A lot has been written about the disconnect between Main Street (the economy and businesses) and Wall Street (the stock market) in the US. With record unemployment in the US, reduction in consumer spending and closures of businesses, it was surprising to see the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices record a 'V' shaped recovery… Continue reading The Illusionary US Market Recovery
An Important Moment In Investing
This post is a follow up from my post 2 weeks ago about trying to time the market in the days of the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the S&P 500 was down 10% from its peak while the KLCI had dropped to where it was 9 years ago in 2011. In just 14 days,… Continue reading An Important Moment In Investing
Timing The Market
Timer Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash The Coronavirus pandemic has created a unique situation in the global economy. Fear of recession is clearly reflected in the sharp drops in the yields of bonds and treasuries and surges in gold prices. Money is moving from riskier asset classes like stocks into these asset classes instead. In Malaysia, the… Continue reading Timing The Market
2019 and what lies ahead
As I write this article we are less than 2 weeks away from the doorsteps of 2020. It has also been a year since I started financedurian.xyz. How time flies when you are not paying attention. The purpose of financedurian.xyz is to distill all my experience and knowledge in personal finance and investing into a… Continue reading 2019 and what lies ahead
A Cheap Way for Malaysians to Buy US Stocks
Layer 6 of the Asset Allocation model: Diversified Index Funds The 6th layer of your Asset Allocation model is to invest in diversified index funds (read: these are NOT unit trusts) in the form of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). ETFs are all the rage today in the developed markets and there are almost 2,000 of… Continue reading A Cheap Way for Malaysians to Buy US Stocks
EPF’s Negative Reserves
Back in February 2019 I wrote an article explaining how the EPF, the Malaysian retirement fund is able to pay out a dividend of 6% despite the poor performance of many asset classes in 2018. The answer is that EPF draws from its reserves that was built over many years, selling assets such as bonds… Continue reading EPF’s Negative Reserves
The Long Journey to Financial Freedom
It is not uncommon to hear from those who are tired of their jobs that they wished they could simply stop and do something else that they might enjoy. However, reality usually strikes them in the form of bills and/or mortgages to be paid. So they simply suck it in and continue with the drudgery… Continue reading The Long Journey to Financial Freedom
Recession Fear and the Bond Yield Curve
Since December 2018, something rare has been happening to the US treasury bond yields and the trend is still continuing to today. The yield on bonds with durations longer than 1 year have been gradually dropping while the yield on bonds shorter than 6 months have slightly nudged upwards. This has finally resulted last Friday… Continue reading Recession Fear and the Bond Yield Curve
EPF’s Belanjawanku And Those Who Do Not Need It
Last week on March 4th, the EPF published an expenditure guide called 'Belanjawanku', which is 'My Budget' when translated from Malay. When I heard the news I knew it would be a lightning rod attracting criticism. Source: http://www.kwsp.gov.my/portal/documents/10180/6462229/Panduan_Belanjawanku_03032019.pdf And indeed it did. For example, people mocked that it's impossible to find a rental room in… Continue reading EPF’s Belanjawanku And Those Who Do Not Need It
Investing In Properties
We are now approaching to the top of the asset allocation model and the ninth layer concerns properties bought for the purpose of investment. I mentioned that the risks involved with investing increases as we go up the layers of the model. I'll talk more again about the risks associated with property investments later on.… Continue reading Investing In Properties
