No, not really. Finance is a simple industry made to look and sound complicated to justify fees. Just one example, active managers love to confuse us by using Greek words. Like – alpha – to describe what other industries call…
You’re rich. No, really you are. Whether you’ve paid for a computer or smartphone to browse the TACOMOB website on, or even handed a few coins over at an internet cafe, you’re far richer than many of your fellow human…
… in other people’s minds. The timescale bias is quite a profound thing with serious implications. Ever noticed that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster than you is a maniac?—George Carlin That is timescale…
“Whoa, wait a minute,” I can hear you protesting, “Dude, what are you saying? No way! That might apply to you, but definitely not to me. I am special!” Face it, my friend, you’re nothing special, because the mediocrity principle simply states so. The universe…
Mostly, our herd conformity is a good thing and it’s one of the reasons that societies are able to function (legal system, driving, etc). Nevertheless, watch out for what you step into when you follow the herd. Herd behavior occurs when investors follow the…
Was reading the Sunday Times today when several “Unit Trust Providers” and “Actively Managed Funds” peddling their services through ads caught my eye. Whenever I do read those eye-candies, I can’t help but recall the miserable track record of active…
Thank you, dear readers, for reading my blog-posts and for letting me know what you like and dislike about them (for example, too long, too wordy). I hear you; thus, this post is succinct in answering: Why we save so little? Why evolution is to blame for our stock losses? Why…
We tend to associate more importance to recent events than we do to less recent ones. The more vivid our memory of something which occurred in the past is, the more “available” that event will be in our mind and the more…
Most of us think that if we win the first prize in a lottery we’ll be happy forever. A few days ago four fellow inhabitants of Singapore won the TOTO Hongbao draw bagging about S$3 Million each. Soon they…
The time has come again. It’s that time of the year when families gather for reunion dinners, when extended families from far-flung corners of Singapore meet in one central place for the annual “oh-how-have-you-been – when-are-you-getting-married – have-you-gained-some-weight – conversations”.…