So often, we have tried to outperform the market by doing our homework and trying to decide where the next winner will be for every year.

Picking the winners

It reminds me of the time many years ago, when I tried to pick out the stocks as winners every year to get my hard earned savings to work harder. And after investing for about 10years or so, I realized that I could make 7 right decisions out of 10 companies, which probably is quite good, if you ask most seasoned investors out there. But all it took was one wrong move and that could wipe out all the other good decisions made through the past 10years.

Mental cap

One top of that, when investing into stocks, there was a mental cap of how much I will be willing to invest into that company. Everyone has that mental cap. You will know it yourself. When it became too much for comfort, I stopped investing and the amount just hovers around that region for many years and when market risks increased, the emotional roller coasters take over and wrong decisions are usually made. If I believe so much in the company, I should be adding on even more when companies are at a cheap. But the haunt of Kodak, AIG, Hyflux and SIA keep coming back and we know not all companies last at a previous price forever.

Buying low and selling high

It does not help with the need to make educated decisions of what to sell and who to sell when markets were soaring and which to buy in the rotation during different times of volatility. Again, this time is different is a mantra that most stock holders find difficult to understand at various periods. If you just look at the chart above, you will see that every year, different asset classes hold the pole position. It’s almost an impossible job to do to ensure that you get it right every year!

Change needed for better results and lower risks

I knew about 5 years ago that change was needed and I adopted a different approach which could relieve me of the emotional roller coaster, save me lots of time so that I can spend it on my career and family, allow me to confidently add on aggressively during a downturn without worrying about companies collapsing in front of me. With the change, I built up about 5x of investments what I used to have in my previous strategy, in half the time.

Coming back to the question, can we pick the right winners every year? If you are a seasoned investor, you know what the answer is.

If you want peace of mind with more time on hand to do things you love, why shouldn’t you have an initial chat with us to see if there is a right fit.