Flickr image Forest primeval by bibliona

I attended a Thai language workshop that my organisation offers as part of the self-development training that staff can apply for and realised that personal growth comes from trying new things all the time.

Personal growth by itself is rewarding. You feel that you gain mastery over a skill, ability or technique and you are also exposed to a new world, culture and reality that makes your life that little bit more interesting.

In today’s globalised world, personal growth also helps you move nearer to your goal of being financially free because you gain skills and abilities that if matched with the right market who demands it, you can achieve a new source of income or alternative second career that could be your ticket to financial freedom.

Planning Your Personal Growth

Financial freedom comes when our lifestyle expenses is met by passive income from investments e.g. rental from property, interest, dividends etc. Many of us can build up our investible capital only through savings from employment income which will remain as the key contributor during our productive years.

Planning projects for personal growth increases your abilities and skills and life-long learning is about about life-long earning!

I count myself fortunate that my current job allows me to be engaged and to build up new skills and abilities. I manage direct reports, network with my peers and also explore new tools, technologies and frameworks to help me be a better internal auditor.

But the skills I’ve picked up can also prepare me for a second career as a paid Director on a listed company and an audit committee member. I believe this is one personal growth area to explore that involves my day-to-day activities in supporting the work of my organsation’s audit committee. Thus, I am gaining the experience and skills in providing secretariat support and executing the initiatives driven by my audit committee and CEO.

Grow Tangentially

My growth in internal audit and audit related work is a direct growth area. Many times, we forget that we also need to grow tangentially, i.e. to grow into areas that is not directly related to our day to day work.

Me taking up a language class provided by my organisation allows me to learn conversational Thai. It is helpful in accessing the culture and perhaps even consider Thailand to be a retirement home when Singapore population hits 6.5m under the current Government. In the future, we may not be able to afford to retire in a global City that Singapore aspires to be.

I know of a trainer who is based in the region, i.e. he has bought property in Thailand and plans to retire there eventually. In the era of budget airlines and skype, that is starting to be a real possibility to be considered in my lifetime.

Your Personal Growth Paths

Some of my personal growth areas looking back are in the areas of information technology security and audit, blog monetisation, computer assisted audit tools, fathering 101 as well as public speaking and communication.

Going forward, my new growth areas are building up my personal and professional social networks, languages (Thai, Chinese, Japanese) fathering 201, fraud risk management as well as health and fitness.

Each one of us has different strengths, weaknesses and are presented by the world with threats counterbalanced by opportunities.

What will be your personal growth paths towards financial freedom for 2010?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image "beautiful stream" by holl_and

My blog monetisation efforts has been one of my greatest achievements in moving myself towards financial freedom. I started out serious blogging to see if I could establish an income stream that would allow me to quit my day job and to retire without working (as what many of those make money online scams and advertisements promise!)

Can Quit Your Day Job?

But the reality was that it’s quite difficult to make enough for you to quit your day job. Thus, my explorations into blog monetisation has been coming to 2 years and I am able to generate S$100 to $350 per month with minimal effort after the first six months. Nowadays, my main blog that brings in real income is fairly passive, I receive updates on the information from a forummer I know whom I give a share of the advertising revenue.

Some of you may scoff at the amount, but I am thinking ahead that if I can sustain this type of income stream with the level of effort that I’m already putting in, this could be one of my personal CPF Life type of scheme.

Your Personal CPF Life Income Stream

For those of you who may not know, CPF Life is the compulsory life annuity that will kick in when you hit the retirement age of 62 (now) or 67 (in the future). It pays you an income for life and is funded by locking away a portion of your CPF minimum sum amount.

Planning ahead means that I am also looking around and thinking of how to create such income streams that are self-sustaining and require minimal effort. In addition, I realise that I need to continually invest in myself in terms of skills, knowledge and relevant experience that can be monetised when my career transits from an 8-5.30 job to a freelance/self-employed basis.

On that note, I’ve volunteered to develop and deliver in-house training to my fellow colleagues on top of my regular work assignments. This initiative helps me to boost up my visibility within the organisation as well as to hone and develop my training skills. I intend to build up this skill set and the networking so that it could be a viable second career when my daughter becomes independent and can fend for herself.

