Retirement – Greg Fok Advisory

If you have to make a tweak in your…

March 22, 2026March 22, 2026
by Gregory Fok

When that happens, there is a high chance that you will be making a mistake, because it is likely that you are making an emotional decision.

Do you have a framework for making investment decisions, under all circumstances? We use this 4 point framework.

1) Reduce risks.

2) Reduce fund underlying costs.

3) Increase returns systematically, sustainably and reliably over large amounts, over long time horizon, better than the index, without need to time markets or pick stocks.

4) Simplify your investing life.

If you are able to follow the steps above, it does not matter what happens, you are always prepared for the worst case and the best case scenarios, with the highest chance of success to your ideal life!

What happens when we grow to become more successful?

September 24, 2025September 24, 2025
by Gregory Fok

Here’s what tends to happen when people grow to become successful: their wealth grows, choices multiply, complexity creeps in, but clarity dissolves. And when there’s no clarity, decision-making becomes driven by noise, by fear, by reaction.

That’s where I come in. My financial planning philosophy is built on four pillars:

A) Clarity over Confusion — understanding where you are, what you truly want, and what “success” means for you, not for someone else.

B) Strategic Time-Outs — regularly stepping back to reassess strategy, trim complexity, and ensure everything you do aligns with your goals.

C) Evidence-Based, Purpose-Driven Wealth Building — investment, protection, risk-management and planning, guided not by trends but by proven frameworks and your personal aspirations.

D) Stewardship & Intentionality — wealth isn’t just about accumulation; it’s about what it enables: time, options, purpose, legacy.

You probably know me as someone who doesn’t settle for the status quo. I always ask: can this be done better? Could a different lens reveal something powerful we’re overlooking?

Provoking thoughts

August 25, 2025
by Gregory Fok

I have grown up in a world where my grades define my identity and my future. Get bad grades and your future is doomed to failure. Get good grades and you will get a good job and you will be successful in life.

But I learn…

A) “The smartest kid in the room isn’t always the one with straight A’s. It’s the one who knows how to solve problems, ask questions, and work with others.”

B) When I came out to the world, I have seen people who only had the highest education level of PSLE and gave up studying, who now run companies, generating multi million dollars in profits yearly.

C) And I have seen scholars who end up working for a fixed paycheck with a cap of income ceiling based on their educational abilities.

D) I have also learnt that success is also not just about monetary terms, but also about the impact that they create to the world around them.

As I process my birthday that just passed, I am asking God and Jesus as my CEO, what I am called to and for, in the next chapter of my life. Maybe I am just growing older and reflecting more on these questions.

🙏 My identity is not as a business leader or financial leader, but as God’s steward to life!

Have you been asking yourself deeper questions in life?

The stock market suddenly drops 10%, 20%, 50%.

March 16, 2025April 21, 2025
by Gregory Fok

What do you do?
1: Stop adding new deposits to your investment accounts.
2: Sell your investments and wait in cash until the dust clears.
3: Start interviewing new financial advisors.

None of the above. The correct answer is 4: Stick to your long-term plan, and if you are invested smart, using science based investing, maybe consider investing more while the markets are giving you a discount!

One of the HARDEST parts of investing is managing your emotions when markets are bumpy and everyone is predicting doom and gloom.

Checking your portfolio every day is one of the worst things you can do.

Why?
Because the more often you look…
The more opportunities you give yourself to panic for NO clear reason.

Some facts about the stock market (S&P 500):
Day to day, the stock market is up about 50% of the time and down 50%—a coin toss.
On a yearly basis, it’s up roughly 70-75% of the time.
On a 10-year basis, it’s up about 94% of the time.
And on a 15-year basis?
It’s 100% up.

And you can improve the odds of the statistics further than the one above, by using evidence based investing, through asset allocation and not just invest into the US.

Daily ups and downs are just noise.
What matters is the trendline up over time.

How do you stay focused on the big picture?
a) Stop checking so often. Think in 5 year blocks, not daily intervals.
b) Review the data and evidence. Over the long term, the market trends up and if you position smart, you can capture higher gains than the index.
c) Have a plan. A good investment strategy is built for the ups and downs.
d) All investing success is goal-focused and planning-driven.
e) Investing is about building wealth for the future, not reacting to the present.

So next time the markets are low and you’re tempted to check your portfolio for the 3rd time for the week, ask yourself:
“Am I thinking like a successful long-term investor or a day trader?”
True financial freedom comes from patience, not panic.

