CAGR II

Recently, I was given an opportunity by a reader to explain more about CAGR. It's not a brand of cigar. It's refers to compounded annual growth rate - a calculation to find out the compounded returns per year (note that this is different from simple interest rate). I actually wanted to share how silly this calculation is about but I had a feeling that I've written about it donkey years ago. After searching, I realised I did write an article about...

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You need both rainy and sunny days to make life's rainbows

** "BIAS" is a special feature in my blog where I get to say whatever I want with scant regards for your feelings. I'm not politically correct in this feature, so go ahead, judge me." Time seems to fly these days. It seems like it's the opposite of what Einsten's theory of relativity had proposed. You know, in that theory, if you travel as fast as the speed of light, time seems to stop from your point of view. In work life, it...

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One weekend at Fullerton Hotel

I went over to Fullerton Hotel over the weekend for a break from work. Work had been getting more and more unbearable, so I think a mid term break from all of it, even if it's for a while, is good for my mental well being. Since I've never been to a local hotel before, I thought of going there instead of the slightly more troublesome trip to my favourite Batam. Batam is good for those long stretches of idle days...something I can ill afford now. Anyway,...

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The forgotten habit of reading

** "BIAS" is a special feature in my blog where I get to say whatever I want with scant regards for your feelings. I'm not politically correct in this feature, so go ahead, judge me." In my job, I talk with many young people. I walk away with the grim knowledge that most of them do not have a habit of reading. I'm not just talking about reading textbooks for academic purposes, but also reading for the joy of doing so. From what I...

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The velocity of money

I was re-reading this book by Garrett Gunderson - Killing Sacred Cows. It's a very wonderful book with very refreshing concepts, so I make it a point to revisit some of the concepts espoused in the book every year when I have the time to do so. It's so easy to read that if you only have time to read one financial book this year, make it this one! You can have a sneak preview of the book here. Since it's the preview, not all the pages are shown,...

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Phillips MMF

It seems that Phillips Money Market Fund (MMF) is giving lousier returns as more people are aware of it, or simply because that they are fleeing the more volatile stock markets and trying to flock into the safer cash funds. I've been using it since May 2007 and I also tracked the NAV value of the fund since then. The returns per month for the following years are as follows: 2007 : 0.167% per month --> 2.01% per yr 2008 : 0.111% per month -->...

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A little reflection

These days I hardly look at the market. I remember when I started, I keep staring at the prices, as if by some eye power, I can change the prices of the stocks that I owned. These days, it's just a waste of time. I suppose as I get more mature and hopefully wiser, my feelings and emotions are kept more constant. There are a lot of things that require my time and presence, and I certainly do not want to spend my life staring at numbers jumping...

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SGX - trade review

I was reviewing some of my past trades. This is one of them. The counter here is SGX. It's not exactly good for trading because the cost of 1 lot is quite high, so while the absolute value might be the same, a higher amount of capital is tied up in case the trade goes wrong. But I do like the cannot-die type of company for trading, so SGX fits perfectly. Here's my two trades all depicted in the chart shown below: What a roller coaster ride...

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