Dear Mr Tan,
I am a novice to investment. I have spare cash lying in the bank for years. Should I be investing now? I sense quite a bit of pessimism, talk of global crisis. Even Dr Tony Tan was talking a great recession. So should I be holding to wait for the great crash so that cash is king and I would be able to buy at a discount?
If you are saying it makes no sense to hold, could you please advice on some products I can look at? Short and long term. I would really appreciate some very practical advice here.
SK
REPLY
It is difficult to make this type of timing decision.
In my case, I decided to stay invested in shares, REITs and foreign currency deposits. You can read about my asset allocation in my blog, www.tankinlian.com.
Some people do not agree with my strategy. Each person has to make his own decision and judgement.
Usually great investors emerge from the then-thought pessimism-filled period, on hind sight.
ReplyDeleteMarkets are expected to be volatile for next 24 months or so and inflation will hover around 5-6% p.a for next 24 months, and hence for people who are non-full-time-traders, i.e normal working people, the best option seems to be: Dollar-cost averaging or "Drip in money" strategy coupled with a Core-Satellite approach.
I have written two blog entries on this.
1) http://www.waynekoh.com/2008/02/emotion-action-cycle.html
2) http://www.waynekoh.com/2008/07/more-on-indices-part-2.html