Singapore Stocks Plunge ... Surprised?

[Conrad Alvin Lim]

Frankly, I am sure visitors to this site would have known this was coming because of reports like these: Daily Market Analysis: Dooms Day

So its really befuddling how so many Singaporeans got caught with their pants down yesterday and lost so much. One posting on the Channelnewsasia site has a poster lamenting for his cousin whose account went from 1.2M to 750K in one day.

Makes you wonder why Singaporeans are so ignorant about investing.

Any feedback?

[Conrad Alvin Lim]

You mean nobody has an opinion? Or did most of you also lose money on Monday?

[seri]

i must admit i did not do much research nor reading up when i started trading. i now know i cant call myself an investor but rather a gambler because of the mistakes i have been making, banking on intuition rather than solid hard work. I did not hear enough nor read enough. & even tho i did read warnings such as that made Lee Hsien Loong some time back that a meltdown might be coming even before the end of the year, the market looked so good that it seemed hard to believe it could come so soon. It didnt seem to be able to happen to me! esp since the market seemed to defy all bulliseh warnings and continue an uptrend! Now i've been reading up more and am more cautious. That's y i recently joined this so that i can learn more. But i'm afraid i joined too late! as this is closing down & i tink u would most probably not be answering this as you would not posting here this week. still, in the off-chance that you may read this post, i do sincerely hope to hear what you mite have to say to me..... a newbie who's looking for direction.

[Conrad Alvin Lim]

I answer all queries as best I can, no matter what.

Your's is a common tale amongst local investors. Most think they know what they're doing ... as long as they are not losing! And that's where the irony is; to think that they know what they're doing is pure ignorance. Ignorance = more risk. So its inevitable that losses will be waiting around the corner. Ignorance will ensure that the losses mount and compound. When that happens, Ignorance turns to Pride for answers. And Pride will blame, complain and find excuses. Afterwhich Pride will run to Face to save it. Face will then jusify the complaints, blames and excuses.

All this while, the fact remains: you've lost money. You have two choices in this matter if you want to continue investing;
1. Go and see someone who can teach you, pay him to learn and start trading properly ... or
2. Go and buy my book, read it thoroughly, then pay me to teach you! ;D

Seriously, if you want to learn this, get a mentor. Afterwhich, read up everything you can about this business. No point reading first then finding a mentor ... you will not understand half of what you're reading. A good mentor will open your mind so that anything you read, will make sense and anything you ask, will be answered.

I hope that helps you. Good luck and safe trading always.

Con