It is these series of small steps in changing habits that result in more enduring change. My blog monetisation started out as a small experiment which I intend to continue so long as I have breath and it pays for itself and more. My experiment in eating healthily for breakfasts (rolled oats and raisins) for coming to two years have given me a figure that I once lost for many years but only regained from healthy eating and moderate exercise.

My investment returns for 2009 were the result of efforts since 2003 to invest in the Singapore stock market and to learn until I was competent enough to make 8%+ returns way above any “risk-free” returns on 1-2% on fixed deposits or money market instruments.

Take small but concrete steps.

Do, learn and grow.

Exploring Possibilities

The more I travel along this journey towards financial freedom, the more I realise it is about being open to possibilities and taking a plunge to do small experiments to see if an idea can work out or not in bringing one closer to financial freedom.

What are you thinking of during this Lunar New Year period that will bring you closer to financial freedom?

Be well and prosper.

It has been an exciting year 2009 in terms of my journey towards financial freedom.

Returns for 2009

I have managed to achieve the highest returns on my investible liquid assets mainly in equities  (stocks/shares) since I started tracking my performance in 2003 and was fortunate to be able to ride out some of the recovery in the STI from March 2009 to December 2009.

I also learnt the important lesson of achieving balance in life and to enjoy the journey of financial freedom rather than to be overly fixated by the end result.

Life is unpredictable

Over the New Year holiday period, the report of a 44 year-old CEO of a billionnaire dollar company hit the news when it appeared that his death was caused by cosmetic surgery – liposuction.

Stories like this and my own encounters with NSmen and regulars who passed away during NSF and NS (reservist) times remind me of the fragility of life and not to narrowly focus on the end result of achieving financial freedom and lose sight of enjoying the process.

“Your Money or Your Life” by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez echoes the same message and the key question raised by the authors is whether we are making a living or more akin to making a dying in our quest for money, money and more money.

Goals for 2010

Given the past events of 2009, I look forward towards 2010 with hope and anticipation. I realise that I will continue striving towards my journey of being financially free before age 45 and I will allow myself to enjoy the process and avoid being overly obsessed with the ends and neglect being alive to the means.

Thus my goals for 2010 will reflect the different aspects of my life beyond only financial targets.

Goal #1: Financial – Save 15% of income

This goal spurs me to continue to focus on my earning and spending and to save 15% in cash above my insurance and CPF contributions. This will be an interesting goal as I’ll be starting a mortgage a few months down the road for my new home.

Thus, the challenge is to fund my new home and yet save some cash on a rainy day while supporting 4 mouths (myself, my spouse, daughter and maid).

Goal #2: Health – Exercise 2 x a week, eat healthily and manage stress

We know that wealth without health is meaningless. Health requires effort. So far, controlling my diet is getting easier as I generally eat healthy breakfasts and home cooked meals except for lunch. I will continue with the diet part but know that the exercise part is lacking. I’ll try to swim more to build up my cardio-vascular fitness and some light jogging.

Managing stress is equally important. Much of this focusses on anger management and to “go with the flow” more about life issues. Recently, I found myself getting slightly better but can do more to improve this area.

Goal #3: Career – Build Up Experience and Team

My career will be the biggest contributor of income for the next 20-30 years. Thus, it’s important that I continue to build relevant skills and experience in my chosen career in internal audit. I am fortunate to work with a good team and I’ll continue to develop my people so that as a team we become more effective, efficient and innovative.

Goal #4: Family

My daughter is growing up fast. In a blink of an eye, she’s now 22 months old, running around, full of joy, life and energy! She tires me out so much during weekends that I find working in the office less tiring than looking after her.

I’ll continue to enjoy weekends and evenings with family and to build strong relationships with my spouse and daughter. I realise that no matter what happens to me, I will have a legacy through my daughter and that soothes me much when the going gets tough.

The goals I’ve set are not the traditional new year’s resolutions to be made and then forgotten as the year progresses. I’ll review them from time to time to remind myself to stay true to the direction I want my life to take.

What are your goals, financial or otherwise, in your own life?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr! Image Grasmere in The Lake District, Cumbria UK by floato

Now that the end of 2009 is in sight, Panzer is in a contemplative mood because the Christmas muzak played all over Singapore is interfering with his brain waves resulting in the following Panzerian “predictions” for 2010.

