STE's Stocks Investing Journey

image credit to biztreemgmt.com While looking at the piling up of “ Annual Reports “ be it in the form of CD-R or book", we know that company’s AGM is just around the corner. As stocks investors, you will have the same experience as these annual report keep coming into your mailbox during this time. Company are required by law to hold a general meeting of its shareholders each year (the Annual General Meeting - " AGM "). If an important matter requiring shareholder approval cannot wait until the next AGM, the company will call an Extraordinary General Meeting ( "EGM ").

<Image credit to expatfinancialplanning.com> Personal finance is an interesting subject which is really “ Personal “ as there are many factors affecting a person or family’s finances – how much to keep as saving vs investing, to buy term or life insurance, to take up HDB loan or from private banks, to buy HBD or Condominium and of course the hottest topic of CPF ( to transfer our OA to SA or do a voluntary cash top-up into SA account)? Recently, my friends & famous financial bloggers ( Chris from Growing your tree of prosperity, Uncle CW8888 , SGBudgetBabe ) gathered together to give a talk about “ CPF Optimization for Retirement ( here )” You may find some of their thoughts and ideas ( here ): as you may see, there were different opinions and views about the issue even from the speakers and of course the attendants.

<Image credit to CNBC.com> So, it is final that FED increased interest rate by 25 basis points on last Wednesday and you could easily find news and comments on the impact of stocks and economy with this rate hike.  But at least the rate hike is seen as a  vote of confidence in the US economy which has witness increasing inflation and job growth and of course the market react positively on this. Our immediate thinking will be, of course, the cost of borrowing will increase as the bank will price in higher loan rate and this lead me to think further that will bank be benefited with higher loan cost eventually. Meantime, some analyst are more cautious on that because our banks are facing loan crisis from O&G sector hence may not be so sanguine on bank’s future earning.

image credit to businesstimes.com .sg I read therefore I write This is an interesting article about increasing vacancies rate at the high-end shopping district at Downtown Manhattan in today's The Business Time. Quoted from the article “ Dusty windows on Madison Avenue. Ghostly trace of sign-on Columbus Avenue. Manhattan’s top retail strip, some of which are among the world’s most expensive shopping districts, appear to have seen better days. Once packed street are being hit by completion from emerging neighbourhoods, and deep discounting from online retailers. In February, the heart of Madison’s shopping district had 37 vacancies or stores for rent …….. “

image credit to Izquotes.com All Roads Lead to Rome : Dividend Income Investing may not suit everyone as it is a more passive and slow way of investment strategy. Some may opt for a more aggressive or growth type of investment as their core strategy but I think many ways or route to achieve the ultimate goal of financial independence. As retiree   someone without active income, this might be the best strategy for me although I do understand that some may argue that holding so much of REITs and Biz Trust may not be good in term of asset diversification and also will be affected when the interest rate starts creeping up.

<Image Credit to Zerohedge.com> I think it is time for me to update the world major stock market’s valuation by “   Regression to the Mean  ”  after DJ exceeded 21,000 marks in such a short period after hitting 20K level. Always remembered that “ Reversion to mean “ is just a “ statistical phenomena “ and it may take much longer time to “reverting to mean” if the market is in bubble or irrational stage.   As renowned economist John Maynard Keynes famously commented, “ The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. ”