Index Investing - Conservative Investment?

[ag88]

Stock picking is quite a good hobby and contrary to what people believe, it is not really that much of a hassle to gauge the fundamentals of the company.

Haha yeokiwi,

Well I view stock picking and selection as an intellectual exercise, and it's really very stimulating for the brain. Of course, the ultimate aim is to generate a decent return on investment, but if someone were to ask why I did not just stick to index investing, I would reply with what I said above.

And also, I disagree that it's not a hassle to gauge fundamentals. It takes quite a bit of digging and study to determine if a company is really worth investing in. Just my own perspective.

hi musicwhiz, agreed, stock picking matter
if the success of warren buffett and anthony bolton is any guide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bolton

i re-think warren buffett's decision to take over Burlington Northern Railroad
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33599744/
initially i can't understand the idea as alternative transports such as cars / trucks / buses exists

only from this post did i realise that railroads and their operators are a natural monopoly and is more effective / cost effective than cars / trucks / buses for mass transport over long distances
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10...inst-rail/

with ETF, e.g. STI ETF i'd think u'd get a mixed bag of businesses, not sure if a strategy to pick the best companies out of STI etf would outperform STI etf and u'd get a good feel of the businesses u're investing in

[miyaki]

hi

i was wondering.. what are the risk of investing in sti etf since it does nt seem probable that the index will go to zero during recession the lowest was around 1500 .. so am i right to conclude that sti etf stock has no default risk ??

[jianjian]

hi

i was wondering.. what are the risk of investing in sti etf since it does nt seem probable that the index will go to zero during recession the lowest was around 1500 .. so am i right to conclude that sti etf stock has no default risk ??

hi, if i am not wrong.. the management that is running the ETF can go bankrupt.

[sgd]

i re-think warren buffett's decision to take over Burlington Northern Railroad
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33599744/
initially i can't understand the idea as alternative transports such as cars / trucks / buses exists

I don't agree with the msnbc view about buffet buying a railroad.

What does a railroad company have? transports cars and LAND (apologies abt the caps and red flag )

tens of thousands of acres of land is what they have all railroad companies in the world are usually the largest landowners. Look at how much land RTM has and their hold over us until recent developments? what about our SMRT? Land is what buffet is after, the business of hauling cargo is fine but the real value is in the land holdings. With a falling US$ dollar what goes up? Assets commodities and ?? real estate

To cite an example look at on union pacific
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad is the largest landholder west of the Mississippi River and is second only to the United States government in overall landholdings within the United States.

If union pacific is already such a large landowner then what does burlington have?

Buffet is just trying to hedge against currency devaluation and maybe capital preservation of berkshire's wealth. Think about it being one of the last few surviving people in the world who has grown up during the great depression era and seen what goes and up and down during a great depression and maybe he thought now have to go thru it all over again. Would he not try to seize the opportunties?

[Diamond_head]

Has anyone here has experience in investing Index fund, ETF,etc via SAXO Capital Markets in LSE? If so, kindly give an insight on the ease of transaction and any tax issues?

I am considering using this platform as current SGX ETF liquidity is low and number of ETF is limited as well...

Thank you in advance...

[Jon-san]

As most unit trusts underperform their benchmark for EM, I was very interested in using CPF to buy the EM ETF at one point.

as i understand it, isn't the STI ETF the only ETF approved for purchase with CPF funds? pardon my ignorance, any corrections much appreciated. thanks!

[dreamybear]

Coincidentally, there are 2 recent videos discussing global indexes/stocks in general; the world is our oyster.

---------------

S&P 500 to World Stock Markets: A new insight to investment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWC8c3xrVA
"After much research, Mr Loo has come to a conclusion: NASDAQ 100, S&P 500, the US Stock Market, are not alone in their 4x performance in the past 25 years."

Singapore Stocks Versus US Stocks. A Detailed Comparison (Adam Khoo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oHx8HQFyY
"In this video, I will show you a detailed comparison between US stocks and Singapore stocks. While US stocks have much higher gains and lower volatility, the Singapore market does offer a powerful advantage to investors as well."

[weijian]

Coincidentally, there are 2 recent videos discussing global indexes/stocks in general; the world is our oyster.

---------------

S&P 500 to World Stock Markets: A new insight to investment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWC8c3xrVA
"After much research, Mr Loo has come to a conclusion: NASDAQ 100, S&P 500, the US Stock Market, are not alone in their 4x performance in the past 25 years."

Singapore Stocks Versus US Stocks. A Detailed Comparison (Adam Khoo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oHx8HQFyY
"In this video, I will show you a detailed comparison between US stocks and Singapore stocks. While US stocks have much higher gains and lower volatility, the Singapore market does offer a powerful advantage to investors as well."

I would think it is actually quite dangerous to look at indexes based on arbitrary starting/ending points. Ditto the article about MSCI China returning 0% in USD terms over 30years over here:
https://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-5110...#pid169758

As for Adam Khoo's comparison, it is a good study but I do have a different conclusion from his comparison though. It has been close to 3 years since WB compared the top market cap countries of 1989 and 2021. But that lesson holds close to my heart.
https://novelinvestor.com/lessons-from-t...e-meeting/

Both of them are great educators and have substantial following. So I should probably stop here. I am a nobody anyways.