The current market turmoil has seen my stock portfolio’s value decrease as prices of even blue-chips stocks go south. It appears to be 2008-2009 again for many investors. What can we do, how can we overcome the challenges of seeing our portfolios dwindle with the threat of global economic recession threatening growth over the horizon?
My current interest in the Korean girls’ pop group Girls Generation (SNSD) has led me to searching for their music videos as well as reality programmes subbed in English on youtube. Those who follow SNSD know that one of the earliest documentaries about them is “Girls Go To School” (GGTS) where it features the group’s inception, pre-debut and debut into the Korean market by SM Entertainment.
As I watched the documentary, I could not help from being inspired and awed by the amount of hard work put into their performances through practising their dance moves and singing as well as acting for the music videos and live and recorded shows. To be the best, you need a combination of talent, luck and sheer hardwork to see you through the end of your objective.
The Korean (K) wave or Hallyu of popular culture in terms of K-drama and K-pop culture reflects the globalisation of consumer taste in entertainment. The easy accessibility of music videos, television programmes and radio through the internet has allowed consumers who have a decent broadband internet access to tap onto the different genres of music, film and entertainment.
What has Hallyu have to do with financial freedom?
I was at a conference yesterday at a nice hotel along Orchard Road to give a presentation related to my area of expertise. Whilst I was at the conference, I got many good ideas from listening to the other speakers as well as thinking about some of the questions raised by the participants during the sessions.
It was a nice break from my normal office work routine as I got to do a formal presentation in a suit and powerpoint deck of slides and have a nice lunch and tea break in a hotel function room.
What does my break from routine have to do with financial freedom? Continue reading
I was chatting with some of the nice at people LP’s Bully The Bear blog and was asking some of the people if they can sleep well at night with the market positions they have taken on SGX on the stocks that they are investing.
It’s an interesting question because when I went through the 2008 crisis, I went through a lot of personal upheavals myself even as the value of my stock portfolio gyrated as violently as a ship caught in a storm of a hurricane. That experience helped me understand more about this whole idea of asset allocation of one’s portfolio and managing one’s cash.