(20-01-2015, 07:56 PM)ValueMushroom Wrote: I'm coming from the perspective of a small time investor with a sum of 2million to invest.
I personally would prefer spending 2 million on a single good property rather than spending 2 million on a good stock.
The reason is when you buy a property you have full control; when you buy stocks of a company, the SSH have full control of the company and you have no say in anything of importance.
My personal 1cent view : )
Hi,
There are many ways to play the game. I agree with you regarding the control aspect. With share investment, the constant concern is whether the agents are serving the principal or otherwise. There is little we (as equity investors) can do to influence decision making and it depends much on share holding too.
The alternative to this is I could adopt your point of view and use my own money and start a business (or purchase a property). Both would give me absolute control.
However, there is a slight problem. As a business owner, I am my own worst constraint because however hard I work it would take me years to achieve the competitive advantages of bread talk and raffles medical group. I would have to polish my skills as a sales man, accountant, strategist, admin clerk, mr handy man and etc etc. By then, I may have broke my back trying to rely on myself building up the shop and hoping for some good people to recruit and back me up.
As a shareholder of a listed company, I delegate all these to the "pros" and the risk to me is my "yen guang" (judgement) of people may not be as perfect as I would like. While I cannot be the guy to steer the ship alone, I know I have a stake in a listed company with greater economies of scale than if i were to do it alone. For this to work, its rewarding and challenging ball game.
Having a property can't give one the rewards of testing one's judgement in the quality of management. A good competent management beats having to "do it myself".
You are not wrong about investing in property. Its a different game. Its a choice you made to invest in properties instead. As a shareholder of a listed co, i have a stake in the success of many sales men and experienced management, some good and some not so good. But, thats a choice of how I like to play the game, to allocate resources to the guys who can do my money justice.
Just my view. I'm not trying to convince you to invest in equity, just sharing my views. Have fun shopping.
PS: I do own a business and the views are expressed from both views of an equity investor and also a business owner. Business is tough.... with the crazy rentals.
The thing I am scared most is not nightmares or market crashes..... Its my greed that I fear the most.
When people ask what is my target price, I never have any good answer for it because Philip Fisher said before (in Common Stock Uncommon Profit) that the best time to sell is never. Equity investment is buying into ownership, not betting slips.
The path to greatness and wealth is necessarily dangerous.... because greed is a fearsome fore that threatens your success at every step.