Costs will kill you over time, always make sure to make cost-efficient investment decisions. Money that you don't get due to these costs is money you lose!

It's a little funny but it was a side business of mine to resell phone covers that I got from a Taobao supplier on Carousell - I bought 100 units of it expecting people to have a good demand for it, turns out I found 3 similar people that were selling lower than my unit cost. Just goes to show that if you don't do research it'll come bite you in the ass. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Buying some shares in the STI ETF, or getting some shares of the Vanguard ETF to track S&P 500. since they track the broad market index you are more or less completely diversified so you skipped a few steps there - but do note that STI is quite skewed towards the financial industry because their major contributors are the banks like DBS ,UOB , OCBC etc. so in terms of diversification it can be argued that S&P is better. But, STI gives good dividend yield, so if you like good dividend payouts perhaps STI ETF is a good option. But if you want to see your capital grow, investing in the US vanguard S&P 500 ETF is better because their capital gain potential is relatively larger. https://ycharts.com/indicators/sandp500totalreturnannual this website shows the yoy growth of total returns of the S&P. But you will be exposed to Foreign exchange risk because the money is in USD, so if you see that the currency will appreciate against SGD, it is a good idea to put money into Vanguard etf instead. Either way, both options are pretty good, gives you modest returns, and you don't really need to check back constantly.

Another indicator that I could add on to Zann is perhaps renewable energy demand - are your EVs demand rising? Are there more hybrid cars? are governments subsidizing solar panel production and encouraging their uptake? this could signal a rise in demand for renewal energy and a drop in the demand for fuels. Vehicle demand is also a huge factor for oil - if they rise, your oil demand will rise, and vice versa.

Generally it's mostly because of the fact that Singapore's investor market doesn't seem to be putting a fair valuation into tech companies, or many new value firms - high growth potential companies that are accompanied with higher risks as compared to the mainstays of the STI or the current listings. If we look at the number of major tech companies in the STI, we are only really talking about Venture Corp - the rest in the machinary and semi conductor business, like AEM holdings, are not a component of the STI as their market cap is not large enough.Singapore's exchange favours heavily on our financial services industry like banks. As a result, Singapore has more delistings than listings nowadays, we have a shrinking market cap in our exchange as well... I think we won't be seeing much exciting IPOs in the near future. But that's alright, because Singapore has become a niche market for wealth accumulation with strong consistent dividend yeild stocks. It is essentially because it is not exciting that certain people like it - the predictableness of the stock allows one to much more easily plan for one's retirement plan for example. We've lost the race against HK a long long time ago, and we're starting to drop off against the emerging economies as well, so as to whether any new exciting companies would want to raise equity in SG, my honest opinion is no. Not unless Singapore's investor base increases volume in trades, and also perhaps see more value in investing in growth stocks as opposed to the traditional blue chips.

Generally to cement the value of the equity held by the stakeholders of the company - the IPO is seen as a way to put actual dollar value on their stake. If not, it would be purely according to the valuation of a acquiring company - which may not be a fair valuation. The market is seen as a more efficient and fairer platform of ensuring that you get your money's worth on the piece of pie you are currently holding onto, and if it comes to a point in time you wish to leave the company you can always liquidate relatively easily in the public exchange as compared to private equity negotiation and valuation.

Check their default rates, though the definition of default may be different from platform to platform. I currently use Funding societies, and theirs is at about less than 1%? However, they do have late invoice payments though, you have to not panic when that happens. very often you will get your principal back. I think we should always check the way they go about evaluating their potential listees. From what I know, FS is pretty rigourous, so you should not be exposed to too much risk in terms of defaults! but of course, each loan has their own risk, you will need to check the company credentials and performance reports which are usually available on the p2p platforms for you to do an analysis before investing.

Biggest risk would be interest rate risk - bond prices are highly affected by interest rate because interest rates are the discounting factor to find the PV of the bond's future payment, a fall in interest will see a rise in it's price, while a rise in interest will have cause bond prices to fall. This is especially important in emerging economies which are experiencing rapid growth- if anytime the Central bank sees that growth is too quick and is outpacing productivity growth and might result in runaway inflation they may raise interest rates to curb investments and private consumption - you will see a fall in bond prices because you bonds future cash flows are worth less in today's terms.

Wow, that's really a pickle, let me just take out my biz law textbook to help you out here blows dust okay, so according to Singapore's Securities and Futures Act (which prohibits insider trading) under section 219, people who are not connected to the corporation who recieve price -sensitive information will fall under this act, which means you . Even if you pass this information to another friend, who tells a stranger at a bar, who then buys that stock, that stranger will still be liable for violating the Securities and Futures Act for insider trading. So your dad, you and of course your dad's friend will all be liable for insider trading if found out. I highly suggest to politely decline participating in this and talking your dad out of it - you are looking at possible criminal liability - you will be charged in court and if convicted, be deemed a convict. Under section 221 you will be looking at a max fine of $250 000 or imprisonment of up to 7 years. If you're lucky to get off with a lighter civil liability, you are still looking at a penalty of 3 times the profits gained, or $50 000, whichever is greater. I got this all off "introduction to business law in Singapore" by ravi chandran 4th edition. If you don't believe me, buy the book, check page 278 -280. It's cheaper than getting fined 50k and going to jail for 7 years.

10 million... if you told me 12 years ago, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. In fact, if I could, I would have traded 20, no 30 years of my life to get the money. Just name the price. Yes, I know money is not the end all, but I think we all have that event in our lives we could see the ultimate value in money, that instantaneous gratification, that loved one we could help, the power we can obtain to change the world for the better. It's fun to dream, and I dream everyday about something like this happening. But alas, reality hits really hard, doesn't it? Now, I think perhaps I may not take that money so quickly. Time becomes much more precious now as my friends and family gets older, and frailer. But at least now, they are still in good health, which I am grateful for everyday. Since we don't know when will be our last breath, that 10 million may spell the end of our lives sooner than we expect... I don't think I want to leave the world yet. I still have many things to do, places to see, people to meet, lives to change!