The Average SG Investor

  Having a healthy savings amount is really an important element towards one's goal of financial independence. Hence, be it saving up  before investing  or just saving up in general, I would always try to optimise my savings strategies on how to save and where to save it.  How to save efficiently As we all know, there are two inputs to savings: our income and expenses. Unlike income where it is difficult for me to influence, it is relatively easier for me to control my expenses to increase my savings.  The goal here is to track and  reduce my expenses as much as possible to drive the amount I save up.  To track expenses, there are generally two methods that I use which are daily and monthly trackings.  Daily tracking   Firstly, I use an app called 'Money Manager' to manage my daily expenses. Whenever I make a transaction, I would record it accordingly in the app. It can be quite tedious at the start but does get easier over time as the habit...

Like many others, I am no stranger to the FOMO feeling whereby there is a constant fear of missing out on opportunities in the market. However, navigating the markets can be an extremely risky endeavor if there is minimal protection.   Look through any financial blogs/videos and there is a 101% chance you will come across the statement ' time in the market beats timing the market '. While its intention is good, it does not necessarily translate to impulse investing.  As such, before I started investing, I came up with a simple checklist to try and protect myself. These are the three items that I felt are relatively more important to consider:  Firstly, I looked at my own savings. The idea here is that one should always have a rainy day fund in case of unforeseen circumstances. To create this fund, I looked at my own expenses and liabilities to project my own 6 months fund.  To illustrate, I look firstly at my own expenses, which is roughly $500 per month. With t...

My investing journey started only in June 2020. However, my intention to start investing dates all the way back to 2015 when I was in National Service. As such, why was there this huge lag and why now?  In this post, I will attempt to address my inertia and how I got over this inertia to finally take the first step.  Growing up, you probably would have heard of the great 'Stock market' whereby it is the greatest mechanism for one to get rich. I know I did. On the flip side, you probably would also have heard stories of many going bankrupt or lose a significant portion of their savings due to their greed and the complexity of the system. This developed a mental model for me that the stock market allows one to earn money quickly, but is extremely risky as well. Being the risk adverse person that I am, I disliked the idea of 'gambling' in the stock market, but I do acknowledge its capabilities to make one wealthier. Personally, the idea of losing $5 hurts more than gaining...

Hello, My name is Chris and I am a recent graduate from a business school in Singapore. I recently started my journey towards financial freedom and would like to have a space to organise and share my investment thoughts. The content in this space will mainly revolve around my thoughts and perspectives as an average investor, with the goal of achieving financial freedom. I realised that I was one of the many who wanted to start my journey towards financial freedom, but either did not have the courage to do so or did not know how to actually start. As such,  I hope to share my point of view as a normal investor and hopefully, it motivates the audiences (who are in the same shoes as I am) to start their own journey towards financial freedom.  My goal is to share and not to teach - as I am in no position to do so. As such, I hope there can be a dynamic exchange of perspectives in this space between the more experienced and the less experienced.  As for my motivations, there a...