Business Times Interviews - Starting Young

[exige]

Ahaha, not as sizable as yours. I just have fingers in many pies. I'm interested in BRK.B as well but that's from me as a fanboy.

The retailer to kiasu Singaporeans I'm thinking of is actually of is Popular. I have no doubt that the digital retail place will make traditional bookstores like Popular (unless they evolve) obsolete one day but I'm betting that that day has not come in Asia and won't for a while longer. Meanwhile, Popular has that added buffer of kiasu parents who will buy heaps of assessment books and study guides and that will be a crucial mitigating factor.

Big macro ideas would include the broad strokes of the brush such as an aging population in SG (which is why I bought into the healthcare REIT), or the propensity for more people to eat out, decline of low value-add manufacturing in SG etc. Basically, these are trends that are unlikely to reverse and even if they do, it would do so very slowly.

How was your investing process like?

PS: The queues at H&M were crazy. I thought they were giving away free clothes or something.

haha, so what is holding you back from buying BRK.B now?

I look at big macro ideas too. Or rather, for me, its more industry specific. I look at the nature of the industry / its dynamics, from a business point of view, the profit models, before taking a look at the specific companies on the way they manage their financials in the long run.

Although I'm buying stocks, I am fundamentally more interested in their businesses, as I believe that in the long run, stock prices are determined by the specific company's business performance, rather than Wall Street hype. However, not all companies in a chosen industry may be a safe bet. Therefore, I prefer to only look at companies who have a more conservative financing plan. ie: Minimal or no unnecessary debts. Just like the tortoise and hare story, I'd rather have a slower but surer winner in the long run, than to have a faster but riskier hare..