Investing Magazine
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Marshall Loeb shares with us the five secrets to successful investing.

1.  Don’t go back for more. Anyone who has made a bundle off a lucky investment will be tempted to angle for a second windfall, but the odds of getting one are slim. "Be especially wary of investing in stocks or mutual funds that remind you of the one you made a killing on long ago," writes Zweig, "Chances are, any similarities to another investment, living or dead, are purely coincidental."
2. Don’t trust your instincts. "Many of the world’s best investors have learned to treat their own feelings as reverse indicators," Zweig writes. "Excitement becomes a cue that it’s time to consider selling; fear tells them they should be thinking about buying." The lesson: when it comes to investing, your gut may be lying.
3. Beware your triggers. "The stock market generates signals that can goad you into trading," warns Zweig. Don’t be Pavlov’s dog. Avoid obsessively checking stock prices on the computer. And if you’re watching CNBC for stock updates, turn the sound down, so the bells and shouts of the trading floor don’t spur you into action prematurely.
4. Divide and conquer. Investing requires being tolerant of risk, but you don’t want to jeopardize your entire nest egg. Play the odds by putting 90% of your money in a low-cost, diversified index fund. The other 10% can be used for purely speculative trades. But once it’s gone, it’s gone. Don’t dip into your savings to replenish it, Zweig cautions.
5. Stay calm. If great gains are driving you to buy, or losses propelling you to sell, think before you react. It’s always a bad idea to make investment decisions in the heat of the moment.

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According to a wealth accumulation league table compiled by Merrill Lynch and the Capgemini Group, the number of new millionaires in Singapore grew by the fastest rate world-wide last year. And that’s calculated in US dollars.

A total of 11,660 greenback millionaires made the last, to take to 66,600 Singaporeans whoise individual assets amounted to at least S$1.5 million, not counthing the home they lived in.

Singapore is home to the world’s fastest-growing population of millionaires, according to the annual world wealth report compiled by Merrill Lynch and the Capgemini Group.

The number of high net worth individuals in Singapore grew by 21.2% last year to reach almost 67,000 millionaires.

Singapore’s millionaire boom is part of a global trend that saw the number of high net worth individuals rise 8.3% to reach 9.5 million last year.

Among the super-rich are a group called the ultra-rich, with assets over US$30 million.

The growth of these ultra high net worth individuals grew 11.3%, outpacing that of high net worth individuals and suggesting a growing concentration of wealth.

“The main reasons for the growth in the number of high net worth individuals was GDP growth, which was about 8.2% in Singapore last year, and the strong market capitalisation growth reflected in the stock market. Also, Singapore’s strong savings rate has helped in the creation of wealth,” said Kong Eng Huat, MD of Merrill Lynch, International Bank.

In the past, land owners ranked high in rich lists ranked by business publications. Then came the age of manufacturers and now, digital billionaires.

In Singapore, the property and stockmarket are noteworthy wealth propellants. And the good economy is predicated to continue for more years to come, so more new millionaires will be created.

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Henry Blodget wrote an article on his Slate column on why the world’s greatest stock picker stopped picking stocks, and why you should, too. 

Henry is a former securities analyst who was senior Internet analyst for Merrill Lynch during the dot-com bubble. In December 1998, he predicted that Amazon.com’s stock price would hit $400 (which it did a month later, gaining 128%). In 2000, he was voted the No. 1 Internet/eCommerce analyst on Wall Street by Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates, and thestreet.com.

While there are many who feel that Blodget is related to the loss of billions of dollars of shareholder assets during the Internet bubble of 1999 and 2000.( Forbes ), Henry now sets out to tell the truth about Wall Street ( Fool ) and this article is a good advice to most investors not to get too carried away in trying to beat the market and constantly picking stocks.

Most stock pickers believe that they are among the tiny minority of investors who can beat the market after costs, and, for inspiration and encouragement, they point to legends such as Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham. What such investors often don’t know is that even Buffett has said that the best strategy for most investors is to buy low-cost index funds and that the great Benjamin Graham eventually changed his mind about the wisdom of traditional stock-picking. Graham, you may remember, is considered one of the greatest stock pickers of all time, the man who, in the 1930s and 1940s wrote two classics on intelligent investing and whose security-analysis techniques are still taught in most serious investment classes. But in 1976, shortly before his death, Graham told the Journal of Finance the following:

I am no longer an advocate of elaborate techniques of security analysis in order to find superior value opportunities. This was a rewarding activity, say, 40 years ago, when [the bible of fundamental stock analysis, Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis] was first published; but the situation has changed. I doubt whether such extensive efforts will generate sufficiently superior selections to justify their cost.

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Tags: stocks, stock, stockmarket, investing, warren buffet, henry blodget, benjamin graham

If you’re in your 20s, the world may not throw money at you — but you’ll get plenty of free financial advice.

For instance, you have been told to save diligently, fully fund your employer’s 401(k) plan and avoid credit-card debt. And those are all good suggestions.

But there are other suggestions that aren’t quite so good — including these four popular pieces of advice.

1. Amass Cash
2. Buy Big
3. Get A Life
4. Go For Growth

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When you’re raising money for your start-up, it helps to understand how the investors you’re pitching to will make money for themselves. The formula for paying investors is often not as simple as taking their return on investment and allocating it equally among the key players.

For angel funds, venture capital funds and other investment partnerships, there are often complex formulas for how the individuals involved in managing investments make money. You should keep the formulas in mind when developing your fundraising approach.

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