Why Short Sellers Are Good

Finished reading Jim Rogers Street Smarts last month, and he explained why short sellers are good to the market.

Difference between Hedge and Mutual Fund

The difference between hedge and mutual fund is ability to hedge which means can sell short. Mutual fund only can buy.

What is Short Selling

You buy a stock at $10 a share, and anticipating or wanting it to rise. It then rise to $20 a share when you sell. Now you make a profit of $10 per share.

Selling short is the reverse of the process.

Now if there is a stock trading at $20 a share, and you think that it will fall to $10 – You are going to short it. What you do now is to sell the stock at $20 and then buy it back at $10.

Hmm…if I do not have shares how do I sell?

For shorting, what you do is to borrow the shares from a bank. E.g. I borrow 1,000 shares from a bank and sell the stock at $20. Now my stock account has $20,000.

Then as what I predicted, the value of the shares drop to $10. I then begin to buy back 1,000 shares at $10 which cost $10,000.

Now I return the 1,000 shares to the bank with interest. The longer you borrow, the heftier the interest pay back. Discounting the interest, I then make the difference of $10,000 (20k – 10k).

Why Short Sellers are Good

Excerpt from Jim Rogers Street Smarts:

Short sellers create liquidity and stability to the market otherwise stock price will skyrocket and also otherwise during collapse, it will collapse faster.

Market need buyers and sellers. Without sellers, price will sky rocket. Without buyers, price collapse.

E.g. during Dot com mania, everyone buy Cisco. Price went up from $20 to $80. Without Short sellers, price may go to $110, now it is $90. Without sellers, there will be no liquidity, things will go nuts!

Let us say short sellers are wrong. They cover their shorts, and summarily forced out of market. Stock will go up! But if short sellers are right, (by the way, short sellers have a better record than most Wall Street), stock price will head towards a collapse. Everyone will be in panic and wanted to sell. But now there are no buyers! Well there is actually the short sellers. This is because they have to replace the stocks they borrowed. They have to cover their shorts! So in a collapse, stock does not drop as much as it might have. Let's say it will drop to 80 instead of 30.

So short sellers are good. They save you from buying the failed stock at $110 - if you bought at the top, you bought at 90 instead. When you dump, the short sellers replace stock which you will be able to get out at 80 instead of 30.

During an interview I gave on CNBC in 2008. Jim Rogers shorted Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae was a sham and on verge of collapse. In 2008, it drop to 60 to bankrupt. It was down to 20 by then, and reporter interview me - Sharin Epperson - opinion that collapse was Jim fault.

"Listen, I told Ms Epperson, as politely as I could, "if you really think that Fannie Mae is going into the tank because of short sellers, you really should get another job!"

Short sellers are not the cause (of collapse), they are simply the messengers and as such they exposed many of the great frauds. The criminal enterprise that was Enron is one of the most famous scandals they are responsible for having identified!

Rolf’s Summary

I added this paragraph after blog mentor SMOL’s incitement that I am not a parrot in the comment. LOL

In my opinion, for every buy, there must be a sell, and vice versa. In a food chain, there exists predator/prey systems, and relationships between herbivores and their food source such that a stable equilibrium is achieved. This is called the “balance of nature” or homeostasis. Other examples are regulation of temperature and balance of acidity and alkalinity in our body internal environment in response to external conditions.

In the stock market it is no difference. We need a self-regulating process in which buyers and sellers in a dynamic equilibrium continuously change reach a balance.

So if there are no short sellers, how to achieve BALANCE during euphoria?

Related Posts:

When to Buy, Hold and Sell a Stock - Contrarian Approach

PEG Vs PE Ratio

Investing in Stocks – Isn’t it Risky … Any Tips?

Invest in Stocks – How to Start?

Added – China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp Ltd

As part of a routine, every Sunday I will read “The Edge” magazine. Last weekend was no exception. Front page this week reads “China Aviation Oil’s Big Year Ahead!” Being bullish about China long term future, the article aroused my interest. I began researching about the company. Below is a review of my research.

