Friday, October 19, 2007
M0ney Matters
I believe in investments. Period.
With inflation rate set at 2.9%, it's scary to know that the value of money is dropping.
I see myself as a gr0wth invest0r and favour equities more than b0nds. I map out my first tier of retirement planning by investing a very small sum into unit trusts every month. I practise that for my cpf funds as well.
My second tier would come from insurance. Investment-linked plan, that is. On a very conservative note, the returns would be over $280k on a 9% returns.
I realise that sum of money is not enough to retire. I'm faced with 2 alternatives: take up another insurance plan, or continue to invest.
At this juncture, I chose the latter.
Within one week, I got myself a br0ker and purchased 12 lots and 5 lots of two different stocks.
Morale of the story: Investments are a necessary evil. But deposits are fundamentally important. That's why we need to have 3-6 months of emergency funds and do insurance-planning.
I myself b@nk with 3 l0cal and 2 f0reign b@nks, H5BC still being my favourite.
In my course of work, I come across people from all walks of life. There are many who are investment-saavy, then there are those who are really scared of risks, and of course, there are people who have no idea how investments work.
There are many lessons drawn from each and every communication. But at the end of the day, learn to re-balance your p0rtf0li0 and diversify your allocation.