These trends are all related to what he sees for the Singapore stock market and key trends going on from his Panzer street view. These predictions are made purely for entertainment value and because Panzer is trying to write blog posts more often. He now averages one every other week which isn’t very helpful to those who want to read more about financial freedom and his occasional quirky anecdotes about the not-so-secret diary of a CPA.

Panzer’s Predictions

1. Singapore Population will increase

This should be a no-brainer as the Government has said it intends to slow down by not stop the rate of immigration of people from PRC, India, south-east asia. Ultimately, the Government’s plan to develop Singapore as a global city can work only if there is enough human labour to supply businesses and industries who use are in Singapore to produce goods and services for sale and export.

2. HDB and general property prices will still rise (though more moderately)

So long as immigration continues and the overall population increases, the demand for homes will continue to increase. Given HDB’s supply is controlled by the government and is the monopoly for public and even semi-public (resale HDB) supply. The price of HDB will continue to rise if demand continues and supply is still relatively slow to catch up.

With more smaller families and singles, divorcees etc,  the demand for homes will increase as it will be less common to find 3 generations in the same roof. Ah gong and ah ma also want their own space even as ah girl and ah boy grow up, get married, move out and have kids. Don’t forget ah girl or boy who doesn’t get married will also aspire to have his/her own bachelor/ette pad.

3. STI will rise and fall but overall trend would be in line with GDP growth

So long as GDP growth is positive in Singapore and overall recovery in the world economy, STI should continue upwards. Of course, many (including Panzer) are banking on an election rally to pump up equity prices but would need to consider taking some profit off the table as the current administration is good at releasing good news to inject the feel good factor into voters before unleashing the unpopular policies very quickly after being elected back into power.

Thus, Panzer is still bullish from now until elections (anytime from 2Q to 4Q 2010) but would seriously sell some of his holdings if he feels the euphoria released by the mass media appears too good to be true.

4. Panzer’s return on investments should beat benchmark of 2 x fixed deposits (1 year) rates

Panzer counts himself blessed that he managed to achieve about 8% returns last year from realised capital gains from sales of equities, dividends, blogging income and interest from bank deposits. This is net of investment realised losses. While he is working to get passive income up to the magical $36,000 a year or so. The reality is that he has a long way to go and still have to continue to work until age 62 partly because employment income is still the main source of income and that Panzer knows his brain will rot if he doesn’t keep himself active even post 62.

5. Panzer’s will become 1 year older. He hopes he will be 1 year wiser

Panzer confirms that he will be 1 year older in 2010. The addition of a year to his age hopefully comes with an additional year of wisdom. He knows that his journey towards financial freedom has allowed him to do what he didn’t dare to do previously, be more aggressive in investing in equities and also to be more aware of portfolio management and also diversifying his sources of income.

Ultimately, the whole point of this journey towards financial freedom is not in just meeting the goal eventually, but learning what he needs to in order to become a better person in managing his life and his money.

What are your predictions for 2010?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image AZO AUTOZONE 010209.png by Doc Trader

Panzer is no Warren Buffet, as some Channelnewsasia Market Talk forummer commented, there are a lot of Warren Bluffets around, people who make predictions about equity prices going up or down depending on whether they are taking a long or short view of the market.

What Panzer realises from investing his own monies since 2003 till date is that the returns on cash have been quite poor especially in the last 2 years or so.

Interest rates are so low that local banks are giving 0.1% or so for savings deposits. What this means is that your money when left in the bank is actually depreciating in purchasing power when inflation is minimally 1-2% annually. It was as high as 5-6% last year prior to the global financial crisis that wiped out much of equity values as well as destroyed economic activity throughout the entire world.

What Now Panzer?

So Panzer realises he must stay invested in the stock market but focus more on dividend yields rather than capital appreciation or quick punts for true growth in his investible portfolio.

Let’s examine Panzer’s holdings and why he is holding onto the stock as Panzer will be tempted to take profits but must keep focused on the long-term i.e. 20 years when the dividends and (potential) capital gains would be available for use for his daughter’s university fund.