If you and your friends would like to find out more about science based investing on large amounts of wealth, we will be happy to connect to see if there is a match, as we still have capacity to add value!

Blessed Jan 2025 and welcome to the new year!

January 5, 2025January 5, 2025
by Gregory Fok

If you are having a goal to set your finances in order for 2025, go to this list!

1) Review your overall financial plan.

2) Refinance your mortgage, especially if you are able to find ways to reduce interest rates.

3) Plan for your taxes and find ways to reallocate them appropriately.

4) Review your insurance policies.

5) Find ways to plan around your kids education.

6) Stop predicting what is going to happen in the investment markets.

7) Seek a 2nd opinion on your investments, and find ways to reduce risks, reduce costs, increase returns systemically (without timing market or picking stocks) and simplify your rebalancing.

8) How close or far are you to your retirement number?

9) Set aside money for emergency funds.

10) Review your business exit plans.

11) Review your estate distribution plan.

12) Buy time back for yourself!

13) Have a giving goal!

14) Create a fun and splurge budget!

If there is someone who would like to plan early in advance and would like sound advice, we will be happy to connect with your 3 best friends/colleagues/family!

What I wished I had re-learnt about investing earlier,…

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024
by Gregory Fok

Why do most investors, including myself (in the past) get below average returns?

Markets go in cycles constantly, going up and down and most of the time in a very unpredictable fashion.

🎢 In the past, when I was investing, I will say this. “Let me see the returns of the investments. If it is doing well, I will put more in. And if the investment is not doing well, I will sell it out. And after selling out, I will buy into something else that has done well previously. Some investors basically repeat this cycle until they go broke or give up on investing.” I was one of them.

💡 If you think about the above process, what a person is doing is buying more when the markets are high. And selling out when the markets are low. Does it make sense to keep buying high and selling low? ❌❌❌ Of course not! That is the picture of the average investor on the left.

I have shifted my mindset over time to the picture on the right..

🎯 Instead, what we are here to do is to focus on our plan, not to time the market because NO company or person can do so. So we would rather ride along the trend line of broad markets going upwards and keep investing and keep topping up until we have reached our goals. When markets are up, we keep adding to buy more so that we get closer to our goals. When markets are down, we buy more because discounts are available! And when we reach our goals, we can start to draw-down on our investments and provide an income stream for ourselves!

This takes a whole RE-wirement of our understanding towards investing and what the world tells us about chasing returns.

💡 Stop chasing returns. Go back to the fundamentals and keep our eye on your goals.

Wouldn’t you like to simplify your financial life?

May 22, 2024May 22, 2024
by Gregory Fok

Which would you prefer? The journey on top or below?

You are getting one year closer to retirement than you think. You realize that as you grow older, you have more assets.

When you get more senior and wiser, the following happens…

🧨 You want to reduce your risks.
So one of your ways of diversifying is to split your investments into various stocks, funds, pools of types of assets. Maybe you even start to invest overseas.

🧨 Managing larger amounts of wealth.
The skill-set of investing small amounts of wealth vs the skill-set of managing larger amounts is very different.

🧨 Your life becomes more complex
Because of the above 2 reasons, your life becomes more complex due to the need to spread your investments around. There are some people we work with who have even lost track of what they have with age and time.

💡You will come to a stage when you want to SIMPLIFY your life. Especially if suddenly, health changes or if someone else is going to take over what you have. The likelihood of them being able to appreciate all your efforts and work of your lifetime is going to go down the drain.

We help you to consolidate and have a clearer picture of what you have. So that your family can have a clear picture of where you stand and know the strategies to execute in a SIMPLE way, but yet still reduce your risks and increase your expected returns, while giving you and your family peace of mind, with less anxiety.

Which would you prefer? The journey on top or below? The choice is yours.

If you like to find out more how we do it to help families and businesses get to financial freedom, follow my posts and reach out for a copy of our PROCESS or we can have an initial meeting at our cost, with no obligations.

♥️This take a PROCESS to plan, to TRANSFORM with a rewirement programme. And I can tell you it takes time. It takes effort to Unlearn to Relearn.

My name is Greg and if there is someone who would like to transform, multiply their life, their business, their wealth, with PURPOSE, and have time for themselves, with less anxiety, pls feel free to share or reach out to me and repost too! I would sincerely appreciate it!

The unspoken considerations for wealth transfer

March 21, 2024
by Gregory Fok

When it comes to wealth transfer, all parents plan with the best of intentions. However, when we hear it from the beneficiaries, it may not be viewed in that manner.

