Tag: Psychology

Money is Indeed Everything

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, Psychology, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

Indeed in our world today, in this small island of affluent rich Singaporeans. Money is everything. It puts not just food in your mouth but also entertainment all day, all night long. What would you do without money? Cryptocurrency has taken a big fall along with traditional investments and the biggest news in town isn’t Bitcoin crashing down from it’s ATH (all time high lingo)

I also dabble in Cryptocurrency and at one point it made up about 20-30% of my entire portfolio. Which was amazing to be honest. It just raked on and on but I didn’t not take any profits. Instead I sink more into the ecosystem and punted for the 100x goal. Did I buy Luna? Did I do UST? No, I did not. Why didn’t I? I wasn’t too sure as well as I was playing MM.Finance and Dark Crypto Defi.

The Terra Luna Conspiracy

At one point I even pondered why didn’t I joined in the party at Terra Luna. But I had 0 holdings and I was wondering what did I miss out. Again, the 100x token. Unfortunately, things goes off in a snap this is part of the world and liquidity spiraled down to a level of pure single death tone. I’m not too sure how many people were hit locally but I do know there were plenty of suicidal comments online.

I read in many spaces that talked about having an asset allocation of not more than 5%-10% in your investment portfolio. But in that part of the space in my memory, it is just a 100% allocation into crpyto. I can’t help but feel sad to see it is down more than 50% but at least those were the profits that I ploughed in during the good times. Perhaps it is just time lost and research wasted.

Humble beginnings

In any case, It really brings back to the initial launch of why I started to note down my financial and blogging journey.

a. Don’t put in everything you can’t afford to lose when you invest. (Naysayers will say they took all the risk and became rich and that’s fine too if you made it) But I’m adverse. I have 2 young kids to feed, a mortgage and a car loan that is about to be paid up in a few years.

b. I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the all-in concept. How am I going to pay my bills for the next 6-12 months? Perhaps I’ve experienced this twice in my life. The first when I was in Secondary School where I had only $100 bucks in my bank account because I did not keep track of my spending. Needless to say, my parent’s scholarship eventually made up the bank book when I went to Tertiary.

This just proves that at a young age, it is hard to grasp the concept of personal finance. Especially when you can reach out and ask for money from your parents. This is non-existent in the World called America and Europe. Only Asian Parents do such things to spoon feed their previous child. (Laughing to myself – Who am I to say this as I also have 2 lovely girls)

My second experience of wiping out wasn’t exactly scary. It was when I got married and bought a house. Expenses were really tight and for a while, I scrimped really hard and saved on every little item.

My third experience was when I lost my job when I was 35. I had been living paycheck to paycheck. Bills, mortgage, expenses were what i needed but I lost my job. That made me think a lot. I was out of things for almost 18 months and I even tried to do a small business which put me in further financial disarray by the time I decided to pull out of it. Did I feel suicidal? I can’t deny it but I felt my existent in this world was worthless. But that thought didn’t stay long. So, for those guys who lost it all in Terra Luna, I can only say i feel you but money can’t buy you happiness.

Suicidal is an easy way out. Living is tougher. You can always rebuild but when you are gone, your loved ones will be distraught. Hence, the idea of depression can be really detrimental.

Cheers guys. I’m having a break today from work. Afternoon beer is a luxury – I understand that. My last few years were one of the greatest in a company whom emphasis is on getting things right and proper. Budget were never a budget issue. Everyone will have their day so keep on living. Don’t ever give up.

Conclusion

Health is Wealth guys. Don’t read it literally – Life is beyond just the money. Money gives you the capability and option to do many things. But life is beyond what you think it is. I can’t stress enough that when you think positive, you will get vibes and when you think you are young,  you will be young.

I’m not sure how many people do read this or follow me but if what I say matters to you, it tingles with you. This is human psychology. There isn’t a need to be connected physically. When things resonate, it doesn’t need to be reasonable. You just need to know it.

It is not literal. This post isn’t about money or referral or personal finance. I feel you and many of us experienced that at least once in our lives. Just make sure that it is a lesson you learned and it doesn’t deter you from exploring options. Because, you really cannot say never to something you have not tried.

Living is more important than dying. Easier said than done but get over it and restart again. With support, it will be easier but without it will just take longer.

When the world drops in front of you

On By RistrettzIn PsychologyLeave a comment

Life is very strange. It can be tough for some, easy for others. Sometimes smooth sailing while some have to ride heavy waves for extended period of time. Covid-19 has not been great to many people and companies globally. This also pretty much sums up the cashflow situation most companies are when the economy shuts down for months. The typical companies who are in debt are just simply living on future money, future growth and future prospects. Never touch those companies.

Uncertainty

Life has a lot uncertainties but these should not be the decisions you make in your life. Life will also give you a fair share of knocks but these knocks when looking back ensures that these formulate and set you up for the future. It is actually kind if you look back in that way however at the very moment that things happen, it isn’t easy to take.

Personally, I do understand how it feels and it is totally fine to feel dejected, upset and even cry about it. Immerse into the whole dejection and slump but don’t drag that out for too long. It is equally important to pick up and build the self confidence from scratch.

Your plans will change. Your ideas will fail and things will not fall in the way you want it to be. Truth be told, that is reality. The world starts dropping on you and the worries start formulating in a strange way. Whatever the situation is – It is a setback and you need time to recover. Be it one month, one year for 2 years – that is a process that everyone have to go through. It strengthens your resolve and makes your mind work so much harder.

Moving Forward

The first step is the dismay and anger. Get it through thoroughly and do not withhold. The next step is actually crucial – your own support group. Your family, your parents, your friends, your spouse, your extended family. This is also the time when you will start to realise who you can depend on. Some friendships will be lost while new ones will be developed. The support group is important to keep the sanity going.

