Caveat Emptor

I am currently digesting a book, titled the Warren Buffet philosophy of investment by elena chirkova. To be frank,  I read a fair share of Warren Buffet books, his quotes, and advice on the internet by Buffet wannabes on how they can emulate him and achieve his results. (Buffet trackers, dodgy people proclaiming they can beat his returns) I will do a write-up on this book in due course. However,  some afterthoughts as follows. 1) Mere mortals do not have the count to infinity time horizon as Buffet as. They are constrained by capital, transaction costs and immediate expenses to follow up. They don't have the stature and negotiation power of Buffet, to bargain for convertible bonds, to limit his risk exposure while holding an option to convert to shares. (think Baml). 2) This book has an interesting critique on mathematical finance and valuation models. Although Buffet is a proponent of financial ratios, he shuns overly complex mathematical valuation models, which models had...

Singpost - Hindsight 6 months ago, I had seriously delibrated on buying singpost as it is undervalued then. 6 months later, I am glad that I held off the purchase. Although it has certain moats that made it an attractive value buy at that point of time, what is undervalued can go even lower. Singpost does not enjoy an impressive profit margin from its traditional lines of business,  and is doomed in a sunset industry, rapidly overtaken by emails and electronics forms of communication. It is relatively leveraged compared to the revenue it can deliver, and is drawing down on its capital expenditure on capital expenditure into its e commerce system. This company enjoys an enduring business merely because of its monopoly position as a core postal service whereby legal and official documents still need to be delivered in a physical form. Other than that, it's operating and financial performance is not stellar. I was merely lucky that I had the discipline to hold off the purchase, as...

Wait till unsustainable price for chew to drop before reconsidering. Large surge in profit is due to land sale to government and wait for disappointing quarter / annual results to shake speculators confidence before going in. Sgx, dairy farm and Suntec REIT has great potential. But its moats and margin of safety are not as deep as I like. I should stay away and wait for the quarterly results. I expect vicom to plunge further due to effects from coe down cycle. Wait till next quarter results for any investment decision Interest rate hike did not seem to impact and create a fire sale in REITs compared to the November first hike. Maybe it is all fully factored in and I bought mine at the best possible moment. The best direction moving forward is to look away from the stock market, focus on building my warchest reserves and enjoy life as a whole. And wait for the next quarter financial results before any decision is made. Expect downward movements in my portfolio as sell in May and go...

  I am conducting an independent Analysis of SRS across providers, as the information of the Internet is incredibly lacking. Effective on year 2017, this is a table summarising the relevant charges to be expected before one undertakes account opening decision. This is to be used as a general guide of comparison and there might be errors . If anyone wishes to clarify on the above claims, he should speak to his respective bank's banker.  1)  For the purpose of investing via SRS, UOB has ongoing promotion of waiving of charges until 31 Dec 2017. 2) Sources http://uob.com.sg/assets/pdfs/SRS_Charges.pdf https://www.ocbc.com/assets/pdf/investment/cpfia_schedule_of_charges_201112.pdf https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resources/pdf/invest/supplementary-retirement-scheme/srs_schedule_of_charges.pdf 3) Generally, for my own investment methodology (strongly inclined towards stocks and REIT) i) Shares, ETFs and Corp bonds = UOB ii)Singapore Government Securities =...

The power of reciprocation 1) socialisation and gifts 2) intiate with small favours, get him to say yes, listen to his advice 3) people feel required to reciprocate after accepting freebies (no free lunch) 4) intiate with a large unrealistic request to probe the client. Then zone in on specific request that client is likely to accept To counter Never accept anything that comes free Resist attempt for Interaction Understand gifts as sales device Prohibit employees from accepting gifts

The ultimate banker Knowing the bigger picture as well as depth of line of business Know how to read your boss. Know what he wants from what he says, and what he want when he is not saying anything. Simplify everything when interacting with high ranking bankers. Don't jump into the jungle thinking you are dealing with monkeys, while in fact you are dealing with tigers Know what problems you will run to, make calculated moves, solve the problems Make friends through part time work / internship. Get a recommendation from bankers. Focus on getting in first, then make the right impression to others. Dress and behave like you belong to. Know how to pitch the things you know to the colleagues around you. Connections and recommendations are very important. Be thick faced and ask around. Help people to gain political capital. Network and do things for others. Learn by doing. Establish yourself as someone to be respected. Be a somebody amongst nobody Knowing people at deputy chie...