This is a multi part article. For the previous article, you can read it here: What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 3. Do not get emotional Warren Buffett is not perfect. We can learn from his mistakes. Did you know that one of his worse investments turn out to be Berkshire Hathaway? Surprise surprise! Berkshire Hathaway was a textile company that was going downhill. Buffett Partnership first purchased Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 at $7.50 when the working-capital was worth $10.25 and a … [Read More...]
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If an insurance company pays claims that are much less than the premium collected, does it mean the product is priced too expensive?
I saw this Facebook post the other day and I felt it is one of the most common misconception about insurance. The Eldershield is meant for old age but the pool is young and so the claims are low. However, an insurance product should not be judge based on cash flows but based on its liability. For instance, you are 40 years old and if the claim is expected to occur at 70 and ends at 80 and assuming a $7,200 a year of payout, the liability to the insurer is given by the formula assuming a … [Read More...]
Featured articles
Dimensional Funds are now available for retail investors
For those who are into index investing will know how frustrating it is to do so. Vanguard has decided only to make its index funds available to Accredited Investors. Those who prefer to invest in MAS … [Read More...]
Conservative Account (for existing clients only)
This is an announcement for existing clients. The Conservative Account is an investment that aims to provide a return of 2-4% per annum (inclusive of dividends) with low volatility. The Account … Read more
What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 3
This is a multi part article. For the previous article, you can read here: What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 2. Treat the investment as a business Unlike many investors, Warren Buffett … [Read More...]
What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 2
This is a multiple part article. For the previous article, please refer to this article: What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 1 Having a diversified portfolio As at end of 2017, SEC 13F … [Read More...]
What we can learn from Warren Buffett? Part 1
BYD Co Ltd was listed on the Hong Kong exchange in 2002. It was one of China’s biggest rechargeable batteries maker. Berkshire Hathaway - the holding company which Warren Buffett is the largest … [Read More...]
Share Repurchase vs dividends
Many investors understand what dividends are. However, not many realized that there is another type of invisible dividends that is called the share repurchase. Both shares repurchase and dividends … [Read More...]
SingHealth breach: what does it mean to lose your data
By now everybody would have read in the news that 1.5 million SingHealth’s patients’ information were stolen. Singapore has a population of 5.79 million. So 26% of the population got their personal … [Read More...]
Why this company’s stock price plunged despite large profit announcement?
Q: Wilfred, Company X5 announced on 8th March 2018 that its full year results for 2017 was US$163 million in earnings. This was significantly larger than that in 2016 of only $6.7 million. However, … [Read More...]
Human capital and investing in employee stock benefits
Today I would like to introduce the concept of human capital and briefly touch on employee stock purchase program. What is human capital? Human capital is simply the ability to earn money by … [Read More...]
Investors always buy high and sell low regardless of asset classes
February 2018 started with a poor market performance. The S&P 500, Nikkei 225, STI and Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index is down by -5.82%, -7.03%, -4.79% and -7.94% respectively in SG … [Read More...]
7 real reasons why most investors are not successful
Long time ago, the only way people can invest was by investing in stocks. However, not everybody had the expertise to pick stocks. Moreover, most people were busy working. So, they did not have time … [Read More...]
featured articles
Life Expectancy and the Importance of Retirement Planning
We have heard in the news that life expectancy is rising. But how much is it rising and what is the impact to retirement planning? I downloaded the statistic from Singapore Department of Statistics … [Read More...]
CPF: How to Accumulate $1m in your CPF by 57?
I read from the CPF’s AREYOUREADY facebook about a man named Loo Cheng Chuan who believes he can accumulate $1m in his CPF. Is this really possible? The article did not provide any mathematics. I … [Read More...]
Why private banking clients have no asset allocation skills?
A UBS survey among high networth individuals in Singapore and Hong Kong revealed interesting findings: 62% of investors admitted that they did not know how much to save for retirement Only 1% … [Read More...]
3 common excuses to delay retirement planning
In the HSBC’s latest global report, Generations and journeys, a whopping 59% of retirees is using cash savings/ deposits to help them fund their retirement. There were other worrisome findings … [Read More...]
No advice given, few documentation and non-disclosures but earns easy money
Here is an example on how a financial adviser sold a life insurance product. The following is a scanned image of a section of the KYC: In the KYC, the client declared "I do not want any … [Read More...]
Try this calculator for Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)
If you are looking for the SRS calculator, please scroll down to the end of this article. The Supplementary Retirement Scheme or SRS for short is a tax deferred scheme. In this tax deferred scheme, … [Read More...]
6 ways to increase your investment returns
1: Asset allocation is critical The most important part of investment is to get the asset allocation right. This is because large proportion of the percent of return variation of a portfolio is … [Read More...]
Here’s a video by a bank on how it anyhow sell Universal Life
One of my client sent me this webinar video on legacy planning. The first 11 minutes is educational and I generally agree with the speaker. So you can safely watch first 11 minutes without much harm. … [Read More...]
Up to 70% of financial advisers’ recommendations were unsuitable, says MAS mystery shoppers survey
MAS commissioned an external consultant to conduct a mystery shopping exercise in 2012 to determine the quality of advice given out by financial advisers[1]. The MAS mystery shoppers' statistics were … [Read More...]
The risk of using investments for retirement are often underestimated
In this article, I want to write about a little-known danger when using investments to support one’s retirement. Very often, I hear of clients using stocks and REITs as a source of income to support … [Read More...]
