A summary of my investment journey part 1
“Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from poor judgment.”
When I was a kid, I have seen, experienced, and understood from my parents who are fishmongers that the money they were supporting me with was earned with blood, sweat, and tears. I was more cautious with my spending and managed to save up a decent amount of savings.
One day, I came across this sentence on the web “You are working hard for your money but is your money working hard for you too?” and from then on, I knew that I should do something about my savings that were sleeping in the bank.
Being an avid learner of budgeting, saving, and investing, I stepped into the world of Personal Finance. With constant learning and upgrading my financial literacy through articles, books, videos, and financial blogs, I decided to do my very first investment: Singapore Saving Bonds and Temasek 2.7% bonds.
From there on, I attended various paid online courses and talks. I used robo advisors for a good 1 year before deciding to invest in my very first stock.
I attended a talk by an investment guru and bought based on what he said even when the stock was at all-time highs. Regardless of whether the stock advice given was good or bad, I should have done more due diligence before rushing to buy the stock. I only did some homework before proceeding to buy MCD and SBUX at that time.
Right after I bought MCD, the stock started dipping and within less than 2.5 months, it dipped 12%. The same goes for SBUX which dipped 15%. Without enough conviction on SBUX, I “paper-handed” and sold the stock at a loss. (from there on my hands turn into diamond iykyk)
I also dabbled into penny stocks in HKEX when one of my uncles introduced me to some opportunity (lobang) from his friend’s girlfriend who was based in Hong Kong from a particular bank. However, it turned out to be a pump and dump scheme.
What is a pump and dump scheme?
A form of stock market manipulation where fraudsters would artificially inflate the price of a company’s shares (“pumping”) by spreading false positive news about the company or creating an appearance of trading activity in order to induce others to buy the shares.
And one more experience was when I got scammed by a trading platform that disguised to be from a reputable financial institution. I still recalled the easy money entering into my bank account (meaning I withdrew my earnings from the platform) but I told myself that I should stop as there were many red flags. However, seeing the high and fast returns, I wanted to try it one last time and that was when my account got frozen and was asked to top up to unfreeze it. I didn’t top up and accepted my losses.
I told myself never to engage in something that sounds too good to be true and made sure I always do my research. These were all experiences for me, I learned from them and never went back to falling into such mistakes. I grew from these and my mindset changed as well.
The most important life lessons we will ever learn will be from the bad decisions we make. Time and experience can be excellent teachers when you actually learn a lesson from your poor decisions. Experience comes from our way of living, understanding, and the adjustments we make. It also comes from suffering, agony and the ordeals we are afflicted by.
On my own, I ventured into dividend investing, short-term trading, and long-term investment in growth companies.
(stay tuned for my next post: My Investment History Part 2)
With these personal experiences, I managed to help some friends to skip the process of making my mistakes and have a head start in their investment journey. I am also glad that I saved a friend’s money from falling into an “investment guru course” scam. I will continue to help anyone who is struggling or in need of support in their financial journey. By the way, I am also a Personal Finance Blogger.
Fast forward today, I have since changed my investment philosophy and choose to stop doing things that are not sustainable in the long run as I do not want to risk my future to chances.
If you are someone like me, wanting to have access to ethical and genuine financial planning, feel free to contact me or book a discovery session here.
Important: The information and opinions in this article are for general information purposes only. They should not be relied on as professional financial advice. Readers should seek independent financial advice that is customised to their specific financial objectives, situations & needs. This advertisement or publication has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
I came a long way experiencing what a young adult might face when stepping into the world of Personal Finance. (click here for my past history)
I tried many types of investments, made mistakes, took losses, and made solid gains. However, it wasn’t a sustainable solution and I knew I had to do something about it. I was putting a big chunk of my net worth in investments and neglected other areas of my financial plan.
Things changed when I started to do a FINANCIAL HEALTH CHECK (see Specialties tab) and learned about ethical and proper LIFE PLANNING. All along, I thought I was doing well as I am quite a saver, have got insurance and my investment portfolio reached an all-time high (a lot of luck involved). But the fact was, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I REALLY HAVE 🤷♂️, WHAT I AM DOING IS NOT SUSTAINABLE🙅♂️, and that Insurance does not equates to Financial Planning.
Through proper LIFE PLANNING, I now have a clear direction and have actionable steps to take to reach my financial goals with peace of mind.
Fast forward today, I work with a team of professionals, and represent my clients’ best interests. I am passionate about what I am doing and would love to help elevate the quality of your life through proper planning. As a Financial Advisory Consultant, I do not represent any financial institution and therefore, I am able to provide unbiased advice and my honest opinion.
To know more about what I do, please click here.
Click here to know more about my story.
