No one looks after your money better than yourself

It was the best investing book ever written. It changed the way I looked at financial markets.

It changed my life.

Since then, I was hooked on investing. You know, I’ve never expected how life turned out – quitting my job, writing a financial blog and investing full-time.

But I always knew deep down my engineering degree could only take me so far.

Growing up, I always knew I needed a life-skill that could make passive income. Why? At some point, I had to take care of my parents. At some point, I had to take care of my family. At some point, I wanted to do things I love to do.

I knew I couldn’t accomplish all these sitting in front of a 9-5 desk, earning just a paycheck.

You’re your own messiah

You see, I wasn’t cut out to be in banking. It was an endless race to gather as many assets as possible – and charge a fee for “managing clients’ money”.

I couldn’t see a strong alignment of interest between managers and clients. Why? The more the clients traded, the more the bank made money. It didn’t matter if clients made any money.

In fact, this was opposite of what I’ve believed after reading Ben Graham’s book – making real profits meant you avoided over-trading.

I knew, no one looks after your money better than yourself.

Which brings me to my next point…

Compounding IS the eighth wonder of the world

The thing is, investing is one of the few skills that appreciate time, knowledge and experience.

The earlier you start investing, the more stocks you get exposed to, the better your investing acumen. One mistake is not starting earlier.

When I was in banking, I saw clients’ portfolios got wiped in just a handful of high-risk junk bonds. They accumulated their hard-earned savings over decades in a job. Only to lose most of their money from overleveraging and buying risky oil & gas high-yield bonds they thought could make them big returns overnight.

They missed out one crucial life skill – learning how to make their money work for them.

Lastly…

Developing good research habits

Once, I lost a huge 5-figure sum after borrowing money from my family to bet on a single US stock. It was a painful lesson.

I didn’t know what the business was doing. It was more painful because it wasn’t my money.

After 14 years investing, I still see people who don’t research the underlying business before buying the stock. This means learning how to read financial statements, understand business models, their durable advantages and assess their valuations.

Now, please don’t let investing scare you.

I’ve achieved my financial goals, helped others achieve theirs. And along the way, I finally fulfilled my personal mission to invest for my mom, for my loved ones.

To take the first step, I encourage you to learn how to do proper stock research. I cannot guarantee you will make money on every stock.

But I promise you’ll remove many lousy companies that will save you from heavy losses.

xoxo

Here’s what you might miss for June, I’d love to share some of my favourite articles with you:

• How to Make Monster Profits
• Is JNBY (3306.HK) a Buy at 8% Dividend Yield?
• CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR) 5% Dividend Yield: What You Need to Know
• Is the World’s Biggest Home Appliance Maker’s 5% Dividend Yield Secured?
• Is Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT) a Buy at 8% Dividend Yield?

Sometimes, investing can be simple. 

Willie Keng, CFA

Founder, Dividend Titan