Unlike ordinary eggs, nest eggs are used for a specific purpose. The nest egg is the egg that stays in the nest, and helps in the laying of more eggs. In the investment world the nest egg might better be referred to as a cornerstone investment. This is the type of investment that has a special purpose, formed with personal objectives, providing a base for continued investing.

If a cornerstone investment takes up your entire life-savings, it will not induce further activity. Also if the cornerstone does not generate any income, it will not likely induce any re-investment. Thirdly, if the cornerstone investment is not compatible with other markets, it will be difficult to grow the cornerstone.

A market that fulfills the above criteria with the added familiarity of tracking the performance of Singapore’s biggest companies is the Straits Times Index (STI). The STI’s 30 constituents are diversified over 14 ...