Contributed by Kenny Loh
Senior Consultant, Financial Alliance Pte Ltd
(The contributor can be contacted at kennyloh@fapl.sg)
To learn more about him and read his articles, visit his blog 

For many years, I have been wondering why most people are not able to invest properly after attending expensive courses and many seminars. I have seen many smart people and professionals like lawyers, doctors, CFOs, Managing Directors, accountants, engineers, scientists, etc, still struggling with their own investment. I have finally found an answer after going through one-on-one private portfolio reviews and consultation sessions with more than a hundred students and seminar participants. In summary, it boils down to the misalignment of Want, Passion & Commitment.

Want

Everyone wants to make money through investment or trading. This can be seen from the attendance of free seminars and paid courses. People go from one seminar to another, and attend course after course to search for the “best system to make money”. We can see many people use their smartphones to take pictures and take notes; some of them even record the seminar or course content with or without permission. We can see the Want is strong in those people and they want to learn the How. Since their Want is so strong and they may be learning the Best Investment System, then why are they still not doing it right? The problem lies with their Passion.

Passion

We know we learn well in the subjects we are passionate about. We will go the extra mile to excel in the subject and spend more time learning it. I remember myself being a newbie 9 years ago when it came to investing. I graduated with an engineering degree and knew nothing about finance and economics. To my surprise, I fell in love with investing after attending the first investment course in 2009 and I always put investment and trading as my first priority.

80% of the people give up after attending those classes and the most common excuse is “I don’t have time”. However, I always told them that “It is not about whether you have time; the key question is whether you have the passion to put learning about investments as your first priority”.

Commitment

I spent a lot of time studying Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis and Macro-economy. I monitor the stock market every day to see how the price movement correlates to different economic news, monetary policies, company earnings, etc. I watch how the central banks’ monetary policies affect the currency movement, how the US Dollar’s movement affects the Crude Oil and Gold Price besides the demand and supply. I learned and traded different financial derivatives like CFDs (Contracts for Difference), Futures and Options. It is not easy for an engineer to gather all these financial knowledge while having a full-time corporate job in senior management.

I received an email from one participant from my seminar asking whether my course can guarantee that she can make money from investments with minimal effort. She told me that she did not want to waste her money attending another course because she did not take any action from her previous investment course with another trainer. My blunt reply to her was, “If you don’t practice what you have learned in the class, you will never start investing. I would suggest you don’t waste your money to attend classes if you don’t put any priority and commit yourself to practice. It is not about the amount of money, it is a question about whether you are committed to get started to invest. No action equals No growth of capital.”

Summary

“Wants without Passion & Commitment” , in my humble opinion, is the main reason why most people cannot achieve their investment goals.

If you want to achieve your investment goal but you know you don’t have the passion to learn all the financial jargons & economic theories, or if you have other priorities in your life, or prefer to spend more time to pursue your other passions like gardening, travelling, reading, etc, you may engage an Independent Financial Advisor to help you to construct your investment portfolio to achieve your financial goals.

Financial Alliance is an independent financial advisory firm that provides its clients with sound and objective financial advice to protect and grow their wealth. Providing top-notch services to both corporations and individuals, Financial Alliance is a trusted brand in Singapore and has been navigating its clients’ financial future for 20 years. For more information about Financial Alliance, click on the link.

Important: The information and opinions in this article are for general information purposes only. They should not be relied on as professional financial advice. Readers should seek independent financial advice that is customised to their specific financial objectives, situations & needs. This advertisement or publication has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

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