All Posts

Not everything in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FI/RE) movement is as rosy as it seems. In recent years, many of us have felt the impact of rising inflation. This was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and trade tensions. (As a personal anecdote, relating to business generally, I witnessed at least two hawker stall owners in my city raise prices by 50% over a six-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic.  By the end of that 6 month period

It can feel conflicting to be an investor in Asia. A natural question arises: are Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s ideas truly transposable to this part of the world? When I wrestled with this question, I looked first to Berkshire Hathaway’s own portfolio. Berkshire has, in fact, invested in “wonderful companies” in both Japan and China. And if you look closely, you’ll also find that many of Berkshire’s U.S. holdings are active in Asia through subsidiaries, partnerships, o

I first encountered the concept of the latticework of mental models in Charlie Munger’s classic, Poor Charlie’s Almanack . At first, the idea of mastering such a broad framework felt daunting—even impossible to achieve at any meaningful level. The latticework of mental models, popularized by Munger, is a decision-making framework built from diverse tools—drawn from subjects like economics, psychology, physics, and history. By combining these models, you gain multiple perspect

To those unfamiliar with the concept, Financial Independence, Retire Early (FI/RE)  can sound almost revolutionary. The first question people often ask is: “Why aren’t you working?”  or more directly, “What are you doing?” The better question, in my opinion, is this: What if it were possible for someone to generate more cashflow than they actually need?  If money is no longer the only goal, what else might you do with your life? After taking a long break from the traditional

Coming from a background more rooted in words than numbers, I naturally tended to dissect businesses qualitatively. Yet, from the beginning it was impressed upon me—and it continues to be reinforced—that in investing, numbers often speak louder than words. Due diligence is essential, but what exactly should an investor be looking for? Of course, factors like the business model, competitive “moats,” and corporate governance all carry weight. Both the qualitative and quantitati

It is tempting to imagine investing as a kind of luxury—making money from behind a computer screen, day after day. The picture is appealing: remote work, staring at price charts, trading stocks like pieces of inventory moving through a brokerage account. With this view, there is little need to interact with anyone or think too deeply about the underlying businesses. But here lies a common mistake. Real investing is not about trading tickers; it’s about owning businesses.  Whe

In today’s world of seamless internet connections, 24/7 financial news, and globalization, it may seem as though every stone has already been turned. To the casual observer, the moment a company shows even a hint of cigar butt potential—cheap assets, distressed valuation, or hidden value—investors immediately pounce. From the outside looking in, it’s tempting to conclude that cigar butt investing is dead.  The common belief is that markets are efficient, opportunities are arb

One of the biggest mistakes I made early in my journey was dismissing financial statement analysis as something too complex for me to understand. Coming from little to no accounting background, I assumed the subject was rocket science. The whole presentation of a company’s financials felt like a blur. Even when a balanced financial statement was right in front of me, I felt as though I needed a secret key to unlock its meaning. What I hadn’t appreciated was that accounting is

Every red-blooded person has, at some point, a natural disposition toward gambling—whether it’s buying a lottery ticket, betting on sports, or jumping into a money-making scheme without fully understanding it. The thrill comes from risk and the possibility of a windfall. When the jackpot or the lucky Toto number is hit, the win is often attributed to fate, fortune, or sheer luck. And just as often, the risk of losing everything is dismissed as “something that didn’t happen to

In the 2010s, I left a high-paying job in a certain Asian city-state after nearly paying off all my debts. Around that time, local newspapers were abuzz with a new financial sub-movement: Financial Independence, Retire Early (FI/RE).  The idea was simple—cut expenses, save aggressively, and invest wisely to retire early or at least gain more freedom. On paper, I had “made it.” I was financially independent, free from the 9-to-5, and suddenly rich in time—if not in cash. Yet b