Panzer’s Holdings (in no order of merit)

Long-term holdings – mainly for dividends and longer term capital appreciation

1. Singpost

2. Singapore Press Holdings

3. DBS

4. FSL

5. Starhub

6. F&N

7. Singtel

Short-term Trading

8. Keppel Corporation

If you realise from Panzer’s holdings, most of the companies are GLCs and blue-chips. So far, Panzer’s portfolio unrealised loss is around $4.6k level which is a vast improvement of -$70k at one stage.

So far, the main clunker has been FSL bought when prices and valuations were high but we know now how the shipping industry has also been hit by the financial crisis.

A number of his buys are recent (i.e. within the last 3-6 months or so).

Panzer feels that this portfolio should not be too actively traded and can be earmarked for Panzer’s daughter college fund to mature sometime in 18-20 years.

In the meantime, Panzer knows that still the bulk of his savings will have to be derived from earned income not spent and he will continue to practice his professional arts in internal auditing.

How do you review your own portfolio and how do you decide to sell/hold/buy more?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

It’s that time of year again when Christmas decorations are being put up in malls all across Singapore. People look forward to a “white Christmas” although Singapore has no snow but lots of rain towards the end of the year.

Besides spending on Christmas gifts, feasts and other treats, a custom that Panzer likes to do is to take stock of his financial performance from being the fund manager of Panzer’s Net-worth cum daughter’s colleague tuition fund.

Analysis of the year gone past (so far)

The following chart shows how Panzer has performed in the months of 2009.

Generally, Panzer has been making steady realised gains from dividends (36%), capital gains/losses (59%) and blogging income (5%). July saw a big realised loss because Panzer cleared out many of his old holdings bought at high prices when he was young and ignorant. Now that Panzer is older and still ignorant, he has done a round of housekeeping to only buy quality stocks, in general blue chips with very solid business fundamentals.

August 2009 saw Panzer reap capital gains from sale of SPC to PetroChina resulting in a net gain even after realising his losses from sales of (crap) stocks he had mistakenly bought in his ignorance and bout of irrational exuberance.

Panzer’s Portfolio

The current older and still (slightly less) ignorant Panzer now manages his portfolio on at a level of 50:50 cash-equities ratio with investment limits on equities set to 75% of his investible net worth. On a steady state, Panzer should have 50% of his net worth in cash/cash equivalents allowing himself 25-30% core holdings in strong dividend yielding stocks while the remainder 20-50% is available for punts.

He has decided to temporarily put on hold his investment property plan in the light of possible asset bubble in the private residential segment and also because it’s easier to sleep at night holding onto to more cash than an illiquid asset such as investment property which typically yields only 3-5% after expenses. Panzer also wishes not to deal with the stuff that comes with being a landlord for the time being.

The recent announcements of more land supply for the mass market private residential segment also means there is less upside and more choices going forward. Panzer may still consider investment property if yields can sustain higher than 5% which would be challenging under present conditions.

Panzer’s holdings currently comprise: SPH, Singpost, Starhub, FSL, F&N and Singtel (CPF). He intends t0 hold them for LONG TERM but then LONG TERM can mean < 1 year if he feels like it because Panzer follows Temasek and GIC’s approach to investment.

Going forward

Panzer feels that this past year of investing (with lots of recent punting) has revealed to him a few things.

One – there are no rules to investing in the market.

Two – your guess is as good as mine.

Three – make sure you have sufficient cash for opportunity buys or to cushion your own mistakes.

Panzer wishes one and all a Merry Christmas.

Be well and prosper.

P.S. Panzer’s return on assets for calendar year 2009 is 6.71%. Panzer derives this figure by taking realised gains/losses and dividing it by investible net worth at lower of cost or market. It’s a simple thing, no need for super accuracy but good enough to know if I beat fixed deposits rates x 2.

Flickr image "Chesire Cat" by fofurasfelinas

One of the areas that I encountered in my career as an auditor is this animal know as CAATS. It’s not the meow-meow animal we all know and love but CAATs is an acronym to refer to Computer-assisted audit techiques or audit tools.

ACL and IDEA
Starting out and now continuing in my career as a Certified Public Accountant (Non-practising) and Certified Internal Auditor, I came to understand and make use a generalised audit software known as ACL or Audit Command Language back in the mid 90s. This allowed me to understand a bit more about data and how to analyse relationships between certain financial figures and transactions and to zoom in on suspicious transactions.

