STE's Stocks Investing Journey

  When it comes to retail investing, many people spend years doing *more*, analyzing more charts, reading more news feeds, and trading more frequently, only to find their returns trailing the broader market. It is easy to get caught up in the noise and assume that investment success requires constant, hyper-aggressive action. However, long-term wealth accumulation is actually governed by a very classic principle: the 80/20 Pareto Effect. The core idea is simple , 80% of your investment results come from just 20% of your inputs. The vast majority of the daily tasks investors obsess over add very little to their bottom line. Success in the markets is less about micromanaging every single variable and more about mastering a few critical, high-impact choices. Wealth is Mostly About Your Habits, Not the Math A common misconception is that successful investing requires a high level of mathematical genius or a secret spreadsheet formula. People often focus on the 20% (the technical math)...

For many of us who have spent years navigating the Singapore and regional markets, we often get bogged down by the "noise." We look at quarterly earnings, we obsess over whether a REIT's occupancy dropped by 1%, or if a company’s CEO had a bad day during an analyst call. But after decades of investing, I’ve realized there is a much bigger tide at play. It’s not just about the ships; it’s about the water level. In economics, we call this the M2 Money Supply . In plain talk, it’s just how much "stuff" is circulating in the system. When the taps are open, everything feels like a genius-level investment. When the taps close, even the best companies struggle to keep their heads above water. Let's peel back the layers on how this liquidity truly dictates the price of our assets. < Image credit:www.econovis.net> Why "Inflation" Isn't Always What You Think It Is When most people hear "inflation," they think about the price of chicken r...

From time to time, I receive messages / questions like this: “Though it's interesting to know the shortcomings ( biases / behavioral finance) we may be facing, it doesn't really help noobs, or maybe even more seasoned investors, on what to do to avoid them. Does anyone have anything to share to expand on the things to do to become more disciplined, define exit strategy, things like that?” It’s a fair question. In fact, it’s probably one of the most honest questions an investor can ask. Because understanding behavioural finance is one thing. Applying it in real life, when markets are moving, headlines are loud, and your portfolio is flashing red or green , that’s a completely different game. And here’s the uncomfortable truth. There isn’t a clean, step-by-step formula you can follow and suddenly become “disciplined”. If there were, everyone would be doing it already.  Behavioural finance doesn’t sit neatly in a spreadsheet. You can’t model it like earnings growth or discount cas...

It’s funny how, in the world of investing, doing nothing is often the most productive thing you can do . We’ve all been there, sitting in front of the screen, watching the red numbers tick down, feeling that itch in our fingers to "do something" to save our hard-earned capital. But if my three decades in the markets have taught me anything, it’s that the market is a master at shaking people out right before the real gains happen. When I look at the long-term charts of the S&P 500 or the total real market returns going back to the 1900s, the message is loud and clear: time is the ultimate filter. It filters out the noise, the politics, and the short-term panics. For a value investor, the goal isn't just to find an undervalued gem; it’s to have the stomach to hold it when everyone else is running for the exits. <Image Credit : redw Advisrors & CPAS > The Erosion of Cash and the Power of Real Assets If you look at the historical performance of different asset c...