Sunday, May 17, 2015

Maybe This Is The Reason Why I Started Late In Investing!

It is heartening to see more and more youngsters to get their hands dirty early in Personal Finance, especially on the investment. With more and more relaxing rules and guidelines by our regulator (MAS) to encourage retail investors to join in the bandwagon (be it Stocks, ETFs, REITs or Bonds), I foresee that age profile of the retail investors will be getting younger and younger over the years. 

Personally, I am a late starter, very very late, to be exact, I only started stock investment a year ago. Anyway, I am a firm believer of "later better than never". Of course, the phenomenal effect of Compounding Effect is no longer at my side, I will just need to make do with whatever I've got left. 

Speaking of which, it triggers me to revisit my past and trying to uncover the reason why I did not get involved in the stock (or any other kind of) investment earlier. I deduced three key "culprits" :

1. Lack of knowledge - Prior to this, I always relate stock investment with gambling, which might still be true as till now, my view is that there is still a small element of gambling in stock investment. The only difference is that with enough "homework" and focus on time-in-the-market, the probability of winning is much higher.

2. Money Is Hard To Come By -  When I was younger, money is not easy to come by. 20 plus years ago, I came to Singapore alone when I was still a kampung boy ;-) The life is much simpler then as all my living expenses are self-sufficient and at the beginning of my working life, it is kind of hand to mouth, so investing did not cross my mind during my younger years. 

3. Too Risk Averse -  I am the kind of person that like to play it safe (too safe, at times). However, I've learnt that playing too safe is not safe at all!  

So, how young have you started your stock investing journey?

Cheers!

17 comments:

  1. Hi Richard

    You are not very old, still very young :)

    Better late than never, you can be much more matured in the thinking too ;)

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    Replies
    1. B : Thanks for the encouragement... Just trying to do some self-discovery... anyway, the only way to keep going ;-)

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  2. You start late but wise. I have been probing those white hair zebras around me. Quite a number of them started young but not really they are better off than late starters.

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    Replies
    1. CW8888 : Ya, it's true..Thanks for the encouragement ;-)

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  3. Hi Richard,
    I started late as well but the good thing is that we have started on the journey :)

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    Replies
    1. Joyce : thanks for dropping by and comment. Very true, hence my motto : Late Is Better Than Never ;-)

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  4. Hi Richard,

    With the advancement of medical care, the average life expectancy is increasing. So who knows, maybe we could live to a 100 and since you already started, there is still many many many more years to go to compound. It all depends on the first step which you took a year ago and now you are on your way earlier than those who are still thinking or not yet thinking about taking the first step.

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    Replies
    1. Investing Wolf : what can I say but to agree with you? ;-p

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    2. :DD I'd say that i have a lot to learn from you guys!

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    3. Let's make it a two way traffics, we learn from each others ;-)

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  5. For some reasons, it's usually when we reach half-life that this kind of question starts to become a more serious concern. I guess it's because we are nearer the end than the beginning?

    Is that what mid-life crisis is all about?

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    Replies
    1. Lizardo : I don't view it in so serious note lar, nearer to the end or not, no one know as the end can come any time at any phase in life.

      Come and think of it, maybe you are right, it has something to do with mid-life crisis! hahaha

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  6. Hi Richard,

    This game hor, start early doesn't mean better than those who start late. A little element of luck, a big dose of temperament will get you further than those who started earlier. Nah, I won't be worried about who starts first. It's how you finish that matters.

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    Replies
    1. LP : actually I am not comparing to those started earlier lar, just to reflect myself why I started late only.. In any case, once started, just enjoy the journey lor... Hahaha

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    2. Started late but wise is already winning liao! At least, you pay lesser tuition fees to Mr. Market.

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    3. CW8888 : hahaha, agreed on the tuition fees part. This reminded me on the "tuition fees" I paid when starting to learn the Mahjong game many many years back! lol

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  7. Thanks for dropping by and comment

    ReplyDelete

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