Inspiration – Page 5 – Greg Fok Advisory

Markets are at all time high

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020
by Gregory Fok

Now that markets are at all-time high, most speculators will probably feel very uncomfortable now. “What should the next step be? Should I sell, wait or top up?” How do I invest with a peace of mind?

For those who are invested into single stocks, seeing your stock go up sky high can be scary because you never know what might happen next. Some of these examples include Hyflux and Kodak or even SIA which could potentially have changed their future outlook.

However, if you are a long term investor, looking back in history all the way back to evidence from year 1926, you would realize that the broad diversified markets always go up. And if an investor had just held a CORE asset allocated portfolio and rebalanced along the way, he would have been handsomely rewarded over the decades (as shown in the picture). Individual stocks would not have performed the same way. There are only a handful of stocks that might have been around for the same period of almost 100 years. Most of the individual stocks would either have been obsolete, closed down or disappeared over the years with the evolving markets and industries.

If we are building CORE portfolios that are broadly diversified across the world with proper rebalancing done over the years, it would be fair to say that the values in the future will be higher than it is today, whilst going through some crisis along the way (this is based on evidence investing).

If you would like to find out what CORE portfolios that can help you achieve your individual dreams and goals, whilst giving you peace of mind, you should always reach out to have a conversation.

My investment strategy is getting me nowhere

December 9, 2020December 9, 2020
by Gregory Fok

A recent conversation with a client was investing into stocks. He was trying to study and buy into companies at low prices and exit them at higher prices, shifting between various companies he has been tracking that are typically stocks in Singapore. Unfortunately, some companies have been suspended, some gone down so low that it is not even worth looking at, some have done very well but he had exited way too early.

After several years of investing, he was getting nowhere near his goals as he was always happy with that few thousand dollars that he made along the way. He will pull out from his investments as he was also afraid when the next wave of change might hit that made the company go south or obsolete as many other blue chip companies had gone in that similar direction. Some examples would have been SIA, Hyflux, Kepcorp, Singtel, SPH, Kodak etc.. When we calculated his retirement goals, it was a big amount and he knew straightaway that he had to change strategy.

Core and satellite strategy

He needed a core strategy that builds wealth in a global diversified manner across the world, not just focused only in specifics like US, Europe, China or a concentration into a few technology stocks. He needed it to remove the pain of seeing some companies go up and down with no bright future ahead as well. He wanted to be able to sleep in peace in downturns which could come in various forms. This is for a long term retirement strategy. He needed the money to be there available for retirement when he has slowed down in his income or stopped work totally. Isn’t that what most of us are hoping to achieve in our lives?

The satellite strategy varies from person to person and one needs to take a small allocation to position that in place to give the icing on the cake. I used to have this problem as well and after shifting my strategy about 5 years ago, I have managed to build a CORE portfolio of 7-8x in size from what it used to be previously.

Do you have a CORE portfolio strategy built in place for you for retirement that you can invest with peace of mind and yet achieve better than average market returns than most retail investors? Connect with us to see to share your experience and see if we can help you get you to your goals in a more comfortable manner.

Planning for short career lifespans

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020
by Gregory Fok

We have worked with individuals with short career lifespans through our time.

They typically have very high earning abilities in a short span of about 2 decades.

Historically, sportsmen, celebrities, surgeons, media personalities fall into this category.

So they have to make the most of their youth and their time and expertise.

Unfortunately, when they are in the prime of their careers, they usually assume that this will continue for them all the way forever. The reality is that once that season is over for them, things can change pretty drastically pretty fast.

More recently, joining the spotlight comes high level corporate staff who are Managing directors and C level management as well of MNCs. Adding to the list are also consultants who work extremely hard and travel non stop and health easily can take a toll.

Due to the covid 19 situation, companies cut the senior levels very quickly when times are bad. And if that same senior executive had just committed to a huge mortgage or is used to a certain lifestyle, he either finds it difficult to take a humble pie to start on a different track or accept a much lower package elsewhere.

We all know someone like that, don’t we.

If you knew that you only had a good 15-20yrs of high income, what will you do differently in financial planning?

Which do you prefer? Time or money?

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020
by Gregory Fok

As Warren Buffett says, “Having money makes you rich, Having time makes
you wealthy.”

If you were given an option, which will you prefer?

In the early years of many individuals whilst working, it is all about
being rich. However, as the years progress and you have found your passion in life and would prefer to spend more time with your loved ones and your passions. You will start to think about finding ways to pay people to do the work you are not best at, so that you have more time for yourself.

Once success is achieved, the next level of growth is about doing things
you genuinely have interests and passions for, together with your loved
ones. It is also about working smarter, rather than harder.

After 15 years of experience, when it comes to wealth management, I
realized a lot of the work I do is not only about managing wealth, but
more about managing emotions for the family. What people want more than making the next million is about living with dignity, fulfilling dreams
and making a difference with significance in the world we live in with the resources meaningfully allocated.

How would you like to live life with both money and time? I believe the
work we do allows us to creatively ensure that you get the best of both
worlds for you and your family.

We are looking for people who possess the following… This person loves
someone, have reasonably good health and some meaningful wealth to think about how to creatively preserve and grow it for the overall family’s
benefit in a meaningful way.

