You don’t need a lot of money to start investing. In fact, most successful investors start by earning a salary, diligently saving that money, and then growing it in the financial markets. After diligently following this blueprint over decades, your wealth can compound into a larger sum.
By definition, being a prudent investor means you will not become wealthy overnight, and in fact for most people, the growth is small at the start.
Aside from investing acumen and favourable winds from the markets, two other things affect an investor’s ultimate success in the markets. The first is the starting capital, which you may not have control over, and the second is time in the markets.
One Singaporean who started very young is Thomas Chua, who writes about investing on Steady Compounding. Previously a Tax Officer, Thomas left his full-time job in 2021 to teach other investors how to invest at Steady Compounding Investing Academy.
In this edition of #theeverydayinvestor, a DollarsAndSense content series featuring everyday investors, we talk to Thomas about what motivated him to learn investing, and lessons to share from his years in the markets.
Clement: When did you start learning investing, and what drove you to learn about it?
Thomas: I started in 2007, as I was graduating from secondary school. A lot of what drove me was my early experiences as a child and a teenager. Both my parents weren’t financially savvy; we didn’t have much savings, bills were frequently overdue, and our power and water supply would be cut off. Teachers would frequently check in on me because of outstanding school fees. The experience that left the largest imprint on me was when my mother’s wedding dowry jewellery was pawned off. Seeing how upset she was broke my heart.
These early experiences in life formed a very strong “why” for me to figure out how to give my family and myself a better life. I didn’t have any role models, so I sought out the library for answers. I read every single book on building wealth, and they all pointed to investing in yourself first to increase your income, then putting that money to work and letting the magic of compounding take over. The book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” in particular left a deep imprint on accumulating productive assets, which sent me down the rabbit hole of mastering how to invest in the stock market.
Clement: Of all the different asset classes, why did you eventually gravitate towards stocks?
Thomas: There was a study that showed stocks outperformed all asset classes when looking at annualised returns since the 1800s (source: “Stocks for The Long Run” by Jeremy Siegel). Especially when looking across decades to accumulate wealth, the stock market offers us an opportunity to buy into some of the best businesses in the world, occasionally at bargain prices. In the short run, stock prices can be driven by greed and fear, but over the long run, they’ll track the earnings of these businesses. When held over time, it’s a wonderful tool for us to ride on the coattails of great businesses and management to compound our wealth.
Clement: Tell us about one thing you did that made you a better investor.
Thomas: Realising that most investors, including myself, have home biases—favouring domestic stocks over overseas companies. The challenge with most Singapore companies is that they’re constrained by the domestic market size. For a company to grow, there are two main levers they can pull: either sell more products/services or raise prices. There’s a limit to how much they can raise prices. The improvement that gave me the most returns was when I became country agnostic and started focusing on looking for great businesses that can grow profitably with low capital requirements for a really long time.
That’s where the magic of compounding takes hold.
Clement: When we talk about investments, most people automatically think about money. But, non-financial investments can be equally important and rewarding.
What are some non-financial investments you’ve made that have paid the biggest dividends?
Thomas: I invest a lot in both my mind and my health. I’m constantly reading and listening to podcasts on a broad spectrum of topics. With my health, apart from watching what I eat, I also seek the help of trainers to ensure my body can continue to function and compete in sports at a high level.
Longevity is important, but I also want a good quality of life. I want to still be able to run, hike, and jump without pain, so I put a lot of effort into keeping my body fit. I still compete in basketball and don’t want age to prevent me from keeping up. I don’t like excuses, so I strive to stay physically fit and able to compete.
Clement: Sounds like you’re still in an active team right now. Who do you play with?
Thomas: Yes, I’m still active. Singapore has a few leagues, and I join all of these matches because competing gives me a strong reason to keep my body healthy.
Clement: I recall seeing on a recent LinkedIn update that you engaged a personal trainer. Why did you feel like it was worthwhile to do so?
When I was younger, I never felt the need for a personal trainer because youth made up for mistakes, and I’d recover much faster from injuries. Since engaging a trainer to guide me, I’ve made significant improvements to my form. My core focus is on “bulletproofing” my body, preventing injuries, and helping me continue to compete at a high level. I’ve started to see these results translate into better performance on the basketball court.
I think there’s a lot of value in investing to shortcut the learning process. My trainer Pete from The Training Blueprint brings close to a decade of experience working with athletes. If it helps reduce injuries while boosting my performance, I think the investment is worth it.
The same goes for other aspects of life. If we can invest to accelerate our learning or increase our performance, it’s usually worth it when the value outweighs the monetary cost.
Clement: Going back to financial investments, what is one investment you made which did not perform well, and what did you learn from it?
It was probably a company called Cosco Shipping in the early 2010s. The mistake was focusing only on value because the company’s market capitalisation was trading below the net cash position on its balance sheet while paying a 6% dividend.
In other words, if I were to buy the entire company, the cash in the bank after paying off all its debt would be worth more than what I paid. Moreover, this company was profitable.
However, the stock traded sideways for three years because management didn’t take any action to unlock the value in the company.
The big lesson was that you don’t want to just focus on companies that are cheap. You also want to think about what the catalyst could be to unlock the value inside the company. Most of the time, the biggest wealth generation comes from companies that can grow profitably and have a long runway.
Clement: What advice do you have for someon who wants to start learning how to invest today?
It’s a big topic, but if I had to choose one question for investors to ask themselves, it would be why this company deserves to be bigger 5 to 10 years from today. At the end of the day, we must always remember that stock price follows fundamentals. If you are new to investing, I have a free 20-day investing email series.
Shortening The Learning Curve
Investing can be a daunting endeavour, but investors can leverage the vast array of educational resources available to shorten the learning curve. Learning from experienced mentors and participating in investment communities can help investors avoid critical mistakes early in their investing journey and consistently build long-term wealth.
Additionally, starting with a diversified, low-risk portfolio and gradually increasing exposure as knowledge and confidence grow can mitigate potential losses while fostering a deeper comprehension of market dynamics. By combining theoretical knowledge with practical experience, investors can navigate the complexities of the financial markets more efficiently and make more informed decisions with greater confidence.
Read the other articles in our #everydayinvestor series:
Why Jeraldine Phneah Believes That Every Millennial Needs To Care About Their Investment Journey
How This Full-Time University Student Finds Time To Study, Work, Invest & Go To The Gym Regularly
The post From Basketball To Investing, Thomas Chua Shares The Importance Of Coaches And Mentors, And Investing In Education appeared first on DollarsAndSense.sg.