Company Brief

China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (SGX:G92.SI) "CAO" is the largest physical jet fuel trader in the Asia Pacific region and the sole supplier of imported jet fuel to China's civil aviation industry. Listed on SGX mainboard in 2001, CAO is backed by China large state-owned enterprise China National Aviation Fuel Group Corporation ("CNAF"). CNAF holds 51% stake in CAO, while BP investments Asia Ltd, a subsidiary of oil major BP, holds 20% stake. CAO's key businesses include 1) Jet fuel supply and trading – core; 2) Trading of other oil products; 3) Investments in oil-related assets. For more of CAO businesses, please refer here. 

Fundamentals

Price S$0.705 ; Mkt Cap S$609.7 mil 

Ex.Rate 1USD to 1.34SGD

PE 7.6 (based on annualized YTD3Q EPS of US5.20c)

PB 0.82  (base on 3Q14 NAV of US64.21c) 

Dividend 2c in 2013, i.e. 2.84% yield at current price of 0.705. 

Healthy net cash of US$55.8mil as of End 3Q14. 

ROE 14.3%; ROA 4.5% in 2013

Note: Expect 4Q14 results could be weak like 3Q14. Expected PE can be around 9 in 2014.

PROS

Award for Corporate Governance & Transparency

CAO was awarded

1)    “Singapore Corporate Governance Award” (Mid Cap Category) at SIAS Investors Choice Awards 2013

2)    “Most Transparent Company” (Runner-up in Oil & Gas Category) at SIAS Investors Choice Awards 2013

CAO was ranked 36th out of 664 companies listed on SGX, putting CAO in the top 6% of Singapore-listed companies in terms of corporate governance and transparency.

Note: Always be skeptical about awards! Nevertheless the above awards probably show CAO is a probably one of the better S-chips?

Greater Demand of Air Travel in China

China jet fuel consumption grew >10% last year and expected to maintain growth rate this year. By 2020, jet fuel consumption is forecast to hit 39mil tonnes. We know that China has been building high-speed railways. To some, air travel demand will be stifled. On the other hand, it will make it more convenient to reach major international airports.

According to Airbus forecast, China will need 5,363 new passenger aircraft and freighters from 2014 to 2033, accounting for 17% of global demand. The country will also have more domestic air traffic than any other country within 10 years. And, passenger number are expected to grow by 7.1% annually over the next 20 years.

Oil Price Slump, Good for Distribution Side of Oil Companies

Due to the oil price slump, CAO share price also dropped more than 20% in the past year. However unlike upstream oil producers who could face reduced profitability, CAO is likely to see earnings recovery this year, according to CAO CEO.

More than a month ago, I blogged about Mark Mobius view on Oil stocks. Refer here. Mark Mobius cited that lower oil is bad for the exploration side, but for the distribution side of oil companies its good.

Price Attractive Compare to Competition

CAO PB is at 0.82x respectively. Competitor Brightoil Petroleum base in HK which operates oil fields and supplies bunker to ships, is trading at PB 2.09x. New York listed World Fuel Services, the global leader in fuel logistics, is trading at PB 1.88x.

CAO Diversifying Business Internationally

Today China accounts for only 51% of the company’s revenue, down from 88% in 2011.

In 2012, CAO acquired Hong Kong and North American Fuel Corp (NAFCO) from its parent. Today, NAFCO has jet fuel contracts supplying to major Chinese airlines at US, London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Geneva airports. NAFCO also has contracts with Emirates and Taiwan China Airlines and EVA Air. In 2013, it won Hong Kong airport third aircraft refueling license in joint venture with three partners. Its overseas jet fuel is projected to grow at a rate of 20% annually. With Singapore Terminal 4 upcoming, CAO also see Singapore as a potential new market.

Oil Storage Problems in Korea OKYC is a Blessing

CAO owned 26% stake in Oilhub Korea Yeosu (OKYC) which owns and oil storage terminal in Korea. The launch of the operation was delayed due to problems in the last two years. Now with oil price depressed, demand for storage of oil is so high. By end of Nov, 81% of OKYC’s capacity was rented out.

