for 30 years,...

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Ethical reporting has never been more important

While the creation of the Internet has allowed information to flow more efficiently and effectively, it has also resulted in extreme volatility in the markets. An example of such is the oil prices, where its price can fluctuate more than 3% in a week due to a simple announcement of the performance...

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2 Must-Read for all New Investors

Today, I would like to recommend 2 books that I think are by far the best investment books I have read since I started investing. Warren Buffett Stock Portfolio. Warren Buffett and the Art of Stock Arbitrage Both books are by Mary Buffett and David Clark. They are easy to read and easy to understand...

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Asset Allocation VS Investment Period

Most investment professionals would emphasize that a good asset allocation is key to great investment returns. Having a portfolio consisting of stocks, bonds, other investment assets and cash is like the safest strategy anyone of any age group can follow. Today, I wish to offer something different....

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Is Investing Risky?

Ever heard your parents, your grandparents, your friends or relative told you that investing is risky? Watch this short clip and understand why investment is not as risky as they say. Share it to those who tells you that investment is risky and make them all a better investor! #InvestToday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHNd4yqBJE...

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High Inflation Coming to US

High inflation rates will be coming to US because of the huge amount of printing by the Fed and a dysfunctioning fiscal policy. It will not be tomorrow, next year, or 5 years, but it will definitely come when the Fed is no longer able to support the economy. PS: This will be a economics lesson, and the market outlook will be at the bottom. Economics The current monetary and fiscal policy in the...

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Confession of an undisciplined investor

This is a confession post of an undisciplined investor that sought to cut corners in investing. From what you already know, the market is ruthless and it only reflects your performance to the amount of work you put in. Once you are complacent and assume that you are better at beating the market, it will whip you till you beg for mercy. Being a young investor, similar to all beginners, I had beginner's...

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Sticking to a strategy is the most important for an investor

While the Dow is climbing to all-time high, some of us maybe feeling annoyed with the lackluster performance of the Singapore stock market. As a comparison, the Straits Times Index is still 13.7% away from its all-time high that was in October 2007, 7 years ago. In this period of 7 years, there are numerous events and surprises. All of which leading drastic movements of stock prices, that saw the...

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Recent Singapore market events: random reports disrupting share prices

There has been a spat of recent events whereby research reports of Singapore-listed companies are being released by unknown authors online. Of which, these reports are circulated widely, leading to high volatility of the targeted company's share prices. A current example is Sino Grandness. If you have not heard of this, do click on the link to find out more: http://business.asiaone.com/news/sino-grandness-refutes-negative-report-business While...

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6 Things Yahoo! needs to do

Yahoo! has rose by almost 15% from its bottom of $37.82 on 15 Oct 2014. In its Q3 earnings, management has said that it will continue to invest in its mobile growth strategy and buybacks. Although this is good news, especially we do see growth in mobile materializing, the capital structure of the company...

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Buyback is the Wrong Strategy for Yahoo!

During Yahoo!'s Q3 earnings call, we have seen both its CEO and CFO continuing to emphasize that buying back shares of Yahoo! is the right strategy to return capital to shareholders over the long-term. However, in my view, this is a risky strategy pursued by the company in returning capital to its...

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Where's my Pay Raise?

Ever wonder why is inflation almost always rising faster than my paycheck and why that stingy boss of mine who is earning so much is not raising my pay! Everyone would always wish to earn faster than inflation, but this rarely happens, especially if you have been staying in the same post for a very long time! *Inflation is the increasing of price of the things you buy Reasons my pay grow slower...

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Cordlife: Analysis

Recently, I have stumbled across a healthcare-related company that is listed on the Singapore Exchange. It appeared on my stock screener and after investigating its financials, I decided to write an opinion of its performance. Cordlife is a company that stores cord blood. Scientifically proven, cord blood is important, even long after a baby’s birth and can provide a source of stem cells should the...

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Weak Euro = Good US + Europe

Recently, a lot of analysts and economies are saying that a rising dollar and a near recession Europe is going to dampen the US economy and stock market growth. What is even worse as mentioned by those economists, is that Europe will be exporting their inflation to the US, which is going to make the bad situation worse. Today I am going to explain why I think it is not as bad as it sounds. The economists...

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Annuities, Have or Not-to-Have

Today's topic will be on annuities. The average public has the tendency to buy annuities thinking that they are the best product available in the market for future cash flows, especially during retirement. Actually, many people do not know what an annuity does, how it works, and how is it beneficial....

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High Dollar Kills the Market?

Today's topic is on whether the stock market will be going down if the dollar remain this high or went even higher.  I saw a lot of people saying that a higher dollar would kill the US economy and affect the stock market because: 1) it hurt exports 2) it makes US goods and services more expensive 3)...

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Correction Overdue Follow-Up

I received some feedback from people who read my previous post (A Correction Overdue). One of it was that the chart presented in the post was not enough an evident to prove that correction is not on its way. Secondly was that the economy is growing at around 2%-4% while the stock market has advanced...

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A Correction Overdue?

Lots of analysts these days are talking about a possible and looming correction that has not occurred over the past 3 years of the bull market. Historically, a correction occurs almost every 12-18 months. We have not experienced 1 for 3 years and this has lead to many people worrying about a correction...

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Yahoo! Now Has An Accurate Value Meter

With Alibaba (BABA) now listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), there is now price transparency on the Alibaba stake Yahoo! (YHOO) has on its balance sheet. In the past, the value of Yahoo!'s stake was only via estimates. Now there is a definite value - depending on the price of Alibaba shares in the open market. With the 2 most valuable assets - Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan (YAHOF) - now openly...

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Buckle's Coming Big Special Dividend

The Buckle's (NYSE:BKE) dividend history shows an alternating special dividend history. Buckle gives its shareholders a special dividend that is 1 year huge and the following year small, followed by a huge special dividend the next year. (click to enlarge) 2012's special dividend is a huge $4.70,...

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Investment is Sure Lose?

A lot of people says that investment is risky, is a sure-lose thing, is like putting money in the casino, its a gamble. Most would hear from parents, grandparents and friends that they or they know of someone who has lost a lot of money in the stock market. Many even went bankrupted. Here is the interesting...

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Outliers: The Story Of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

I would like to recommend this book to those that have not read it and are interested in finding the trends that contribute to success stories. Readers should take it with a pinch of salt as these are just general trends and generalizations that may not apply to individuals. However, it still gives a different perspective as to how people become successful which often are due to invisible, and what...

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Thoughts on predicting share price

I was browsing through investment blogs and for a long time, I have noticed most of them are themed on predicting future share prices. They often use many different methods which can be grouped under technical analysis. The point is that this method is usually used alone. While this method has its own merits, I often feel that they missed out on a very important fact. Investing in a company means...

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Term or Whole Life Insurance?

My apologies for the slow blog posts. I had been away for a holiday to Korea for a week. Due to the recent airplane mishaps, I got a single-trip travel insurance, just in case. However, in the market, there is a travel insurance which covers you yearly. It then becomes obvious that the yearly coverage is for those who travel frequently, whereas the single-trip insurance is only for those who do...

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