What is your job?

June 18, 2020June 18, 2020
by Gregory Fok

Are you laying a stone…… or building a cathedral?

Two workers, when questioned at a construction site as to their job, responded in dramatically different ways.

One responded that he was laying stone. The other replied that he was helping to build a cathedral for people to worship God. Their job was the same. Their perspective was not.

What is your perspective towards your job?

To me, my job is using my life and work experiences to be used an instrument for building God’s kingdom!

Should I be my own doctor?

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020
by Gregory Fok

If you had an option, you could go to a part time junior doctor under going training and ask him to do a surgery on you.

Or you could go to a trusted experienced surgeon who has seen 1000s of patients and have been doing this for the past 15yrs and could immediately understand your problem, get a diagnosis and help you to draft a treatment plan.

Which will you prefer?

When it comes to family wealth planning and investing, you might unknowingly be doing the same.

We have seen consumers trying to DIY. They take an approach where they try to read the markets, trends, study companies and grow their wealth, protect their income, family and do all this part time whilst they are busy working in their main job.

At best, after all your effort you put in as a consumer, you become a part time surgeon with minimal experience to speak of.

Would you be confident to allow yourself to be operated by this part time surgeon, who does not have enough experience seeing enough patients to operate on you?

If you do not, please instead spend time to interview and look for a trusted advisor whom you can journey with on the long term and provide holistic financial advice.

It saves you lots of time, money and emotional pain. All that time and energy can be then converted to spend time with your loved ones and fill it up with your passions in life that are important to you.

Go and spend your time to live a life of possibilities!

Steward of wealth

April 28, 2020April 28, 2020
by Gregory Fok

Whatever we have is not ours to begin with.

When something is loaned to us, we tend to be much more careful with it.

For example, I remember when I was allowed to drive my brother in law’s Sports SLK Mercedes car, I was thrilled and excited! But compared to driving my own car, I was really very careful with it. As I negotiated turnings, I would slow down way before I reached the turning.

When it comes to wealth, it should be looked at from the same angle to achieve financial freedom and peace of mind. Whatever income or assets we have, it does not really belong to us. We are only in charge of it as stewards during that period of time. One day, we will leave this earth and we cannot bring all this wealth with us and will pass it on to someone else. Are we good stewards?

While we may be doing well and thriving in the good days, it is only wise to plan for unexpected scenarios that might come up along the way. And unexpected could come in various forms. It could be an economic crisis, a critical illness crisis or a business crisis.

Joseph in the bible shares that there will be 7 years of abundance and followed by 7 years of famine in interpreting Pharoah’s dreams. He also adviced this. In the years of abundance, we take out a fifth of it and store it away for when the famine comes, we would still have sufficient.

As one of my mentors, Benny Ong shares with me frequently, “If we don’t do good with our money, one day our money will not do us any good.”

I have been a steward of wealth over the past 15 years, helping families and businesses plan holistically in their overall financial planning.

Are we good stewards to see it from a stewardship perspective? Are we being responsible in the way we manage what is bestowed upon us at that time?

A person eventually wants to achieve financial freedom and peace of mind when it comes to wealth.

Go and spread the good news.

Creating a bigger future in the midst of chaos

March 26, 2020March 26, 2020
by Gregory Fok

Creating a bigger future for yourself in the midst of chaos.

There’s so much more negative than positive news out there with Covid 19. Be careful what you focus on because it might just become your reality.

Yes, I agree that things are bad out there.. We struggle, we cry and then, we use our God-given abilities to come out with alternatives to opportunities for a better outcome.

A coin always has 2 sides to it. The heads and the tails but it is the same coin.
Covid 19 has 2 sides to it. The dangers and opportunities but it is the same virus.

Here are some questions we can ask to bring out the opportunities in our lives.

What are the things we can control at this time and focus on creating opportunities for that. Let go of the things we cannot control because it will be beyond us anyway.

With the things we can control, how can we pivot in our lives and business model and turn things around?

What are the 3 things we can do now (within our control) that can propel us to a bigger future when the virus becomes a history?

Here is my personal sharing.

As an example, my business revolves around meetings with clients.

With the limitation of meetings and more notices to stay home, I have moved on to online meetings like using zoom or facetime to meet with clients “online”. This has created huge productivity for clients and myself as I can connect with more people in a day as both of us save on travelling time.

I have leveraged on technology to go online by sharing my thoughts and perspectives especially given the current market drops and clients need to know that they will be ok and their life savings will not disappear overnight. Most clients have the same concerns and questions as the ones I have personally.

On top of that, there can be additional strategies that can take advantage of this opportunity of a lifetime.

I also make continuous calls to my clients to just find out how they are doing and find ways to see how we can be of value or even just be there as a listening ear because business owners are highly stressed up now with no one else who can understand their predicament.

This is also a great time for learning so that I can be more creative to rub off positive energy to others in this time of doom and gloom.

This period also allows me more reflection time to understand myself better and where my sources of inspiration, gifts and gratitude comes from.

With a downturn this period, there can be only one way moving ahead, which is upwards in the future. Are you ready for the recovery ahead?

I hope to bring to you positive vibes in the midst of the chaos. Go and pay it forward to someone else.