After a long break, here is another guest blog by a regular reader, TheMinimalist:
PRIVACY POLICY
Featured blog.
1M50 CPF millionaire in 2021!
Ever since the CPFB introduced a colorful pie chart of our CPF savings a few years ago, I would look forward to mine every year like a teena...
Archives
Pageviews since Dec'09
Recent Comments
ASSI's Guest bloggers
- boon sun (1)
- Elsie (1)
- Elvin H. Liang (1)
- ENZA (3)
- EY (7)
- FunShine (5)
- Invest Apprentice (2)
- Jean (1)
- JK (2)
- Kai Xiang (1)
- Kenji FX (2)
- Klein (2)
- LS (2)
- Matt (3)
- Matthew Seah (18)
- Mike (6)
- Ms. Y (2)
- Raymond Ng (1)
- Ryan (1)
- Serejouir (1)
- skipper (1)
- Solace (13)
- Song StoneCold (2)
- STE (9)
- TheMinimalist (4)
- Vic (1)
Resources & Blogs.
- 5WAVES
- AlpacaInvestments
- Bf Gf Money Blog
- Bully the Bear
- Cheaponana
- Clueless Punter
- Consumer Alerts
- Dividend simpleton
- Financial Freedom
- Forever Financial Freedom
- GH Chua Investments
- Help your own money.
- Ideas on investing in SG.
- Invest Properly Leh
- Investment Moats
- Investopedia
- JK Fund
- MoneySense (MAS)
- Next Insight
- Oddball teen's mind.
- Propwise.sg - Property
- Scg8866t Stockinvesting
- SG Man of Leisure
- SG Young Investment
- Sillyinvestor.
- SimplyJesMe
- Singapore Exchange
- Singapore IPOs
- STE's Investing Journey
- STI - Stocks Info
- T.U.B. Investing
- The Sleepy Devil
- The Tale of Azrael
- TheFinance
- Turtle Investor
- UOB Gold & Silver
- Wealth Buch
- Wealth Journey
- What's behind the numbers?
Tea with TheMinimalist: How I Made 300%+ Returns (US$1,930) On One Trade In Less Than 24 Hours (Part 1).
Thursday, March 17, 2016Tea with TheMinimalist: Selecting a good financial advisor.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
I am happy to publish another guest blog by TheMinimalist and this time the focus is on how to select a good financial advisor:
In this guest blog, I want to talk about a topic that is close to the hearts of many readers here which is picking a good financial adviser to work with.
Why is it important? The reason is that the majority of us are clueless when it comes to managing our money. That’s why we read blogs like ASSI, which, in my opinion, is one of the best places to start in educating ourselves on the topic of personal finance.
Firstly, financial planning is all about systems and processes, NOT products. For example, how can one set up a disciplined system to save at least 10% of one’s income each month? The answer can be found in my previous guest blog. 80% of the financial advisers will not even bother to go through this with you. Why? They don’t earn a single cent, duh! (Take note that most FAs in Singapore are still commission-based, a terrible system if you ask me.)
Secondly, financial planning extends far beyond selling insurance products. An obvious area to bring up here is investment planning. I am seriously surprised by how most of the FAs are lacking in investing knowledge. Ask 80% them about fundamental/technical analysis and they simply give you a blank look. For those new to AK’s blog, fundamental analysis (FA) and technical analysis (TA) are the main due diligence processes before making an investment decision. FA tells you what to buy while TA tells you when to buy/sell off your investments.
It’s not difficult to be financially literate so long as you are willing to put in the time and effort to pick it up.
A financial plan (or financial blueprint) is the best piece of evidence to reflect the competency of a FA. Logically, you engage a FA to manage your finances for the long-term. If the FA cannot even plan out his own finances, how in the freaking world will you ever expect him or her to be capable of advising you on your finances?
To give another example, you will not ask a designer to renovate your new house based on some arbitrary designs right? You will show designers the blueprint of your house, tell them what you would like installed in the living room, study room etc. You will talk through the plans with them; confirm that you are satisfied with everything first before starting renovations.
- Find out what a financial plan is. Talk to a professional planner. If you can’t afford to engage one at the moment, do not worry. I’ll discuss constructing a DIY financial plan for yourself in future guest blogs.
- If you are meeting financial advisers now or in the future, ask them to show you their financial plan. If they can’t produce one, please think TWICE about engaging them for their services. He or she is a financial salesperson, NOT a professional planner.
P.S If you have found my guest posts useful; please feel free to share it among your friends via FB or e-mail. J
Note from AK:
I think I shall have to t-loan from SMOL his instant noodles cooking pot on behalf of TheMinimalist. Works quite well as a helmet.
Tea with TheMinimalist: If Personal Finance and Investing were a religion, what would be your denomination?
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The Minimalist, a mysterious and wise man, has contributed another guest blog to ASSI. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have:
Over a podcast interview with AK71, he shared that “Investing is a religion”. I can relate to his statement on so many levels. Firstly, there are so many different denominations like value investing founded by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd or permanent portfolio by Harry Browne. Secondly, you cannot “force” someone to adopt an investing style that they are not comfortable with. For example, my best friend is a conservative investor and is satisfied with investment returns that match the inflation rate (3% to 5%). People like my best friend would be best suited for the Permanent Portfolio.
