Introductions!

[exige]

Hi everyone!
I was reading the "Starting Young" series of interviews on Business Times and was thinking it should be nice if everyone here, newbies or seniors, could share their thoughts on some of the questions too. I shall start the ball rolling, and hopefully more valuebuddies folks can share their experiences/ideas too:

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: I was doing my National Service when I caught the Rich Dad Poor Dad fever, a book written by Robert Kiyosaki. I also met a group of like-minded friends from an online forum and from then on, started reading up on stock investing from mainly books, discussions with friends, and some online resources. When I reached 21 years old, I walked into one of POEMS' investment centre by myself and opened an account.


Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I currently have about 80 per cent invested in equities listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), around 5 per cent in a US counter, and the rest in cash; ready for the next "deployment".


Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

A: To grow my investments to a scale such that, firstly, my family would not have to worry about finances at all, and then to have enough resources to invest in renewable energy, sustainable food supply, and other similar areas. The investments in renewable energy and sustainable food supply are more of a personal dream / something I want to do.. not quite as a financial investment.

[Musicwhiz]

I think I can keep mine pretty simple. Here goes:-

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: I started in 2004 December. I decided I wanted to grow my money instead of letting it languish in the bank.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I am currently 80% vested and hold about 20% cash. They are all in equities. I do not have gold, silver, land, wine, properties (for investment), land banking, derivatives or bonds.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

Hopefully much richer. The aim is to be able to generate about $2,500 to $3,000 worth of monthly dividends from my equities portfolio eventually, by the time I hit 50. For now, it's only about $1,000 a month.

[Temperament]

RE: Introductions!

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

i started very late, in 1988 when i was 40 years old. i hate working life's politics. i always think even a "Char Kway Teow" man can be happier. i have not enough guts to become an active business man. So the next best thing is to become a "passive business man."

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

Currently - roughly 34% in CPF, 33% in 2nd property & 33 % in equity.
Trying very hard to learn how to use debt for leverage.
May use it if advantage is clear cut.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

Hopefully can invest throughout my life on earth.
Aim to leave a legacy behind for my only son.
And hope i can work in an orphanage some time in future.

Shalom to all investors.

[kazukirai]

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: My interest started in 2006 when I attended a talk by a Robert Miles at the NUS Business School when I was studying. He was invited to promote his book on Warren Buffett. At that time I had only heard of Warren Buffett's name but I had no almost idea of how he got rich.

Mile's talk, of course, over-simplified things but from that I realised that Investing suited me personality much better than say trading or running a big business.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I'm currently 45% in cash, and 55% in equities. All SGX-listed equities.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

A: Financially free, hopefully if all goes according to plan, before 50. After which I hope to share lessons learnt on investing with those yet to be born.

[[DY]]

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

I read Of Permanent Value when I was 19 and that got me hooked. Went on to read other value investing books. And it went on from there.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

55% cash and 45% equities. Have been raising cash levels since the beginning of the year. Going forward, my portfolio is likely to consist of only equities. I like learning and reading about businesses. So I think equity investment is probably more suitable for me.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

I hope I don't have to be a worker my whole life. I am thankful that I have a job that pays above average wages, and a body that can live with below average consumption. So I do manage to save a big portion of my monthly income for investment purposes.

Hopefully my portfolio grows to a size that allows me to live off it and do things that I enjoy.

---

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: My interest started in 2006 when I attended a talk by a Robert Miles at the NUS Business School when I was studying. He was invited to promote his book on Warren Buffett. At that time I had only heard of Warren Buffett's name but I had no almost idea of how he got rich.

Mile's talk, of course, over-simplified things but from that I realised that Investing suited me personality much better than say trading or running a big business.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I'm currently 45% in cash, and 55% in equities. All SGX-listed equities.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

A: Financially free, hopefully if all goes according to plan, before 50. After which I hope to share lessons learnt on investing with those yet to be born.

Hey! I attended that same talk at NUS Business School. Small world.

[Temperament]

"No matter how thoroughly you research, it still comes down to an informed guess. Even if you know everything there is to know, there's no way you can predict how the market will react to what you know. This is why some investors simply satisfy themselves that a stock is selling at the low end of its historic price/earnings multiple range, and let it go at that. Others want to make the guess as informed as possible and do more digging, while others will just watch a stock for a long time, get to know it well, and develop a feel for the way it acts".

Comment:

Above extract is taken from an author who claims he is in the financial world for 40 years, when he wrote this book.
How are we going to interpret what he wrote?
What is our belief or our position in relation to what he wrote?

i always remember, "Truth is stranger than fiction".
Shalom.

[exige]

I think I can keep mine pretty simple. Here goes:-

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: I started in 2004 December. I decided I wanted to grow my money instead of letting it languish in the bank.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I am currently 80% vested and hold about 20% cash. They are all in equities. I do not have gold, silver, land, wine, properties (for investment), land banking, derivatives or bonds.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

Hopefully much richer. The aim is to be able to generate about $2,500 to $3,000 worth of monthly dividends from my equities portfolio eventually, by the time I hit 50. For now, it's only about $1,000 a month.