New Markets

In its pipeline plans, CAO wanted to expand its operations into supply of fuel oil to ships in Singapore and China. Currently, CAO is renting fuel oil storage facilities in Singapore, but has plans to acquire or build its own facilities in future. CAO is also constantly exploring new products such as aviation biofuels and LNG. Last year it become the sole importer of Avgas, or aviation gas, into China. This is potentially big market because business jets which consumes aviation gas are going to be more prevalent in China.

CONS

Decline in Earnings

YTD 3Q14, Revenue rise 13.5% yoy to US$12.7b, BUT Earnings decline >21% yoy to US$44.7mil. Much of the weakness come from 3Q14 with >66.5% decline in earnings yoy to US$7.3mil. On Jan 8, CAO warned that 4Q14 performance will be similarly affected.

Volatile Oil Price Environment

The decline in earnings in 2014 is due to the volatility and difficulty in trading environment. Amid the challenging operating environment, many players reduced their trading activities or stayed on the sidelines resulting in poor liquidity in the fuel oil market. However CAO think that weaker players were already pushed to the wall and squeeze out, and this year will spell earnings recovery for CAO.

Global Uncertainty

The global economic recovery remains uncertain. Exacerbated by speculative activities, oil prices are expected to remain volatile and this may pose greater challenges to the Group in terms of trading risk exposures.

China Slowdown

The slowdown of China’s economic growth is inevitable and with the increase of China’s domestic refining capacity, a corresponding slowing down of demand for jet fuel import is to be expected. This would invariably pose challenges to our core jet fuel business.

Over-supply from Domestic Oil Refiners

Domestic oil refiners in China produce more jet fuels than the country consume. Due to this jet fuel sale in domestic Chinese market may be affected. However for international flights, only bonded fuel can be use. There can be a risk that this ruling may change weighing down CAO share price. This is also one reason why CAO is diversifying its business overseas.

Rolf's Summary

As a frequent traveler within China, one thing I hate most is taking internal flights. Planes are practically always at full capacity, so are runways or air traffic, resulting in frequent flight delays. I been to China’s three largest international airport - Bejing Capital, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun. It’s always “People Mountain People Sea” meaning so many people).

During Chinese New Year peak period from 4 Feb to 15 Mar, Chinese passengers are expected to make 2.8 billion trips on China’s public transport network – 100 million more than last year. Among the forecasted 2.8 billion trips, 2.42 billion would be by public road transport, making up the bulk of the trips. Only about 47.5 million trip will be by air, indicating the potential of growth in this sector.

After evaluating all the pros and cons, and taking into consideration my bull’s view on China, proposition for myself…. Long CAO! I bought 10 lots for now at 0.71.

Hold Hold Hold…..Please DYODD (Do Your Own Due Diligence) and read disclaimer in this blog. LOL

Related Posts:

CapitaRetail China Trust to Continue Thriving in a Pessimistic China Economic Outlook?

Shale Oil & China Slowdown – Let’s hear from Jim Rogers

Why China Today is so Different - My Own Travel Experiences in the Last 10 Years!

Added – China Merchant Holdings (Pacific) Limited

What is Your First Priority? - Liam Neeson, Taken 3

I watched Liam Neeson’s “Taken 3” last night. It is not as good compare to “Taken 1 & 2”, but well, this is not the topic of today’s discussion.

Towards the end of the show, Liam Neeson's daughter was captured by his ex-wife’s husband named Stuart who is the biggest villain in the show, who also plotted the killing of his wife i.e. Neeson’s ex-wife. In one of the scenes, Police inspector played by Forest Whitaker called Liam Neeson and asked him to take a step back and allow the police to handle the situation. The conversation that intrigued me is as follows. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam Neeson then asked Whitaker, “What is your first priority?”

Whitaker answered, “My first priority is to arrest Stuart John and charged him with your ex-wife’s murder!”

Liam Neeson replied “My first priority is my daughter!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blogging as Priority?

