Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Interview With Rohith Murthy Of SingSaver.com.sg

Finally, I managed to reach the small milestone of my "Interview With Peer Investors" series by hitting the 25th interviews. It took me 1 year and 4 months plus to reach it but it is well worth it. I learnt a lot just by going through the journey of my interviewees.

The 25th interviewee of mine is quite a special one, his name is Rohith Murthy, and ex-banker and owner of the SingSaver.com.sg, a platform that provides easy to digest comparison of the credit cards and personal loan features in Singapore. Even though it is not directly related to stock investment but savings and debts are key elements to the overall personal finance regime.

Without further ado, let's check out Rohith's investing journey thus far below. 

Enjoy!

Q1: Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself? 
A1 : I’m a banker by trade, with more than 10 years’ experience industry. Prior to SingSaver.com.sg, I was Digital Banking head at Citibank for Central & Eastern Europe where I was responsible for various e-channels, including Internet, mobile, phone banking, ATMs and digitisation of branches for the bank.

I joined Citi in Singapore in 2003 and was part of the Asia Pacific Regional Operations and Technology team. 

I hold a degree in Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering (Honours) from National University of Singapore.

Q2: Are you a full-time or part-time investor at the moment? 
A2: I’m a part-time investor.

Q3: When (at what age) did you start investing in shares and who has influenced you the most? 
A3 : I was 23 when I became interested in investing. I would say I was influenced by Warren Buffet and Simon Nixon.

Q4: Do you view yourself as long-term (holding shares in years), short-term investor (holding shares in days/months) or mixture?
A4 : I am an investor, not a trader. To me there is a difference between the two, as trading is a high risk activity that requires a different mindset. Investing (buying, holding, and collecting dividends) is my “sleeping point”, as I prefer not to face the emotional ups and downs of trading. When I plan I have an investment horizon of about 15 to 20 years.

Q5: What is your basis of selecting the shares to invest (e.g. basing on fundamental analysis, technical analysis or other methods/sources [share a little bit more details if it is the latter])?
A5 : If I had to choose I would say I am more of a FA guy.

I am a big believer in ETFs, as they offer good diversification with very low fees. But I’ve also had my share of losses when I invested in high risk ETFs without proper analysis and understanding during the ‘08 crash. I do like the ST Index fund. When picking companies to invest in, I pay attention to the P/E ratio and D/E ratios in particular – especially in downturns, the D/E ratio is one of the first (though not only) indicators that a company is headed for trouble. 

Q6: What is your targeted and achieved annual rate of returns (%) so far? 
A6 : I believe that, for retirement planning, one should always aim to beat the rate of inflation by 2%. I typically aim for returns of at least 5 to 7%. So far I have been getting between 7 to 9%.

Q7: What is your most recommended online investing resource (site or blog) to share with our readers?
A7 : SingSaver.com.sg is a really great site if you want saving and budgeting tips, but if you want investing I’d say Motley Fool or Yahoo! Finance.

Q8: Besides shares, what other investments are you involved in (e.g. Real Estates, Bonds or REITs etc)?
A8 : I am a property investor, and have since found an opportunity during fire sale in ’08. I do invest in some REITs, like MapleTree.

Q9: What is your Portfolio Distribution like? 
A9 : 30% bonds, 60% equities, 10% cash

Q10 : If the readers what to get in touch with you, how to get hold of you? (Sharing of your website/blog/social media profile etc..) 
A10 : You can contact me through my email rohith.murthy@singsaver.com.sg.

Last but not least, if you are a retail investor and would like to be featured in my "Interview With The Fellow Investors" blog series, please feel free to email me at investopenly@gmail.com.

Also, for the complete list of my interviewees and their posts, check it out here.

Cheers!

4 comments:

  1. Hi RIchard

    Good read.

    Just curious - do you always ask the same questions on different investors or it is randomised? Look forward to the next one.

    Frugal Daddy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frugal Daddy,

      Thanks. I am using a standard questionnaire for the time being, it is easy for me to do some compilation in the future.. interested to me my next interviewee? :-)

      Delete
  2. Hi Richard

    It is my pleasure :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frugal Daddy,

      The feeling is mutual. Look out for your interview post ;-)

      Delete

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