What are your biggest investment or personal finance pet-peeves?

Pet peeve for investment is people who jump onto the bandwagon- buying that hot stock or ETF which has surged in the past few days/months. If the reason behind the surge is fundamentals, then its justfied. But often not, people jump due to FOMO. When the price is corrected, they jumped off, incurring losses in the process.

As far as spending goes, i just dont understand how and why people spend most of their monthly pay on comfort items etc. I feel it is very short sighted if you are living on paycheck to paycheck.

Also dont understand why people dont even have basic medical insurances. Some of it is due to a lack of financial literacy/planning, but some also hold on to religious beliefs that one should have faith in god and not rely on such insurances.

Hi Clara,

For investments, there is no sure-win method for anyone. Some may prefer short term whereas, some prefer long term investments. There is no right answer to it.

Personally, I do not agree with short term investing. I believe in a long term approach for investment and we should not be motivated by short term gains. Short term gain is triggered by the market sentiments at the point of time, and not a full reflection of the fundamentals of the investments. It is also important to have conducted your research and have a firm understanding of what you are investing in. Never invest in something that you are unsure of.

As a general rule of thumb, I set a budget for my income so that I will abide by it. This allows me to better plan my finances and prevent me from having unnecessary expenses. By using the simple budgeting rule, 50/30/20, I will save up at least 20% of my take-home salary, spend 50% on my needs and 30% on my wants.

Another of my personal finance pet-peeve is to leave my money lying around without maximising its potential. For example, I would very much prefer to place my money in a savings plan where I can earn higher interest, compared to what you can get from many bank savings accounts. A great option you can consider would be GIGANTIQ, an insurance savings plan underwritten and issued by Etiqa which I used to store my emergency fund. With a flexible withdrawal, it provides me with the opportunities to earn a decent return while still having the flexibility to withdraw the funds should I require them.