Book Lessons #3: The Selfish Gene Part 2

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Aug 15, 2018 |

This is a continuation of the Book Lessons #2: The Selfish Gene Part 1. Unfortunately, I cannot find any investment lesson in this post, only life lessons! In the later part of the book, The Selfish Gene, the author Richard Dawkins introduced how altruism sometimes work in nature as it becomes beneficial to both the giver and the taker. The simplest example is what we had learnt in Biology 101 – symbiosis, the direct opposite of the parasitism. It was a good reminder that in struggle between good and evil, there are always examples of good triumph over evil....

Chart #14: Live Concerts!

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Aug 9, 2018 | Saving & Spending |

Happy National Day Singapore! Here’s another interesting chart. Sales of concert tickets had quadrupled since 2000. The top concerts bring in $100-200m just in North America alone. Live Nation (LYV US) is just racking it in! This is the Experience Era. Since internet took over the world, reality now has a different meaning. We treasure what’s left that cannot be done on the net more than ever. Hence concerts, live events, theme parks even going to the movies is different...

Value Investing Is Really Like Cave Diving

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jul 25, 2018 | Investing |

About 18 months ago, we discussed that value investing could be compared to riding a bicycle up a Finnish mountain. It was a really stretched analogy that was perhaps too difficult for most people to understand. Two weeks ago, the successful rescue of 13 Thai boys trapped in a cave caught the world’s and my attention. As with many others, I followed the saga closely. I was woefully saddened when one of the rescuer died and jubilantly rejoiced when they were finally saved! It was truly a triumph for human innovation and a story worthy for Hollywood! It also...

Tangible Thoughts #6: Contrarian Thinking

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jul 16, 2018 | Personal Finance |

Sometimes the best opportunities come when most people don’t agree with you but the one or two trusted smart friends do. Or maybe they also didn’t agree but you are smart enough to figure out they were wrong. Here’s two quotes reflecting this: John Malone: Most of the money I’ve made in my life has been when other people don’t like what’s going on. When things are cheap, that’s opportunity. Jack Ma said something to the same extent. If 10 out of 10 people agrees with you, then nothing needs to be done. If there is just one or...

Book Lessons #2: The Selfish Gene Part 1

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jul 9, 2018 | Investing |

I just read the seminar work of Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. I would say this is a must-read for everyone. Not just investors, but everyone. Amazingly, this book was listed as the most influential science book of all time in a poll to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Royal Society Science Book Prize. To think that it was published in 1976 and I only read it now. This book put forth so many concepts that it’s actually quite daunting to absorb everything. Hence this post serves to really crystallize some the important ideas. Interesting, Dawkins also coined...

Chart #13: Race to a trillion

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jul 3, 2018 | Market Review and Trends |

The FT published a series by the same name. The following chart really shows it best. One of them would be the first trillion dollar company in the history of mankind. The candidates are: 1. A Window (Microsoft) 2. A River (Amazon) 3. The Alphabet (Google) 4. A Fruit (Apple)...

Germany Tak Boleh!

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jun 28, 2018 |

“Tak Boleh” = “Cannot” in Malay Last night, Germany, the champion in the last world cup was eliminated by South Korea, the worst player in its group. It is now advised that Mongoloids should not visit Germany in the next one month lest we get beaten up by soccer hooligans in Europe’s strongest economy. If you really have to go, wear a T-shirt proclaiming you are not Korean. Maybe this is all planned. Both Italy and Spain were also eliminated in group stages after they won the World Cup previously (see below). So, Germany is just keeping the tradition!...

Chart #12: Why Property Keeps Booming

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jun 21, 2018 | Property |

Here’s another chart that explains why property keeps rising, globally. Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2009, the central banks flooded the world with liquidity to prevent a Great Depression type catastrophe. But this created heaps of cheap money in the system, which had to find its way into assets. Hence private equity, bitcoins, art, wine and needless to say, property. $7.4trn into real estate in no joke. This is larger than Japan’s economy and almost as large as China’s economy. It is a wonder now why Singapore property doesn’t correct enough for you to buy? URA property price...

Buy Pyongyang Property!

