News that caught my eyes: resale & rental prices of non-landed private homes

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Our clients and friends who have attended our Asset Allocation Seminar would remember our advocacy for equities (between bond, equities, precious metals, real estate & cash) as the preferred asset class since almost 2years back..
Despite having a long term preference over certain asset class, it is important to understand that patience and Continue reading News that caught my eyes: resale & rental prices of non-landed private homes

Emotional Spending

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I came across this term emotional spending and decided to read a little more into it. On investopedia, emotional spending is defined as when an individual spends money for the sole purpose of improving a mood. Some reasons why people engage in this behavior are to improve or maintain a mood and to cope with stress.

Personally, I am not too much of an emotional spender so it makes me wonder if it is all true. Does spending money really makes one happier, does it really improve mood and helps cope with stress?  I am not the first to question that so the below is merely a summary on what I have gathered from existing papers (power of google). 

Spending money improves a mood

Yes, it improves the mood but no, it does not make you happier. Continue reading Emotional Spending

Circle of competence

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This is one of my favorite concepts in life. It is actually Warren Buffett’s belief towards investing – to only pick and analyze companies which he understands. To focus investors on areas that they have an edge in. This is his way to win.
Personally, I also believe that this applies to life – that if we focus our effort and commit to one area, we will become highly successful in it and that we will win in life, too. I am also in the midst of building my career in this one singular area so I cannot say for sure that it WILL definitely work.. But based on the many successful individuals, I believe it to be true.

this recent article I came across on Business Insider illustrates this really well:

“If you want to be the best tennis player in the world, you may start out trying and soon find out that it’s hopeless — that other people blow right by you. However, if you want to become the best plumbing contractor in Bemidji, that is probably doable by two-thirds of you. It takes a will. It takes the intelligence. But after a while, you’d gradually know all about the plumbing business in Bemidji and master the art. That is an attainable objective, given enough discipline. And people who could never win a chess tournament or stand in center court in a respectable tennis tournament can rise quite high in life by slowly developing a circle of competence — which results partly from what they were born with and partly from what they slowly develop through work.”

Recently, I met with quite a few people who have a keen interest to start their own business but whom have put off their aspirations because of their lack of capital. As a result, they also do not build on their competency, which is a HUGE waste… because out there, there are people whose ‘edge’ is that they are rich and they are willing to invest. Food for thought for all of us? To build a circle of competence, regardless .