If you are a CPA or aspiring CPA and CIA to be, it bodes well if you are open to Information Technology and can make use of at least one type of CAATs be it Excel spreadsheets or more sophisticated tools such as ACL or IDEA.

Leveraging on IT is arguably one of the most common things you would need to do as a CPA or CIA and in this technologically changing world, you cannot be effective in your career as a CPA unless you can harness the power of technology to help you balance your accounts, find interesting trends and relationships between operational data and the financial figures and be able to make use of such tools to put into place fraud mitigation strategies as an auditor.

In my own career, I’ve realised that being a CPA requires diverse skills. Being comfortable with figures is one and the ability to apply accounting and audit knowledge are important basic skills. But other overall corporate career skills such as written expression, oral expression and emotional quotient all help to make you more effective in a corporate setting.

What special super-duper ability do you have to enhance your edge in your own career?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image "River flow" by Britanglishman

Following my post about “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, I begin to see how important our own perceptions play in determining if we are happy or not under all circumstances.

One of the benefits of trading in stocks and shares is that it forces you to confront your naked fear and greed whenever you are about to buy or sell shares. Nothing strips away how good/bad you are at stock trading (or investing) then looking at your profits and losses incurred on the trade.

You feel happy when you’ve made the right call and you feel terrible if you’ve lost money and even worse if the loss is realised.

It is from this experiences that I realise financial freedom by itself will not make me happy. It is how I make use of the financial freedom status to create for myself an optimal flow experience in all aspects of my life. Even the euphoria of trading wins fade after a while and I look out for the next “high” from jeeping/panging an equity position.

Happiness and sadness that is dependent on market conditions sets us up for a life of emotional roller-coaster. This cannot be the receipe for a life filled with optimal experiences.

So how can you structure your life into a flow experience even as you pursue financial freedom?

How pursuing financial freedom helps you achieve flow

A challenging activity that requires skills

Moving from a net-worth position that is negative to a positive one is challenging. It requires you to have skills in budgeting, controlling your desires to spend and to live within your means.

Merging of action and awareness

As you track your net worth towards a bigger and bigger positive number, you tend to feel that your day to day thriftiness does translate into a bigger goal i.e. bringing you closer to financial freedom where your income from savings and investments is able to fund your day-to-day living expenses.

Clear goals and feedback

Nothing clarifies more than your net worth position at the end of the month and whether you’ve spent more than you’ve saved or you’ve manage to live way within your means.

Concentration on the task at hand

Just as you focus on eating that bit less, refraining from softdrinks and living a healthy lifestyle to keep healthcare costs low, energy levels up for work and play, you tend to align your daily goals to the overall plan of being financially free.

Paradox of control

The more your net worth comes into your direct control, the more powerful you feel in your ability to control your financial destiny in life.

Loss of self consciousness

Whether you keep up with the Alis, Lims or Muthus is not so important when you focus on financial freedom. It’s not about what watch you wear but how big is your net worth.

The transformation of time

Time flies when your daily activities are aligned to your life goals. The main thing I realise about pursuing financial freedom is that the process is enjoyable by itself. Seeing my month end balances with savings makes me look forward to the passing of each day and month as I move closer to my goal of financial freedom. The journey is just as fun as the destination.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image "rule of thumb" by greeneydmantis

Many of us who are working our way towards financial freedom also engage in the frequent occasional bout of speculative activity of buying/selling shares and selling/buying intra-day or within a few days.

This type of activity comes with risks and rewards.

The risks are being stuck in counters and wishing one had not had a case of “itchy fingers”.

The rewards are both the “high” of thinking that one just managed to out-smart the market as well as earning some kopi money.

Panzer also engages in this type of activity on occasion and sometimes makes and sometimes loses money. In the end, Panzer learns more about the market and himself as he will encounter Mr. Greed and Mr. Fear whispering into his ear when he is thinking if he should “jeep” (buy or take a long position on a counter) or “pang” (throw or sell a counter).

Whether he “jeep” or “pang”, one thing’s for sure, his blood pressure and heart rate usually goes up. So Panzer has decided to put up his equity trading rules of thumb as he reflects on what happened when he made the right speculative bets.

Panzer’s Equity Trading Rule of Thumb (PETROT)

#1 Never buy when market chiong strongly

So far, most of Panzer’s punting mistakes are to “chase” a stock when sentiment is buoyant. To make money, you must either be in front of the crowd or 1 day before the crowd. So buy when people are selling, and sell when people are buying.

