Financial Freedom SG

Sold off my entire position in BYD as my doubts about its ability to build electric cars for the worldwide market grew.

It didn’t do well in its last financial review too. Plus, I wanted to have a bit more cash in reserve so that I can exploit any available opportunities in the market.

Also have been reading some books in the meanwhile. One that I recently completed is “Too Big To Fail” by Andrew Sorkin about the financial meltdown in 2008-2009. Will post its review soon.

A book that is more interesting so far is “Winning the Loser’s Game” by Charles D. Ellis which I am currently reading. So far, it has summed up ideas about why it is better to buy index funds rather than try to beat the market. When I am done with the book, will post a review on it.

While on the bus reading this book, saw an ex-student of mine who came to seat next to me. Think his girlfriend was on the same bus but he sat with me and talked about how his life is so far.

I remembered that he was one of those students who made life miserable for teachers, scolding, shouting and acting like a mad teenager in class. He even beat up his own mum and the poor mum called the school for help. But I connected in some ways with him because of his interest in history and I used classes to teach them about the Jewish Holocaust even though I was supposed to teach Singapore history.

I remember that he would bother to ask questions in class and was all ears when I told them stories about the Japanese Occupation in Singapore.

Anyway, now he’s working as a dealer at Marina Bay Sands.

We talked about house advantage, card counting, blackjack, roulette and how the government is making a pile from the two casinos entrance fees. Like $70 million.

Sometimes, moments like this makes me think about why in some ways, I missed teaching and connecting with teenagers and finding out about how their lives are.

I hope his girlfriend is not too angry at him for speaking with his ex-teacher for the entire bus journey.

The brief years that I taught around 270 students each year has entwined me to their lives. However tenuous the link is. They are now the fabric of society. NS men, university students, poly students, retail sales assistants, credit card salesperson and now a dealer at the casino.

A little like the plain fried rice in the picture from Din Tai Fung, these varied ingredients, be it bitter, sour or sweet come together to form a gourmet dish.

Even investment diversification or building a portfolio is a bit like that. I think.