Just hours before watching Taken 3 yesterday, I posted an article titled “A Busy Start in 2015 – But Remember Your Priorities!” I listed blogging as one of my priority. Then I was correctly pointed out by SMOL as follows:

“Put blogging at the bottom of your priorities lah! Unless you have vision of turning this blog into a huge money making business one day.There's no contractual agreement between you and us readers on how many posts you "must" produce in a week ;). Blog when you have the time, have the inspiration, and most important of all, when it's FUN for you too! As a 4 years "veteran", I've seen too many cases of bloggers who burned-out in the end... Most never made it to the 2 years mark...Blogging should never become a chore ;)” - SMOL

I totally agree with SMOL, but I will explain as you read on, why blogging is one of my important priorities. 

Why We Blog?

In general, according to an article from Forbes, below are few reasons why people blog.

Pleasure

We blog because we want to inform our readers and doing so gives us pleasure. We look for opportunities to raise issues or insights that others may not have considered.

Little Bit of Ego

When we see that thousands of readers have read and commented one of our online pieces, we take a particular pleasure. This is not simply ego-gratification, though we confess to some of that. PLEASE...CONFESS...many of you out there! :-)

Satisfaction

Much more important is the satisfaction in knowing that others are thinking about the issues we raise, view them as important, and consider what we write as worth their reflection and sometimes their response.

Learn from Writing

"We would be less than honest if we did not also admit that we learn by writing blogs. We both believe that we can never be completely sure what we think about something unless we write about it, and in the process of writing, we learn. 

And learning is a joy for each of us. It is a superb substitute for more expensive forms of self-indulgence.

In writing our pieces, we try to “learn why the world wags and what wags it” and effectively share our insights. We learn in the process of writing our blogs. We hope you do as well.” – Forbes Writers Thomas Ehrlich & Ernestine Fu

Doing Similar Things But with Different Priorities

In the movie "Taken 3", both Liam Neeson and Forest Whitaker wanted to arrest the villain. Forest priority is to pull the criminal behind bars, but Liam’s priority is for the safety of her daughter. 

We must always understand our own priority in doing something, and not just follow the crowd blindly because it is cool. Without knowing your priority, you will lose interest and fade away after awhile. 

I went to the gym when I was 18 because I am skinny back then. For the next 18 years, I never once stop going to the gym regularly, not because I am still skinny, but because I understand that the first priority of going to gym is to stay healthy. Furthermore, I feels good after the exercising session. 

Many years ago, a friend of mine go to the gym because he wanted to look good to attract opposite sex. After going to gym, he feels more confident (which is excellent), and manage to know his girlfriend (now wife). Once he is attached, he stop going to Gym only after 1 year. 

My First Priority from Blogging

Why am I putting blogging as my priority?

Of all the reasons listed above, and on the top of the list, is to keep this blog as a library of information for my children.

Just like Jim Rogers, I wanted my children to learn philosophy. This blog will be my version of philosophy textbook to them.  

I already started asking my elder kid to read my blog, understand and summarize her thoughts! I also take opportunity to chit chat with her referring back to some of the post I written.  

So the more I write, the better my children become. This is my First Priority!

You can also refer to my earlier articles below, which include other reasons why I blog. Another important reason of blogging is to escape my comfort zone.

Related Posts:

The Joys and Truths of Blogging

Reasons for Blogging

Understand Yourself? - How to be Happy

Who is Rolf Suey

A Busy Start in 2015 – But Remember Your Priorities!

It has been a very busy start of 2015 for me. I was so tied up that it’s been more than two weeks, since my last blog post. I cannot recall when the last time I have such a long break between two blog posts. Apologies to all readers, but here I am doing my best to write again.

As it is now, my busy schedule seems to be for a good cause. Let's see why as follows. 

New Member in the House

First of all, we welcome a new member in the house. Despite the cries and sleepless nights (only little bit for me….guilty), the sight of the new innocent face just melts your heart and spell “True Happiness”.

Isn't she beautiful? Ya…. You will say look like my wife…. 

New Company

I once discussed with a reader about companies consolidating in times of oil crisis. “Bigger fish” prey on smaller ones. My company is one of them being preyed and “eaten”. In fact, the acquisition news is an open secret started almost a year back. Yet it is only official starting this year.

