2023 has been a welcoming year for the world of investments, particular for equities. Strong 2023 for the US The S&P 500 index is up more than 20% this year, erasing almost all the losses from 2022. What started as a rally mainly with the big tech stocks early in the first half of the… Continue reading Looking back at 2023
Should I Buy or Rent?
Back in 2018 I wrote about owning a home as part of one's asset allocation strategy. A home is a unique asset because you can simultaneously enjoy staying in it while watch its value go up over time if it is in a good location. When you have retired, an unencumbered home with a paid… Continue reading Should I Buy or Rent?
Is the Share Price Cheap or Expensive?
It depends on who you ask. What is Share Price? Firstly, let's clarify what the share price is. One of the two ways a company gets money for its business is by selling pieces of itself to investors. Each piece is called a share or a stock in the company. The company decides by itself,… Continue reading Is the Share Price Cheap or Expensive?
Slowing of the US Fed Funds Rate Hike
The US Fed has been increasing the funds rate since March 2022 at a blistering pace. Within a year, the rates raised from zero to over 4.5%. Right now, in April 2023, it is around to 4.8%. However, there now seems to be an end in sight for the rate hikes. Since February 2023, the… Continue reading Slowing of the US Fed Funds Rate Hike
2022, It’s A Wrap
Today is the last day of 2022, a year that most in the investing community would treat with humility. After years of runaway gains and heady valuations in stocks, bonds, properties and digital coin prices, we've now been brought back to reality. As Warren Buffet famously said, "it's when the tide goes out that you… Continue reading 2022, It’s A Wrap
The Negative 10-Year Return of the KLCI
Source: Yahoo Finance The goal of investing is to generate long term returns that beats your personal inflation rate and achieve your financial goals in life. If you've put all your investments in the Malaysian stock market for the past 10 years, you would have soundly failed your goal. As of today November 26th 2022,… Continue reading The Negative 10-Year Return of the KLCI
Strategy for Slow Decline in Stock Prices
When facing recessions, stock prices can take a long a long time to decline to its lowest point. When the dot-com bubble burst in mid 2000, it took about 2 and a half years before the S&P 500 bottomed out. Similarly when the housing bubble burst at the end of 2007, it took a year… Continue reading Strategy for Slow Decline in Stock Prices
Lessons From Bad Stock Investments
There are countless books and articles in the internet recommending ways to assess if a stock is worthy to be invested or not. In most cases, those sources talk about the stocks that do well and use them in their analysis to uncover the metrics that reveal a successful stock. I will do the opposite… Continue reading Lessons From Bad Stock Investments
Inflation and Retirement
It has been a while since my last post. I remind myself that I started this blog as a personal journal of my thoughts but have been too busy to write. Now I am in the holiday period at the end of 2021 and I finally found the time to write again about some interesting… Continue reading Inflation and Retirement
2020 Stocks Review
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash 2020 proved that you can never really predict what's going to happen in the stock market or the economy. As we all remember, there was a flash of panic in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic but things quickly recovered as central banks around the world printed trillions in… Continue reading 2020 Stocks Review
The Finance Durian 