Step number 3 is the recovery part and at times, mood will change from step 1 to 3 but that is not a step back but a step forward because there is a plan to go ahead. Regardless you like it or not, you will have to accept it and move ahead. The important thing is to push ahead. At this point in time, confidence can be at a all time low and you will definitely know what you need and what you don’t need.

Moving Backwards

Many times, when you feel that the world has fallen right in front of you. You are not alone and it happens to many people. No one likes to share to tell you the bad things. After all, everyone really just tell you the positive and optimistic stuffs. Social norms say you can’t say but I beg to differ on that view. I’ll say, it is better to speak your mind than keep it under a smile or silence.

I can’t say that this is a good feeling but it is indeed a humbling experience. It can be a time to rethink and/or reevaluate.

It will not happen

Most often, things happen at the most unexpected moments. I often hear people say things like this will not happen. These companies are too big to fail. These are the monopolies or even “My plan is …..” Well, I would say that who knew Covid will actually be a global impact to our livelihoods. The thing is really never say never. Humans are forgetful but these setbacks brings you back to the ground. When you struggle to find a solution, the struggle makes everyone resilient. We are only resilient when you experience hardship.

The Impact

What is impacting is that being a majority middle-class, we are all sandwiched-class. Being financially savvy brings your step out of the sandwich class. A close friend of mine once said that your best gift to your child is getting your own retirement plan ready. I reflected on that statement multiple times and it is true to a certain extent:

a. It is intangible and your child will never be able to understand it until their later stages of life

b. Being financially free and getting ready for retirement gives less stress on your kids as compared to now when you are sandwiched between the seniors and your young ones.

c. By getting ready for retirement, you will eventually also prepare for your child’s education. This is reality and it is real. Imagine contribution CPF to your child’s account and compounding at an early age. This kick start their beginning where most of  us either started too late or had to little to begin with.

Conclusion

The purpose of this is really to gain some awareness about personal finance and how important it is over the longer term. You have to know what you have or what you don’t in order to cover what you are lacking.

As each and everyone of us are different, if you are in difficult times. Don’t worry, it will pass and something better will come by. You may or may not see it now but it will be better as time goes by. Health is important so take care of your own well-being and be mentally stronger over time.

Sustain, maintain and grow your wealth. There is no rush as baby steps are the ones which brings you confidence. Each time, you fall as a kid, you just got to get back  up. Similar with your own investments (Be it personal investments or monetary investments) every step of the way is an experience. No one said that it was easy. Tough knocks makes you a better person and let you make better future choices.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

Able to write and share is my main objective is to create a community and blogging what I want to do. Being mentally well and put down content is something I always wanted to do. Trying out new things will definitely bring one’s horizon to a different level.

Human Nature and Psychology

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, Psychology, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

Humans are interesting. Technically and Fundamentally. There has been a lot of discussion around behavioural finance but I tend to see that as behavioural psychology. For the human mind, there is a sense/emotion that triggers a good feel or bad feel and that triggers almost every decision we make. I’m no exception but it very strange. How does this affect us? I believe it affect our decision to buy a company, invest a counter, sell a counter, buy a long-term product or even purchase a new gadget even though we don’t need one.

Needs versus Wants

The most old school human nature is the needs and wants. I kind of feel that this is forgotten after being used so extensively for so long. We are forgetful creatures so we have to be constantly reminded into the basics. As defined:

Needs – They are necessities and compulsory. These should be our main focus when living life to the greatest. As I have always said, there has to be a balance as well. Sometimes, it is good to take a step back and don’t follow the sense or what seem logical to be doing. It takes routine out of norm momentarily.

Wants – They are good to have and not mandatory. However, they are stuffs that has an alluring sense to being able to own it. It does not happen all the time but these are mostly things we want to own.

More often than not, we make our goals in order to achieve our wants. Those stuff are not sustainable. They make one feel good or even give a great sense of achievement.

Herd Theory

This is probably an ingrained set of behaviour that has always been affecting human being. If we win, we win together and if we lose, we all lose together so it isn’t that bad. But com’on, that isn’t really correct technically. Herd doesn’t give you immunity to anything. No one gains from the same damaging impact (If the end result is negative) but on the flip side the herd tends to celebrate when there is a success during the end goal.

It also doesn’t mean that by following analysts call, it is always the right call. How much of those really do impact your decision. I would like to think that most people decide to delegate the job of choosing a counter to the “experts”. However, it just means to always do your due diligence. If it matters to someone, you will take that extra effort to do so.

Investor Psychology

These days the market doesn’t just pick up everything from one big investor call. Geopolitical tensions and psychology plays a huge part in everything as well. The talk about the famous words Warren Buffett once said that it is wise for investors to be “fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” This is a little overused but it makes absolute sense. However, this need to be taken into context as well. Is this the typical trader or the long term portfolio building strategy? We can’t typically pull a rabbit out of the hat and apply this to every scenario.

To date, I still find too many irrelevant quotes applied to conditions that are simply not apt for the scenarios. Even when the scenario seems apt, it may not be because of the situation every individual is in. Which is why, time and again I emphasize that there is no one size fits all strategy but building and learning from each other.

The $1 million investable asset versus the $100k versus the $10k versus the $0 can really learn from one another. It is never too late to do so but by not doing anything, that’s not doing yourself the favour to plan ahead.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

Let me know what kind of articles resonates with you and what you would like to see or hear. I’ll try to make those more frequently. After all, the main objective is to create a community of sharing and learning from each other. The end goal is to be financially free.