I am not new to company acquisition. It happened first time in my career many years ago. Luckily for me, it turned out really well then. With more experience and wisdom this time, I am hopeful that things can turn out good. Fingers crossed, and no guarantee of certainty in an environment of changes, just like the unpredictable stock market.

Bonus Surprise

2014 is a good year for me and I am grateful. Refer here for my review in 2014. To add icing to the cake, I received a pleasant surprise from my boss during our annual review. For a start, he revealed about O&G employees getting laid off in Europe due to the low oil price. Furthermore, our company profit margins are thinning due to increase competitions. Just when you are about to be realistic and trim expectations, counter-intuitively, the commendations flowed in. I received compliments about my work dedication, positive attitudes and good results in the past year. I was rewarded with a maximum performance bonus. You are most happy when you are least expected. You reap what you sow!

Know Your Priorities, Even if You are Busy

With the company acquisition, I will relocate office and rub shoulders with more colleagues here in Singapore. As a consequence, it is inevitable to anticipate more emails, more meetings, more products to promote, and more business trips. While at home, we will juggle more balls, with new little one crying, and older little one oozing jealousy. Not to forget a heavier expense burden imposing more stress on us.

NOW...let’s recall the resolution I made for 2015. I blogged about it here, and shown below also.

• Healthy
• Peaceful relationships - Family, Relatives and Friends
• Continue investing
• Continue blogging
• Continue meeting people
• Continue reading
• Sustainable job
• Open mind to opportunities

SO…less time for health, family, friends, investing, blogging?

We are always busy! When was the last time you heard a working Singaporean telling you that he is not busy. Even if he is, he will not say so!

In the face hectic schedule, it is paramount to remind ourselves constantly on our priorities. And continue to work on it! 

Health.  You cannot sacrifice health for wealth. That is stupidity! Many years ago, I received a ticket reporting to the netherworld. I persisted, overcame the illness and eventually throw that ticket away! One of the attributes to deteriorating health is fanatic work commitment. I am not going to let history repeat itself. Exercise regularly and eat healthy. 

Family, Relatives and Friends. So eager to see my little ones grow and spend more time with my family together. It’s going to be tough! Now, not to mention excess time left for relatives and friends. Nonetheless a connection is probably made with the heart and not always determined by how much time you are together!

Continue Investing. No doubt about it. My target is to have xx figures in xx years…LOL…. Several older bloggers always make fun on this statement. No matter how busy, I will read business times in the morning and browse Sgx news at night. Anyway, I made several transactions recently and will blog about it, in one of my subsequent posts.

Continue blogging. Here, I am doing.

Continue meeting people. No short of people to meet, with new colleagues in a global MNC environment. Cannot neglect old friendship too. 

Continue reading. This month I completed Jim Rogers “Street Smart” book. The reading was done almost throughout my business trip on the plane / airport. Seems easy to achieve, but very often, you require discipline to overcome the lure of sleepiness and Krisflyer entertainments!

Sustainable job. New parent company is cash rich and always ready to invest. In view of the current low oil price, it provides stability. Of course, there will be new changes and challenges for me. Not going to be easy! But anyway, I did mentioned in one of my earlier posts, about my job criteria ..1) Company able to pay my current salary. 2) My boss at least do not detest me. At least I am pretty sure criterion 1 is fulfilled. Criterion 2, I have to wait and see.

Open mind to opportunities.  Always

Related Posts:

Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015!

Review 2014 – My Life and Portfolio

Reasons Why You Should Resign Your Current Job - Real Life Examples (Part 2)

Reasons Why You Should Stay in Your Current Job - Real Life Examples

            

Book Review: Winning the game of stocks – Adam Khoo

I completed reading one of Adam Khoo’s best sellers, “Winning the game of stocks” more than 1 month ago and decide to do a book review. 

source: http://winningthegameofstocks.com

To be honest, I am not a fan of Adam Khoo, neither am I a "booer" of him. I had attended one of his talks (free) organised by my company several years back. I was a tuition teacher for ten years and some of my students also attended his programs. Overall, I admire Adam Khoo because he is extremely intelligent, objective and pragmatic. His book is easy to read and very practical and applicable to real life. I also read his other book "Winning the Game of Life" in 2013. 

