Epsilon Luxe Capital

Latest Post

Investors Exchange 2017 And A Walk Down Memory Lane

Hey there!

So it’s been a long hiatus from blogging for me having sat through a roller coaster ride exactly one year ago. This was a period of time where I was working on a few special projects as well as pulling all my thoughts and trading experience to one focal point. Hence, to really focus (my attention span is rather short and fragmented), I took a holiday from blogging. So what’s up with this blog post?

My brain farts a lot… like really a hell lot.

I guess I’d be posting more brain-farts here, you know, more like a soundboard to echo inner thoughts. I guess it’d be interesting to pen more of my thoughts and share things which I’ve observed about the market, my life, questions from newbie investors, or some random experience (hopefully not about the time when I got left with a bankrupt stock gambler’s debts which I’ll leave this blog-post for another time).

Just about 2 weeks back, I was invited to speak at the Investors Exchange 2017, organised by BigScribe (a group of passionate finance bloggers aiming to help educate the public and spread awareness to those who seek). It was my first time speaking to about 250 people (as I was told… could be wrong) which was quite a big group since I last spoke at ASSI AK’s event (An Evening With AK and Friends) back in May 2015.

There wasn’t a topic back then and it was pretty much a Q&A from the floor and many questions about personal finance surfaced. It was really interesting to be on the panel that evening as it really brought many practical considerations any individual could’ve faced in life. Anyway it was really a beginning for me into this whole fuzzy world of finance blogging and public speaking.

Looking back, I’m surprised at some of the quirky posts I’ve had about bond ladders which were found interesting to many readers, and which was shared on ASSI AK’s guess post. If you’ve missed it, you can also find it on my blog here.

Learn a new word yet? Skut-tuhl-butt… say it with me kids!

So back to the topic of Investors Exchange 2017, Kyith from Investment Moats thought I’d be able to share more on the fundamental side of investments, perhaps being able to add some depth and perspective from my daily runaround at companies. I figured I’d think it through and see what the other speakers would come up with and then see what I could present at the event. So …

voila

I noticed that many talks or seminars were overly obsessed with being too technical in approaches like technical analysis and statistics, or being too theoretical, like in over-analysing annual reports and financial statements. Either of which, have their own shortcomings.

Often we forget that beyond the four walls and computers which we are narrowly focused on, there is still the business dynamics side to the stocks we purchase. Ergo, deep in my heart I thought this would be a topic on a road less travelled by investors / traders. Pun intended.

This triggered me to expand more on Phil A Fisher’s content covered in his book, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.  The crux of the 20 minute long (or short) presentation was mainly focused on how to sniff out the strategy the interviewed company is taking and what they were looking out for exactly to boost those earnings and house-keep those loose ends whilst charging ahead. Of course, being at the “centre of where it all happens” counts! It’s kind of going on a vacation of place of your dreams vs Googling the place and then taking the Google map street view. Same same but different lah.

The event was pretty well organised to be honest, especially when it’s for hours on end. The speaker line up was pretty balanced too (never-mind me, I was just talking to myself). Whilst I enjoyed sharing my piece, the other speakers had some really interesting points as well. I think Lynn (a finance blogger), wrote about her thoughts on her blog which can be found here. She did quite a good coverage of the event. Do check it out.

So that’s all for this post after a looooonnggg break (a tad too comfy albeit eerie for me but alas, the break was good). Hope to hear more comments and catch you around! 🙂