Don’t let investing stress you out. No one has the time or mental bandwidth for it. I’ve always said that “investing should be simple” in that it’s low-stress and, most importantly, repeatable + sustainable in nature.

That’s exactly why I’ve built my latest Investing Made Simple (IMS) live workshop, tailored to the underserved segment of “time poor” busy professionals who are sick of being sold high-fee products that aren’t in their best interests.

My overarching aim of IMS is for participants to walk away from it with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to go out there and invest themselves for the long term.

We don’t need to commit all of our money from the get-go to DIY investing but I always encourage individuals to give it a go and see how low-cost ETF investing stacks up against the traditional options out there (like AUM-based FAs/private banks or ILPs).

Starting, though, requires putting a system in place and sticking to it. That is an incredibly crucial part of the process.

And I’ll walk through that step by step with individuals, while providing a course platform that will allow you to DM me with any of your burning questions.

Materials, worksheets, ETF templates, and interactive quizzes will be provided as part of the course.  

Finally, all sessions will be recorded and available for playback for a limited period. I’ve got a hard cap of 50 participants so sign up here now to start taking control of your finances in a stress-free manner.

The last thing we need when we travel is stress. I was in Bangkok last month for the Christmas holidays and, as many viral TikTok/IG videos have shown, getting a Grab from the main airport there is like a bad joke.

The pickup points are basically a dumpster fire of confusion and yes, while you could take the Airport Rail Link (ARL) and then the BTS, if you’ve got luggage and/or kids in tow, then that’s not going to be exactly “stress free”.

That’s why I used Pelago, which is kind of similar to Klook, to book a private airport transfer beforehand so that once I reached the bustling Suvarnabhumi Airport, how to get into central Bangkok wasn’t adding my (or my wife’s) mental load.

And the best thing is you can actually earn miles when booking on Pelago since they’re owned by Singapore Airlines.

I’ve personally used it previously to book things like the Airport Express in Hong Kong or certain activities in Taipei.

With my promo code – PELTIM6 – you’ll get 6 KrisFlyer miles per dollar of spend on Pelago bookings.

If you stack it with the right credit card (i.e. an online one such as the DBS Woman’s World Mastercard) and you could earn an extra 4 miles per dollar for a total of 10 miles per dollar on your Pelago bookings.

If you’re just starting out investing, knowing where to start can be so intimidating. That’s why thinking about investing in your home market is the perfect place to begin.

Typically, you’re familiar with the companies listed on your local stock exchange and that familiarity allows you to take that first step.

That’s why I would – as a fun hypothetical I did for my latest Instagram video – consider putting my first $1,000 into a very simple Straits Times Index ETF listed on SGX.

The reasons why? Put simply, it’s there to get you to start and, despite what a lot of people say about Singapore stocks, the data actually point to a long-term average return that is very respectable.

Indeed, according to data from the Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2023, Singapore stocks delivered a real return (so after inflation) of 5.4% per annum (p.a.) between 1966 to the end of 2022 – so over 56 years.

That wasn’t far off the 6.4% annualised return that US stocks gave from 1900 through to the end of 2022.

Yes, Singapore stocks didn’t do that much between 2010 to 2020 but their appeal has risen now given solid dividends and policy certainty in a very uncertain world.

In other words, we have no idea which market will do well from one year to the next. Starting out in a simple STI ETF – which yields over 4% p.a. – isn’t meant to “optimise” you long-term returns but it’s a great first step.

I’ve always said that being global long term is the goal but for many people, getting started is half the battle.

By “buying local” and experiencing the ups and downs of a market we’re familiar with, we can better prepare ourselves for the long-run experience of investing for retirement.

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