Is Adam Khoo my cup of tea? Probably not, because I prefer those writer and speaker with more personal touch. Maybe I am over-sensitive and wrong about him not having the personal touch. 

Anyway, below is what I summarize. 

Stock Market

• In general, stock market always rise over time due to inflation and population growth
• Cannot predict market
• Consider Fundamental Analysis plus general market bad/good news

Psychology of a market cycle

• People buy and sell base on mood, fear and panic
• Begin of new uptrend, most people sells. Max opportunity
• Market reach top. Everyone talking about how easy to earn money. Max optimism. This point is max risk
• Start new downtrend. Stay away from market
• Market hits bottom. General public gets extremely negative about stock market. depressed and angry and vow never invest again. Max opportunity

Technical Analysis

• Buy – 50 dma cross 150 dma upwards (both line going up)
• Sell – 50 dma cross 150 dma downwards (both lines going down)
• Safest point to buy is when there is a breakout. Avoid buying immediately above first resistance breakout. May be a false breakout. 
• Sideways - Market not sure, may take long time before break out to up/down. Therefore no point in buying, unless short term trading. 

Rules for Individual

• Become expert, never rely on expert
• Buy and sell on predetermined rules not rumours
• Admit mistakes and take responsibility. 
• Do not be stubborn and hold on to investment believing you are right! 
• No sure win investments
• Identify great business with competitive edge.
• Learn to read income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
• Rules - risk or stop loss 1.5-3% of portfolio
• Do not invest in too many stocks if you have no time to monitor
• Never invest or have substantial shareholding of stocks in the same sector 
• Always keep at least 10% portfolio in cash
• Portfolio must be aligned with lifestyle and risk appetite

What You Need to Know

Knowing when to sell even more important than when to buy

• Company not profitable and lose competitive edge
• Technological reasons 
• Cut loses n stop orders (6-8% below Purchase price)
• if price fall 5% below recent high, sell
• Have discipline to sell great co and buy back at a better time

Different category stocks

Quite similar to Peter Lynch. 

• Dividend cash cow >=5%
• Large cap predictable - coke, macdonalds, Starhub, Colgate, Nike, Johnson
• Large cap growth – Tech stocks, Alibaba, Baidu, Apple, Microsoft
• Deep cyclicals - Capital intensive and highly cyclical. Make huge profits during economic booms and huge losses during recessions. Never hold deep cyclical for long term
• Turnarounds - Citibank huge losses during GFC, BP deep horizon incident. Co must large cap (>10b) Only invest when stock bottom and on uptrend
• Small fast growers - small cap (<1b) - Osim, Raffles med, Good pack, Breadtalk
• ETF

Competitive advantage of technological company can change

E.g. Nokia. More difficult for Coca Cola or Heinz ketchup to lose their competitive advantage. 

You can be better than professional Manager

Unlike retail investor, large mutual funds cannot sell their stocks when market downtrend and liquidates everything in cash. They have certain restrictions to stay invested and only keep say 10-20% in cash. They also hold large portion of share (millions). If they sell, it will cause stock price fall even further. However retail investor like us can happily buy and sell without moving stock price at all. 

DCA - dollar cost average

Use this when index is downtrend (2008 to 2009) or when sideways (2007-2011). DCA prevent us from buying stocks at all time high price. 

Summary 

• Financial success does not happen by chance but by choice
• Use both fundamental (logical approach) and technical analysis (emotional approach)
• Probability not certainty - never a certainty
• The secret is to make lot more money when you are right and to lose only a bit when you are wrong. 
• Investment is for long term. Think long term. 
• Stick to your rules and do not lose motivation when you are wrong
• One most important key to success in investing is in the Mind – managing emotions. 
• Greed, fear and recency bias (overconfident)
• Pride is equivalent to downfall. Remember to admit wrong and cut losses

Final Note from me. I am not advocating all the points in the book, but in general I think it applies well to stock investing. I actually skipped the part on trading, CFD etc since I know "zero" on that topic. 