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jun 15, 2018 | Market Review and Trends |

12th of June 2018 in Singapore would go down in history as an important day. It marked the first step for North Korea to modernize. Well, if that really happens say a decade from now. Let’s hope it happens, lest our $20 million would have gone to waste and this photograph of them sunbathing in our Infinity Pool would be a joke. Epic moment at our Infinity Pool Well, to be honest, it was a joke. It didn’t happen. Some internet smart aleck photoshop-ed this and circulated it around the internet and Whatsapp. It was a good one, for...

2018 Dividend List – Part 4

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jun 12, 2018 | Investing |

The last portion of this year’s dividend list sees a hopscotch of companies from various segments of the economy. First up we have Berkeley Group, a property name from the UK. Next, European engineering related firms such as Smiths Group Inc and the French/Italian construction company Vinci. Across the Atlantic, US industrials: Emerson Electric, Cummins and healthcare firms: Gilead Science, Amgen, Johnson and Johnson were featured. There is also a paper packaging company: Mondi, a toy company: Hasbro and even a luxury brand: Coach, which is now renamed Tapestry. Dividend List Part 4 of 4 Given that the lists...

Tangible Thoughts #5: Howard Marks

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | Jun 6, 2018 | Investing |

“The key word is calibrate.” – Howard Marks Investing is not black and white, in or out, risky or safe. The key word is calibrate. The amount that you have invested. Your allocation of capital among the various possibilities. The riskiness of the things you own. All these should be calibrated along a continuum that runs from aggressive to defensive. Howard Marks Coming from guru Howard Marks, the words and meanings just come alive much better. Investing is never binary. There are always linger questions and there is always another answer. Futures and outcomes are always a set of...

2018 Dividend List – Part 3

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | May 28, 2018 | Investing |

The third part of this year’s list consist of consumer names that we know really well. P&G, Harley Davidson, Unilever, Kellogg, Pepsico, Campbell Soup and our very own Thai Beverage. These are truly global household names and we should really have some in our portfolios. It is very rare for them to be featured here, all in the same year. Again, this is a reflection of the market’s one sided view that internet, gaming and FAANGs will conquer the world and become Masters of the Universe! Dividend List Part 3 of 4 On the flipside, non-tech stocks are now...

Chart #11: Ikigai

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | May 17, 2018 | Personal Development |

Renamed Chart Of The Month to simply Chart. This one today is an important one. We are talking about ikigai. Ikigai Another way to put it – ikigai is the cross section of your values, the things you like to do and the things that you are good at. To supplement, here’s 10 ways to better stay in ikigai: 1. Stay active and don’t retire 2. Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life 3. Only eat until you are 80 per cent full 4. Surround yourself with good friends 5. Get in shape through daily, gentle exercise 6. Smile and acknowledge people around...

Malaysia Boleh!

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | May 10, 2018 | Market Review and Trends |

“Boleh” means “can” or “able to” in Malay. What a historic day for Malaysia! Dr Mahathir trashed Najib with a snap of his fingers gloved in his infinity gauntlet neatly decorated with the coalition of infinity stones: DAP, PKR, PNA, PPBN and Warisan Sabah. His Alliance of Hope, Pakatan Harapan and its partners convincingly defeated Najib’s Barisan Nasional (BN) with 122 seats vs his nemesis’ 79 seats. Mahathir’s win ended one of the longest reign for a democratic ruling party and renewed hope that Malaysia can one! (i.e. Malaysia can achieve what it wants to achieve.) Under Najib, Malaysia...

May the Force be with Omaha!

Posted by 8% Value Investhink | May 6, 2018 | Investing |

It’s the Omaha weekend again and this year is special as it also started on May Fourth which is also knowns as the Star Wars Day. In Singapore, someone then decided to organize a Star Wars Run charging people S$80-85 to either join the light or the dark side of the race! The annual Berkshire run, for those investors who are spending this weekend in Omaha, cost roughly S$60 and all are encouraged to invest in ourselves i.e. our bodies, which would be the best investment ever. Star Wars Run Singapore! Well, unfortunately, one run would never amount to...

Author: 8% Value Investhink