Caveat Emptor

Overview of technology industry I have recently picked up Philip fisher's common stocks and uncommon profits and attempted to understand his long term relationship / fascination with the technology companies of his time (Texas instruments, Motorola). Fisher's 15 points is the distilled essence of his experiences over the years, and I see some core elements used as the bedrock of Warren Buffet's criteria / checklist for selecting outstanding companies.  I will categories myself as a GARP (growth at reasonable price) investor.Growth and value is joint at the hip and I will only consider buying relatively undervalued companies that I understand in depth with a reasonable growth rate. My investing style is largely influenced by Peter Lynch, Warren Buffet and John Templeton. Ironically, my aversion of high tech companies also stemmed from their beliefs and experiences in the technology booms and busts from their era. The technology industry is littered with the corpses o...

It is easy to convince yourself in a boom market, that in the long run, everything will work out well.  When the stock market is bathed in a sea of red, it is an opportunity to buy, a prelude to prosperity. When the bear approaches and swipes the stock price off 20%, eager investors will swoop in to buy. However, as the bear did a second swipe and takes off another 20%, you start to wonder if you have did sufficient due diligence and bought at an overvalued price. The bear's fury swipes can be one instance, two instance, five instances and perhaps even more. This is the 2nd grizzly bear market I am in and buyers remorse is indeed incredibly difficult to stomach. I have made a deliberate decision 4-5 months ago, to stay in cash as the markets' height are unsustainable. When I intiated a minimal position in tencent (one lot) to monitor for updates, I was not prepared for the volatility of Hong Kong market. The resistance line had barely just formed and it did another 2 subsequ...

T2023-S$ Bond The mentality of institutional investors compared to retail investors when conducting their investment processes are vastly different. As the news continue to espouse on the end of the world and the domino like crashes of the US, China, Japan, Hong Kong stock indexes , Temesek holdings is quietly launching its T2023-S$ Bonds . Ignoring conspiracy theories about how TH is running out of money and thus borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, I believe that they are simply opportunistic and becoming a market maker through averse market sentiment.  As TH is primarily an equities investor with a 5-10 year holding period, they are borrowing at a discount rate that seem attractive at present, but lacking if considering the opportunity costs of discounted equities and impending interest rate hikes.  Demand seem to be exceedingly overwhelming and TH managed to raise sufficient capital, and even released additional placements to retail investors out of 'goodwill'....