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Investing in 2026

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── In normalcy: 1. Remain vested 2. Reinvest dividends 3. Reduce cash by DCA-ing monthly 4. Rinse and repeat In correction: 1. Continue normalcy plan 2. Invest more in undervalued and underallocated counters In crisis: 1. Continue normalcy plan 2. Deploy war chest 3. If capitulate, invest aggressively Overarching goal: 1. Reduce cash/bond exposure 2. Ensure all dividends reinvested 3. Points 1-2 ensure annual dividends will grow Assume 4% yield. Reinvesting it means your portfolio grows by x1.04 annually, meaning your dividend income rises by 4% annually, all else equal. In 18 years, your dividend income doubles. The key is to aim for a high but sustainable yield, while reinvesting 100% of your dividends if you can. This ensures your annual dividends grow by at least your dividend...
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Money is made during uncertainty

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── Money is not made in certainty but during uncertainty  To invest in uncertainty is to invest when few are. This inevitably means you'll get a better deal. And better deals translate into better returns. People enjoy certainty, and as such are willing to pay a premium for it. Nothing comes free.  If you like certainty and stability, you have to pay for it. Therefore during times of economic stability and certainty, equities demand a higher premium. Conversely, if you're fine with accepting uncertainty, you'll get a much better price.  The market discounts uncertainty because it dislikes uncertainty. Now the question is whether you value certainty or your money more. If you're fine with uncertainty, you're rewarded with lower prices.  If you're uncomfortab...
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High Returns are Never Free

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── Some people make it seem that high returns are attainable as long as you put in the time and effort to managing your portfolio.  But that's just one side of the picture. The other side of the picture that is less often discussed is the high risk which high returns portfolios bring.  It is impossible to achieve high returns with low risk. Regardless of how skilled an investor is, it is not possible that achieve maximum return with minimal risk. You can maximise your risk and return trade-off but if you want high returns, you cannot say that you want low risk. High returns come with high risk.  There is no free lunch in this world. People who say it's possible to achieve high returns with low risk do not realise that portfolios which deliver high returns often go th...
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Buying During Bad News?

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── Buying on bad news either because: 1. You believe the market has overreacted 2. You believe the market will recover One focuses on the present, one on the future. Both are equally difficult to assess with reasonable certainty.  You will never know whether the market has truly overreacted to the bad news, or even underreacted.  Likewise, you will never know whether the market will recover. Even though there are no guarantees, we can make our decision based on what has happened before — history. Historically, markets tend to overreact to bad news. Investors tend to over-penalise bad news because investors are risk-averse. A minor bad news is able to cause a major market sell-off.  Markets have historically shown resilience. Not just the US market, but most markets g...
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Benefits of Dividend Stocks

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── 5 Benefits of Dividend Paying  Stocks: 1. Capital return without needing to sell  2. Automatically weeds out companies with poor cash flow 3. Provides a signal of the company's financial health and ability to consistently grow and generate earnings 4. Tax exempt income in tax jurisdictions like Singapore and Hong Kong 5. Gives you the option of reinvesting or spending the profit on your investment One of the most difficult decisions is knowing when to sell and how much. Dividends eliminate the need for such a decision. It automatically returns capital to shareholders without them having to sell a single share. Strong dividend paying companies also generally have strong cash flows which is the lifeline of businesses. If a company can consistently grow its earnings to co...
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Better Quality for the Same Price

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── During times of financial distress, you can get better quality assets at the same price. Let's say there are 2 companies: A and B. A is a better quality company than B because it has stronger earnings. To simplify, let's say A is trading at $25 while B is trading at $20. Now, if you have $20, you could only buy B. Soon, a market correction soon hits, and A is now trading at $20 and B at $15. With your same $20 now, you could buy a better quality asset — A, instead of B. This illustrates a simple point. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Your $20 remains unchanged but the value you can get from it does. For the same price of $20, you get better value now by buying A. While A's fundamentals have not changed, its price has, and as such, you're now able t...
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Volatility vs. Returns

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Disclaimer: Please note that all content and information in this blog are for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional investment advice. ────────────────── High volatility is necessary for high returns but does not guarantee high returns. This is a fundamental aspect for investing that many misunderstand. Many believe high returns can be earned without high risk. Any narrative which paints this picture is showing only one side of the coin. If investing is not without risks, what more investing for high returns.  If you have high returns, it's either due to chance or skill, or oftentimes — both. But the common factor is that you took a necessary amount of risk to earn that return. Even if you didn't take much risk for that high return, in the long run, you will definitely need to take more risk to maintain or sustain that high level of return.  A 30% annual return for example, doesn't happen magically with minimal risk....
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