Considering Singapore is a financial hub, we’re pretty dismal with regard to financial literacy. Singaporeans who meddle with the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) somehow manage to lose money, the braver ones get burned by gold traders, and a small bunch are still hiding money in Milo tins. It’s time to address how we mess up our retirement.
1. Overreaction to bad news
Singaporeans tend to have an “episodic” view of finance. Don’t believe us? Check out the reaction in comments boxes, whenever news breaks that GIC or Temasek Holdings has underperformed.
Even if the loss is for one-quarter, all perspective flies out the window. There are accusations of incompetence everywhere. A reasonable approach would be to look at 10 or 20-year performance – no fund wins all the time, and what matters most are the annualised returns in the long term. But it’s easy to forget that when a dramatic ...
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