I’ve been investing since I was about 16 years old. Since I was so young, I had to ask my mother to buy stocks for me through her account. The money came from allowances, hong bao money and odd jobs I did in my teens. Despite my early foray into investing, I wasn’t able to reap the benefits of compounding returns. This was due to my own substandard stock picks, choosing from the substandard Singapore stock pool. The only real success I remember was with Cerebos Pacific (maker of Brand’s chicken essence, which delisted), but pretty much most of the picks were duds. Singtel, Keppel, Cosco, Lippo, etc. Deeply disgusting how they destroyed value and time. Despite these terrible returns, I was invested in Singapore stocks for almost 20 years. Honestly, I didn’t pay too much attention to my investment returns since I had a decent income from my job, and my savings went up regardless....