Interesting! I'm also a pure equity & cash investor. No gold/silver/land/etc. too.

And it looks like you're doing pretty fine now. Working backwards, $1k/month means approximately $12k in dividends each year. Assuming you're getting 6% in dividends, you must be managing a portfolio of at least $200k now?

---

...
A: Financially free, hopefully if all goes according to plan, before 50. After which I hope to share lessons learnt on investing with those yet to be born.

That's nice. Just curious on how would you define being financially free? ie: Monthly passive income of $8 - 10k?

---

"No matter how thoroughly you research, it still comes down to an informed guess. Even if you know everything there is to know, there's no way you can predict how the market will react to what you know. This is why some investors simply satisfy themselves that a stock is selling at the low end of its historic price/earnings multiple range, and let it go at that. Others want to make the guess as informed as possible and do more digging, while others will just watch a stock for a long time, get to know it well, and develop a feel for the way it acts".

Comment:

Above extract is taken from an author who claims he is in the financial world for 40 years, when he wrote this book.
How are we going to interpret what he wrote?
What is our belief or our position in relation to what he wrote?

i always remember, "Truth is stranger than fiction".
Shalom.

Sounds like the quote: "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men"

Anyway, I quite agree with the writer. Buying into stocks and shares are basically being shareholders of the company, which has a business / businesses to run. And the nature of any business is such that no matter how well, how experienced, or how capable the managers are, there is still never any 100% sure guesses in business. So....we can only make informed guesses / calculated risks.

The "how much to calculate / guess" will then depends on each individual?

JMHO....

[Musicwhiz]

Hi Exige,

Yes that's about right. My portfolio cost is about $238,000 currently, and my yield is between 5-6% on my entire portfolio.

More details on my portfolio can be found on my blog. I do a monthly update on the companies within my portfolio and also compute the XIRR YTD versus STI as a benchmark.

Good to know you are also a cash cum equities only investor!

[Temperament]

I think I can keep mine pretty simple. Here goes:-

Q: When did you start investing and what got you into it?

A: I started in 2004 December. I decided I wanted to grow my money instead of letting it languish in the bank.

Q: Describe your current portfolio.

A: I am currently 80% vested and hold about 20% cash. They are all in equities. I do not have gold, silver, land, wine, properties (for investment), land banking, derivatives or bonds.

Q: Where do you see yourself financially in the future?

Hopefully much richer. The aim is to be able to generate about $2,500 to $3,000 worth of monthly dividends from my equities portfolio eventually, by the time I hit 50. For now, it's only about $1,000 a month.

Interesting! I'm also a pure equity & cash investor. No gold/silver/land/etc. too.

And it looks like you're doing pretty fine now. Working backwards, $1k/month means approximately $12k in dividends each year. Assuming you're getting 6% in dividends, you must be managing a portfolio of at least $200k now?

---

...
A: Financially free, hopefully if all goes according to plan, before 50. After which I hope to share lessons learnt on investing with those yet to be born.

That's nice. Just curious on how would you define being financially free? ie: Monthly passive income of $8 - 10k?

---

"No matter how thoroughly you research, it still comes down to an informed guess. Even if you know everything there is to know, there's no way you can predict how the market will react to what you know. This is why some investors simply satisfy themselves that a stock is selling at the low end of its historic price/earnings multiple range, and let it go at that. Others want to make the guess as informed as possible and do more digging, while others will just watch a stock for a long time, get to know it well, and develop a feel for the way it acts".

Comment:

Above extract is taken from an author who claims he is in the financial world for 40 years, when he wrote this book.
How are we going to interpret what he wrote?
What is our belief or our position in relation to what he wrote?

i always remember, "Truth is stranger than fiction".
Shalom.

Sounds like the quote: "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men"

Anyway, I quite agree with the writer. Buying into stocks and shares are basically being shareholders of the company, which has a business / businesses to run. And the nature of any business is such that no matter how well, how experienced, or how capable the managers are, there is still never any 100% sure guesses in business. So....we can only make informed guesses / calculated risks.

The "how much to calculate / guess" will then depends on each individual?

JMHO....

Well put. No matter what, any thing can happen in life.

[kazukirai]

That's nice. Just curious on how would you define being financially free? ie: Monthly passive income of $8 - 10k?

---

Hi Exige,

I'm not sure if I can put a certain amount on it. Previously, I thought of putting a number on it but I realised that it's a little difficult to put an exact number because there are many factors such as inflation, lifestyle changes as one ages etc.

Hence, the best definition I can think of is that being financially free allows me the freedom of choice. In other words, I would work (in the conventional sense) not because I have to but because I choose to. I would buy/not buy something not because of the monetary constraint but the belief in the value of that object.

Of course, if I want to be able to buy something like a Lamborgini or a Good Class Bungalow...I foresee it'll take me a long long time before I reach a stage where I can call myself financially free. Fortunately, the things that make me happy in life are more time-consuming than dollar-consuming.