#2 Play with money you can afford to lose

Panzer generally hates to lose money as he is human. So he must keep reminding himself  to only bet with money he really set aside for “play”.

#3 Only bet on those counters you are familiar with

Panzer’s bobo-shooter targets that lost money for him were counters he didn’t have a good “feel” of pricing versus valuation. In general, he should limit himself to only betting on the list of his watch list and stick to it.

#4 You don’t always have to take a bet

As some esteemed forumer ever mentioned, the market is here for you. Even if miss the “boat”, the tide will ebb and flow creating opportunities for taking bets.

#5 Low can get lower, high can get higher

Panzer can never time the market all the time. What’s important is to bet within limit and to know that $10 profit is better than $10 loss.

What are some of your rules of thumb for speculative activity?

Be well and prosper!

Flickr image "Imaginary Money Graveyard" by Eifachfilm Vacirca

After having read both his books, “The Black Swan” and “Fooled by Randomness” written by Nicholas Nassim Taleb, I’ve been rethinking my whole paradigm about achieving financial freedom.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Nicholas Nassim Taleb, you can read about him here or visit his website.

Systemic Risks to Financial and Economic Life

Nicholas Nassim Taleb (NNT) has been talking about the systemic risks posed by the rising complexity of financial markets coupled with the over-leveraging scenarios that blew up in the world’s face during the sub-prime crisis. This was the climax of the housing asset bubble building up in the US and spread to the world in the form of collaterised debt obligations (CDOs) that were too complex for even financial institutions and regulators to understand.

Even in Singapore we were not spared as innocent uncles and aunties along with “savvy” investors were hit by the Lehman minibonds scandal that saw a number of retirement savings go up in smoke due to the credit default of Lehman Brothers.

A World of Black Swans

His views resonate with me and I agree that we live in a world of black swans and as human beings our ability to calculate risks are actually quite poor although we give ourselves as a species too much credit in thinking we can predict the tail events or outliers e.g. subprime, great depression, dot com crash etc. and impute specific measures of the probability of such catastrophic events happening.

I watched one of his more recent television appearances on video and his take on the stock market as a place to park investments for retirement is totally against the conventional wisdom. NNT feels that the stock market has some elements of a ponzi scheme in that the stock market rewards earlier investors with monies brought in by later investors.

The speculative part of the stock market which I’m currently engaged in tells me that it’s true. In that you buy when stock prices fall in anticipation that a greater fool investor will buy the same stock from you at a higher price later. The reality of this struck me during the height of the subprime crisis when market prices of stocks collapsed and if you were looking to cash out and sell your equities for retirement cash funding needs, then you’re in trouble.

Rethinking How to Invest for Retirement

NNT thinks that retirement savings should be mostly in cash and cash equivalents. He also believes we should have “hard assets” but not necessarily property. I think he’s referring to gold/silver or something tangible but it was not clear from the interview.

He says that we should invest in stock markets with “play” money because if another systemic shock like sub-prime happens again, and it’s likely to happen as the banks that are too big to fail just got bigger and the people (investment bankers, regulators etc) who brought us to the brink are still around.

The more I read and listen to NNT, the more I believe there will be more shocks in the future as history repeats itself when we don’t learn from the lessons of the past.

There is still a lot of debt going around global financial markets and even in Singapore there is a property bubble building up as evidenced by the recent quick run-up of property prices that appear to be out-pacing the real economy in terms of wages and real income.

The stock market and property market cannot go on sustained climb without end if the economic fundamentals are still weak globally and in Singapore as well.

How Now Panzer?

Going forward, I still think being overweight in cash and cash equivalents and underweight in equities is still my way of dealing with the uncertainly in the short-term. Deploying my capital to fund self-sustaining streams of cash flows from my blogging or blog monetisation, investing in real-world businesses that generates a returns in an area I’m interested in appears to be the steps I should pursue.

I still intend to work as an employee and build up my CPF retirement funds but will deploy investible net worth to more real-world producing assets and need to prepare myself to understand what opportunities there are out there for me.

How will you deal with this uncertainty of market shocks going forward?

Share with Panzer.

Be well and prosper.