Books 01 (May 08 - Oct 08)

[Apong]

MoneySense Article -- 15 things to do (to have a brighter financial future for you and your family)

[Originally 10 things... from forum discussion, I have extended the list to 15, for my own consumption.]

1. I have identified my financial goals and objectives.
2. I have a proper plan to reach my financial goals and objectives.
3. I review my financial plan regularly.

4. My family and I are adequately covered against risks such as illness, accidents and loss of income. (Insurance)
5. I have an emergency fund consisting of 6 months of my monthly salary.

6. I know what my net worth (assets minus liabilities) is.
7. I know how much CPF savings I will have when I retire.

8. I have set up a monthly budget.

9. I know how much I need for my retirement and have started building up a retirement fund.
10. I have started putting aside some money in investments to grow my wealth.

11. I have written a will.
12. I continuously update/upgrade myself to remain employable.
13. I voluntarily contribute to SRS & CPF to reduce taxable income.
14. I learn to become a better investor.
15. I consciously avoid bad debt.

[Apong]

IQ, EQ, FQ – by Ben Lim

1. Save and invest.
2. Know the “power of compounding” – reinvest gains.
3. Track expenditure and reduce.
4. Aim for 50% “investment asset / net-worth” ratio.
5. Stay insured.
6. Have cut loss level and take profit level.
7. Don’t chase hot stocks.
8. Credit card loan & share financing loan are bad debts. Housing loan is good debt.
9. Use “regular saving plan” or “dollar cost averaging”.
10. Rebalance portfolio depending on needs and investment climates.
11. Cut discretionary spending & invest surplus.
12. Aim for 80% core investments (stocks/unit trusts/bonds/fixed deposits/REIT’s: low risk & low return) & 20% peripheral investments (hedge funds/options: high risk & high return).
13. Allocate assets according to risk appetite & investment time horizon.
14. Market always moves up and down.
15. Diversify into asset classes & geographical regions.
16. Start investing early, invest regularly.
17. Keep cash for emergency & good investment opportunities.
18. High return comes with high risk.
19. Make $ works for you.
20. Bond pays interest, but comes down when interest goes up.
21. Pay one-self first – invest the amount, use the rest to pay debt & spend.
22. Invest in REIT’s for income.
23. Buy unit trusts with consistent, good performance.
24. Learn to read annual reports.
25. Look for ways to reduce tax.
26. Prepare a will, just in case.
27. Take action now.

[kennynah]

apong....wah..... this weekend, must buy 4D liao...

i try to catch 4 numbers within your 2 posts ...

welcome back....dont be such a stranger...over here...feel free....

[Apong]

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind – by T. Harv Eker

1. Take full responsibility for your financial well being.
2. Set goals for your annual income and net worth.
3. Do whatever it takes to be rich, as long as it is legal, moral & ethical.
4. Think big. Use leverage.
5. Focus on opportunities. Get started. Tackle problems along the way.
6. Admire rich people, who can be nice & generous too.
7. Associate with positive people. Learn from the rich how they play the money game.
8. Promote yourself, your value/contribution/product/service.
9. Do something once a month to make you feel rich and deserving.
10. Choose to get paid based on results, not on the time spent.
11. Money and happiness -- have both!
12. Earn good money, be “low maintenance” and invest money saved. Learn to invest well.
13. Aim to be financially free. Create passive income streams to pay for your expenses.
14. Buy good real estates within your means & wait.
15. Get out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to grow.
16. Be positive. Have confidence in yourself. Count your blessings.
17. Money brings you freedom & allows you to enjoy and to help others.

[Apong]

WallStraits’ 8 stock selection screens

note: Go read the book "Perfect Portfolio" by wallstraits.com's "Sage", the summary below can get you killed... My one page summaries are all laser-printed, laminated, filed, kept in the "safe" and referred to from time to time.