During my university days, I went through a “quarter-life crisis” and was very lost with what I wanted to do in life. Upon the advice of some friends, I decided to turn to religion. As I started reading different religious texts (such as The Bible; Dhammapada; Dao De Jing), attending services, I realise that these religions share common truth. I will share two points that have benefitted me the most. The first one is to engage in meaningful and purposeful work. The second is to love and serve people.
For readers who are new to personal finance and wish to take charge of their finances, where is the best place to start? In my humble opinion, the Bible of personal finance is “The Richest Man in Babylon”.
After reading the bible of personal finance, feel free to research the different styles of investing and adopt one that you are comfortable with. One of the best ways to shorten the learning curve is to be a mentee to someone who has successfully applied those principles. (Maybe, AK71 can start a mentorship program and start with coaching his mentees to eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cheap, healthy and nutritious!)
Breakfast of champions'. |
A word of caution.
Make sure you are learning from the RIGHT people. I am sure many of you have read of religious leaders in Singapore who have fallen into the money/power trap. Or finance trainers who promise infinite riches by paying $X,XXX to attend their courses.
The end goal of personal finance/investing should be financial freedom where our assets generate sufficient passive income to cover our expenses. The means should justify the ends. If your mentor makes his money through insider trading (illegal), excessive leverage (dangerous) or guess-work (lazy), you might want to reconsider learning from this person.
(2) Read and memorise the seven universal principles of personal finance
(3) Plan and write down specific steps on how you would apply each of the seven principles. For example, you want to apply the first principle “Start thy purse to fattening”. To do this, you write down “On my next payday, 16th Oct 2014, I’ll set aside S$500 from my S$5,000 paycheck to a designated savings account with OCBC.”
Buy pre-owned with free shipping worldwide at US$6.98 a copy.
Read and learn 7 important lessons in life:
1. Pay ourselves first.
2. Live below our means.
3. Put our money to work.
4. Always have insurance.
5. Our home is a consumption item.
6. Plan early for retirement.
7. Upgrade our knowledge and skills.
Read another guest blog by The Minimalist:
Financial planning? Start with why!
Related posts:
1. Getting paid more while waiting for opportunities.
3. If we are not rich, don't act rich.
4. A common piece of advice on saving.
5. Do you want to be richer?
Tea with TheMinimalist: Financial planning? Start with why!
Friday, September 19, 2014
This is a guest blog by a mysterious and wise man with the codename: TheMinimalist.
It wasn’t until I met a university friend that I finally got my answer.
My Body Mass Index (BMI) is 21.7 and falls within the normal range. However, the fear of becoming a “fattie” motivated me to take steps to lead a healthier lifestyle by:
- Exercising more frequently after
work
- Opting to eat fruits and nuts
for my dinner
- Controlling the amount of food intake for each meal
The ongoing efforts of such a healthy lifestyle have paid dividends and I am currently feeling “lighter” and better.
Here are two simple things you can do immediately to start turning your financial life around:
Ask yourself and decide (out of the two) who you want to be like in 3 years' time.
Next, take out a piece of A5 paper and write down ONE specific thing you will DO from today onwards to better manage your finances. Then DO it.
Achieving level one financial security for Singaporeans.
Save 100% of your take home pay! What?
If we are not rich, don't act rich!
Every single time you find yourself faltering, think back to the two people you have just met. Who do you want to be like in three years’ time? The answer (to your future) is in your hands.
Go try it and share your experience in the comment box below or FB. I look forward to your response to my debut guest blog! J
I think I have been blogging too hard lately. I might take a long trip overseas to take a break. I should be un-contactable by all modern communication devices then. So, unless courier pigeons are available, invitations to have dinner at the atas tim sum restaurant might not reach this fatty. -.-"
Monthly Popular Blog Posts
-
It has been almost a month since my last blog post. I am serious about becoming more laid back and being less active in social media. The ga...
-
For those of you who follow me in my YouTube channel, you would know that something unfortunate happened recently to my father. So, I expect...
-
I didn't think there would be another blog post until the new year but I did something just now which would have surprised myself a few ...
-
Quite a few readers and viewers have been asking me on and off this year whether I was adding to my investment in Wilmar. I think more peopl...
-
With DBS, OCBC and UOB doing so well in 3Q 2024, I had to take time off from gaming to produce a series of videos. For those of you who do n...
All time ASSI most popular!
-
A reader pointed me to a thread in HWZ Forum which discussed about my CPF savings being more than $800K. He wanted to clarify certain que...
-
The plan was to blog about this together with my quarterly passive income report (4Q 2018) but I decided to take some time off from Neverwin...
-
Reader says... AK sifu.. Wah next year MA up to 57200... Excited siah.. Can top up again to get tax relief. Can I ask u if the i...
-
It has been a pretty long break since my last blog. I have also been spending a lot less time engaging readers both in my blog and on Face...
-
I thought of not blogging about my 2Q 2020 passive income till a couple of weeks later because Mod 19 of Neverwinter, Avernus, just went liv...