Related Posts:

Why I Admired Jim Rogers (Part 1) – Read his Book “A Gift to My Children”

Why I Admired Jim Rogers (Part 2) – Read his book “A Gift to My Children”

Contrarian Investment Strategies – Rule 1 to 21

Contrarian Investment Strategies – Rule 22 to 41

Napoleon Hill "Think and grow rich" - Summary

Books, Videos & Courses List

First Charity Donation in 2015

Inspired by blogger Money Honey, who consistently make donation to charity and had Permanent stock holdings for Self-funding donations via dividend collected, I decided to make my first donation in 2015.

I started regular monthly donations more than 15 years ago. 

Please do not *Wah!* It was only S$2 a month to NKF.

Unfortunately, the money donated since (computed as >S$360), until today is not sufficient to pay for the bathroom tap of the unethical T.T. Durai, ex NKF CEO imprisoned for corruption charges.

Below is my S$50 donation to Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped. I always think that being not able to see is one of the cruelest things that can happen to a person. This is one reason why I started with SAVH to donate. 

While it is not a lot of money, it is a token from my heart, and a good start in 2015. 

And yes, this is one of the things that break my comfort zone too. Something I mentioned in my earlier post Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015! 

What Advice Will Your 37 Year-old Self Give to Your 30 Year-old Self

Turning 37

I am turning 37 this year. It is a fantastic age to be in. Coincidently at the age of 37, it is also the time when famous investors Jim Rogers retired to travel around the world. Like most ordinary Singaporeans, I am definitely not as ingenious as Mr. Rogers, hence does not have the luxury to retire, but continuing to work and feed my family and me tirelessly now. :-)

Nonetheless, now is a time when I started to have the right mix of knowledge and life experiences, while not losing the drive and passion to put talks/plans into action. It is also the time I comprehend "when to accelerate, stop or decelerate". It is a time when my wisdom (little bit, but better than the past) develops and creates patience to take over from the impatient and reckless me of the past.

It is also the time when I see my family grow, in particular see my kids grow. That kind of joy is beyond words. As famous investor Jim Rogers put it.

“I was always against children. I thought children were a terrible waste of time, energy and money. I was never going to do anything so foolish as to have a child,” says Rogers, “I can tell you right now I was completely wrong about that.”

Jim Rogers had his first child at the age of 57. For those who are still without kids or single, it is never too late. Remember “Better Late Than Never!”. Keep searching, do not settle. 

10 Advices Your 37 Year-old Self Should Give to Your 30 Year old-self

Sometime last year, I read an article that catches my attention by Mark Manson, a South American writer and author. It is so true and meaningful that I decided to replicate/summarize the article in my blog then.

What happen is the writer turned 30 and sent an email out to readers and asked those of age 37 and older what advice they would give their 30-year-old selves. He received more than 600 responses, many was from the quality of insight people sent. What surprised him was just how consistent some of the advice was. It seems there really are a few core pieces of advice that are particularly relevant to this decade of your life.

Below are the 10 Advices. 

1. Start Saving For Retirement Now, Not Later

2. Start Taking Care Of Your Health Now, Not Later

3. Don’t Spend Time With People Who Don’t Treat You Well

4. Be Good To The People You Care About

5. You Can’t Have Everything. Focus On Doing A Few Things Really Well

6. Don’t Be Afraid Of Taking Risks. You Can Still Change

7. You Must Continue To Grow And Develop Yourself

8. Nobody (Still) Knows What They’re Doing. Get Used To It

9. Invest in Your Family. It’s Worth It

10. Be Kind To Yourself — Respect Yourself

Read Here 10 Lessons That Will Help You Excel in Your 30s. 

Related Posts

Why I Admired Jim Rogers (Part 1) – Read his Book “A Gift to My Children”

Why I Admired Jim Rogers (Part 2) – Read his book “A Gift to My Children”

Understand Yourself – How to be Happy

Legacy of Values & Meaning of Life - Dr Catherine Lim

Secrets of Success – Brian Tracy