STE's Stocks Investing Journey

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...