Amidst the Current Sentiments of an Impending Stock Market Crash, Here's What I'm Doing

Fear seems to be the main message one's getting everywhere. Like literally everywhere. From the casual conversations about the stock market in my staffroom pantry to the traditional print media to whatever content these 'finfluencers' are putting out across the various social media platforms. 'Just chill and have a game plan bro.' Here's my personal game plan amidst the sea of rising fear or FOMO towards the stock market.

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1. Get paid while you await opportunities to accumulate.

Yes, personally, since the start of 2025, I have added 30,000 shares of the Nikko AM Straits Trading Asia ex Japan Reit ETF (CFA.SI). Reason is plain and simple. At my average price of $0.762 per share, its a steal at about 20% discount from its fair book value, while giving me a dividend yield of slightly above 6%. Singapore's Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to average between 1.5% to 2.5% (Monetary Authority of Singapore, 2024). Amidst the current cooling interest rate environment which seems to be the case with lowered and relatively stable inflation, lowering interest rate will give me a little upside to potential capital gains in my Reit portfolio. Already the signs are positive, with CFA.SI bouncing up to above $0.78. Hence, amidst the current doom and gloom talks about a stock market crash and a U.S recession, I'll happily receive my passive income from my Reit and blue-chip dividend portion of my portfolio while waiting for 'appropriate moments to accumulate the S&P500 ETF and global equity ETF.

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2. Slowly accumulate when the markets correct.

Yes, I have fired about 2,000 USD last week into the Vanguard S&P500 UCITS ETF (VUSD) when it went down between 5% to 10%. I know some people will criticize this approach and say I'm an idiot for not waiting for a 20% or 30% market crash to buy it cheaper. I'll just say this. No one has a crystal ball. While macro economic data like U.S unemployment rates in the U.S, what the Federal Reserve will do in response to potential re-inflation risk amidst Donald Trump's tariffs, coupled with geo-political risks, no one knows whether the stock market will crash and if it does, by how much. My strategy will be to spread out my 'dry powder' into tranches and slowly accumulate when the markets go down. Every 5%-10% decline, I'll fire a shot. This amount will get bigger as the decline in the markets get bigger. Real money is made when stupid money leaves the market. Plain and simple. Sometimes you got to be a contrarian when everyone's fearful.

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3. Have an emergency fund that is fairly liquid but one you can't easily withdraw.

Personally for me, I have a tendency to fire all my liquid cash into investments (be it stocks or bonds) when markets valuations get attractive. Hence, a way for me to ensure that emergency funds are still intact amidst current markets uncertainty would be to lock it up in either the Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) or Treasury-Bills. Doing it as such would ensures that I still get a decent yield of slightly above 3% (as I accumulated my SSBs over 2023 and 2024), while having the funds intact. Just remember that an emergency buffer of 6 months is ideal especially in uncertain economic conditions.

That's all for now. Stay calm and invested. DO NOT bail out when the markets are down. Remember that 'real money is made when stupid money leaves the market.' Have faith in your investment principles and trust the process.

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Yours sincerely,

Finance Kaya Toast

https://financekayatoast.blogspot.com/2025/03/a...

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Disclosure: This article was written as me talking to myself as an ordinary Singaporean, wishing to achieve financial freedom. It does not represent any financial advise. All opinions are independent and represent just my two-cents on all matters financially-related.