💣 There was a couple who had 2 properties. One is a HDB and the other is a private property. And they have a business and some other parts in investments and cash. They still have outstanding loans for the property and have taken a loan for the business, with a personal guarantee. They have 3 children and 1 of them is in the family business.

🔥 The above scenario is quite typical for an affluent family. However, you can just imagine the time bomb that they are sitting on, waiting to be passed on to the children.

When I speak to the child, he says it just seems like a recipe waiting for disaster to blow up. Who will take over the HDB? Who will take over the private property? What is the implication to them to take over the property? Is it going to be split 3 ways? How about the business? What is going to happen to the value of the business? And who will be the specific beneficiary to be settling the outstanding loans?

☀️You have taken a whole life of a few decades to build your wealth. Wouldn’t it make sense to spend just half an hour to understand what the implications are and how you can potentially prevent problems down the road? Most people have no solutions but we can bring in our 19yrs of experience to help.

We walk through a process of ABCD to plan for them. ♥️ Be wise and plan ahead.

We all want to transfer wealth with minimum costs, minimum conflicts and confusion, wouldn’t you?

Better strategies than timing the market

October 21, 2023October 21, 2023
by Gregory Fok

We all know that timing the market can be so tough over the long term. So many books and courses sell this online but few of them match up to expectations.

Recently, I have met with an investor who said she lost almost $50k with the recent experience of the markets and specific stocks of big names that seemed valuable.

The fact is, market timing is tricky, because big gains and losses can come in relatively short periods. Not even the professionals have much of a track record in successfully negotiating these unpredictable twists and turns.

So what can we do to give us a better experience? These are exactly the same steps I take to reframe.

1) Focus on the long term

Markets in the short term provides extreme variable outcomes. In the long term, it provides strength in long term growth, if a person is willing to stick through it.

2) Construct a portfolio that can weather through all seasons.

Diversification is your best friend. The right mix of allocation depends on your age, goals and circumstances. Whatever your risk capacity, diversification is key. Spreading your risk across different asset classes and geographies will reduce the impact of a steep decline in one particular market or sector. Ultimately, it’s your asset allocation that’s going to be the most important driver of your investment returns.

3) Rebalance appropriately

Touching your portfolio too often creates emotional stress. But a strategic, structured and disciplined way of rebalancing that reflects your needs and circumstances will bring out the best outcome for you.

4) Have sufficient cash and take opportunities

Having 3-6 months of emergency buffer will be able to provide for unexpected scenarios. And those who feel nervous in a downturn can hold slightly more cash. In fact, if a person has the appetite and time horizon, downturns can create opportunities for buying during a “sale”.

These are steps that I have adopted for myself and the clients we work with.

How about you, how do you create better personal strategies than timing the market so you can still have a comfortable life over the longer term?

How do we make investment decisions?

June 28, 2023June 28, 2023
by Gregory Fok

Someone shared with me a “stock tip”. I did some research and believed so much into it and made the decision to buy..!

If you are like me and most people I know, it starts with someone in a social gathering sharing a “stock tip A” and someone believing so much into it.

Then we decide to do some research and extend our belief by finding the data and details to solidify our decision of why this single stock A is worth investing into.

We do the same over time and then accumulate many “Stocks” with no coherent value of decision making but all based on someone else’s story. And even then, we will be worried to put too much into one stock for fear of an idiosyncratic risk of a single company disappearing like “Wirecard”.

When we have more spare cash, we adopt this same model over and over until we realize that we have many stocks and funds that are all over the place. What markets become volatile, which do we sell and buy?

What about the companies that are unheard of, that we might never have heard about of the Apple’s, Tesla’s and Nvidia’s in the early stage. By the time the names come to the public view, typically their valuations have grown to become fairly lofty. But the other question is how many of these small companies grow to become giants in the industry?

💥Does this decision making process make sense?

Well, I previously used this strategy and I can share with you that this does not get me to my big long term goals which need to be sustainable over decades of investment periods into my retirement years which may last 4-5 decades.

So I needed a better way to plan and invest.

Instead, what we do is to help you to reframe the process the other way. Start with your BLUEPRINT of your plan like constructing a building!

💡We go through a process. We start by asking you what your goals are, how much time you have, understand risks of markets, reframe our mental models towards uncertainty, bring confidence through planning before we even decide what asset allocation to use.

What has been your experience and is there a better way you would suggest to bring greater confidence and reduced risks?