Opportunity Fund
To make explosive wealth, one must have opportunity fund to invest during times of crisis. In September 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers (an investment firm in the United States.) ignited the world financial crisis. Before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, fear of a “big bang” recession had been lingering around for months due to the festering subprime mortgages mess in United States.
But no one would have predicted the magnitude of the economic crisis. Back then, the President of the United States announcing no bail-out for Lehman Brothers as it was considered not “too big to fail” (unlike other mega banks like Citibank, Bank of America, etc).
The next day, there were blood-letting carnage in stock markets throughout the world. Dow Jones witnessed a jaw-dropping decline of more than 770 points overnight. Singapore’s stock exchange (SGX) was not spared either. In the six months following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, from September 2008 to March 2009, stock markets worldwide fell by almost 40%, wiping off about USD16 trillion in capitalization. Singapore’s stock exchange also fell by close to 35%.
On looking back, the 2007-2009 financial crisis was indeed a “once in a generation” defining event in the financial sector. Personally for me, it had been both an eye opener and rewarding experience for me.
Back then, I had accumulated S$20,000 of “Opportunity Fund” and waiting for the right opportunity to invest in several stocks I had been researching for 6 months. So when this crisis came along and there was so much fear and panic, I knew it was the correct time to enter the market.
I pumped in my Opportunity Fund and bought 100 lots of Mercator Lines and subsequently sold off my investments several days later, making about S$3500 of profits. It wasn’t a spectacular profit but then again, I made this amount of money within a few days of trading and it was more than my monthly salary (back then I just started working for only a few years). On looking back, Mercator Lines had been one of my champion stock so far.
The reason why I am reflecting on this investment episode is that like many people, I had always thought that investing in the stock market can make you rich. I have realized that this is a form of flawed thinking.
It is true that you can make extra income from stock investment, but it ultimately won’t make you very rich. To make substantial amount of money from the stock market and propel your wealth status to another level, you need a minimum investment amount of S$400,000 to $500,000. But then again, if I have this amount of disposable money, I would most likely invest in real estate, not stocks.
Henceforth, I considered investing in stocks as a form of potential side income to supplement my salary. I don’t see it as an opportunity to become mega-rich overnight.
Magically yours,
SG Wealth Builder
