Happy Father’s Day!

This post was originally shared in my DT Email Newsletter here.

Today, I want to talk about my best investing hero. He’s my dad. 

Pa was a silent hero. 

When I was six or seven years old, my dad bought the Apple Power Macintosh. This was what my family would call The Mac. A giant, cream-coloured machine that sat on a large wooden desk at the corner of our house. 

In those days, not many families owned one. It was expensive and Pa needed it. You see, he started his own business as a freelance creative designer. Later on, he worked as a creative director for a boutique advertising agency.

Sometimes, when I woke up for school before the sun rose, I could still see the lamplight warming the murky darkness of the study corner. 

His ashtray filled with cigarette butts revealed his fatigue. He hadn’t slept all night. He took one last look at the computer, clicked “save”. 

He turned off the screen, put on his collared shirt, walked over and said: “Willie, you’re awake already? I’ll get the car ready and see you downstairs.” 

When I was younger, mornings like this were common.

The Mac showed who my dad was: a diligent, quiet man. He hardly showed emotions. But I could see he had a passion for art. Though he never taught me, he showed me how to be self-reliant. 

Pa was a self-taught man who picked up his creative craft. And he became a master at it. You could see all the thick computer books that filled the glass cabinet behind the Mac. 

Mine looked a little different: Security Analysis, The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities, The Intelligent Investor, The Single Best Investment…

The Mac was the PC for any creative artist. It was more than that. The Mac gave Pa and  his family a good living: put food on the table, paid for our family’s holiday trips and more crucially, our university education.

Pa had a strong temper. I won’t pretend otherwise. I respected him deeply because he never stopped sacrificing for us. 

Once, I heard Mom say he rejected a work stint overseas in China. Something that could have meant significantly more money for the family. He never explained why. I already knew. 

Now that I’m a father myself, I understand something I couldn’t name back then. That persistent weight of never feeling quite enough, not there enough, not patient enough. 

There’s a term for that: dad’s guilt. It lives in the gap between how hard you work for your family and how often work pulls you away. 

I’m certain Pa carried that weight too.

Here’s what I’ve come to understand: those early mornings to send me to school weren’t just dedication. They were love, expressed the only way he knew how. I knew he tried his best and had provided more than enough for us. 

Pa doesn’t invest like the way I do. But he’s my best investing hero – keep my head down, work hard, not looking for short-cuts, just showing up… The patience and effort that matters investing in the long run. 

In many ways, he’s the person I want to become. Pa gave me a model, one I hope to pass on to my boys. 

Pa – thank you. Happy Father’s Day.

P.S. Pa would always drive to Malaysia during holidays. I love that. This picture was taken Fraser’s Hill in Pahang.