Screen businesses for relative investment merit based on the following qualities:

1. Consistent historical sales and earnings growth

2. Conservative financing with total debt less than a single year’s net earnings

3. Consistently high return-on-equity (ROE), > 15% each year

4. Intelligent capital allocation decisions by management

5. Business is easy to understand, and management is open and honest

6. 2x5y = industry sector and particular business has growth potential that allows
it to at least double earnings every five years

7. Sustainable competitive advantages are evident

8. Attractive valuation based on discounted cash flow (DCF) projections

[Apong]

Investing in Unit Trusts in Singapore -- by Andy Ong

A. How UT’s work?

B. Advantages of UT’s
1. better potential return compared to FD / insurance
2. liquidity
3. professional management at low cost (you don’t have the skills & time & effort needed to select/monitor individual securities & cannot afford an investment consultant)
4. diversification
5. access to overseas markets

C. Disadvantages of UT’s
1. market risk
2. manager’s performance risk
3. cost (distribution, management fee, bid-ask spread)

D. How to choose UT’s?
1. Asset management groups & their investment philosophy / approach [e.g. top down, bottom up, momentum, trading, growth, value, concentrated, diversified] (cf. yours)
2. Cash, CPF-OA, CPF-SA, SRS (cf. your available investment $)
3. Risk ratings & historical returns after expenses [% p.a., vs. market, vs. peers] (cf. your risk profile)
4. Equity, fixed income, money market or balanced or index etc (cf. your investment time horizon & market outlook)
5. Sectors & geographical regions (cf. your economic & political outlooks)

E. Typical risk assessment questionnaire – figure out your risk profile
1. Do you have enough emergency funds? How much are your unavoidable expenses & monthly salary? How stable is your income? How many dependents do you have?
2. What is your investment time horizon? Are you loss adverse? What are your expectations of potential gain vs. risk?

F. Other pointers to consider
1. When not to use UT’s? [e.g. hold cash when you need the money soon, DIY when you have the investment knowledge & skills & time and you enjoy selecting/monitoring securities]
2. How do UT’s fit in with your other investments? [e.g. stocks/ETF’s, bonds, properties/REIT’s, FD’s, bank accounts, insurance/ILP’s, gold, CPF, etc]
3. How to restructure a rag-bag of UT’s? (principle of “sunk cost” & minimal re-structuring cost– whatever is done is done, what is the best way to move on from here?)
4. Always hold UT’s mid/long term because of upfront cost
5. Use DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging – buy more units when price is low, less when price is high)
6. Use RSP (Regular Saving Plan – invest whether the market is good or bad, so that you will not miss a “sale”)
7. Buy a few similar funds to reduce “manager’s performance risk”

[Apong]

apong....wah..... this weekend, must buy 4D liao...

i try to catch 4 numbers within your 2 posts ...

welcome back....dont be such a stranger...over here...feel free....

Haha kennynah, wish you good luck for your 4D !

Tonight toto also got 1.5 million... tiok liao no need to come here anymore...

[winston]

Hi Apong,

Thxs for the kind posts. They are very useful and I'll be taking my time to digest them.

Take care,
Winston

[Apong]

Hi Apong,

Thxs for the kind posts. They are very useful and I'll be taking my time to digest them.

Take care,
Winston

My one wish is to be able to summarise Benjamin Graham's "Intelligent Investor" into one page...

or Peter Lynch's "One Up On Wall Street"

or the book (sorry, forgot the author) "Random Walk Down Wall Street"...

I have read 22 books over the last few months, mostly junks...
-- Real tips, real money
-- Show me the money I
-- Show me the money II
-- Insight on warrant trading & the Singapore stock market
-- Handbook for stock investors
-- Why am I always losing in the stock market
-- Online stock investment
-- The essence of stock investment
-- IQ EQ FQ
-- Put your money to work
-- Make your money work for you
-- School of warrant
-- Investing in Unit Trusts in Singapore
-- Value investing
-- Investing basics
-- How to make money from your stock investment even in a falling market
-- Essential stock investment strategies to make money even in a falling market
-- 7 Pillars of wisdom in stock investing
-- Secrets of millionaire investors
-- The Zurich axioms
-- The winning investment habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros
-- Secrets of the millionaire mind

Still have tons of "half-read" books... May be should change my nick to "bookworm"...

[millionairemind]

Apong,

Thanks for the book summaries.. we missed you here.. Come back often

Sorly, your signature is Lai Liao Lai Liao.. sounds like something we will heard in Geylang

What Lai LIao???

mm