Hi KC & Peter,
I have a question related to Philosophy:
1. When you decided to go into investing (after going through speculation) did you set some
goals for yourself e.g.
(i) what $ target to achieve and by when
(ii) how much time each day to spend on the investing activities
(iii) how you will use the wealth meaningfully (apart from investing)
I never go thru the phase of speculation in my life. For the answer:
1) My target keep on changing. Back when i realised majority of the people doesn’t have enough to retire when they reach retirement age (my parents included), my 1st goal was simply to be able to retire by age 55. I think i was 21 years old at that time.
Then when i went into Insurance Industry a few months later, my goal was to be a millionaire by age 35.
Then i remember i set a goal when i was 26 years old to have RM 20k of passive income by the time i was 30 years old.
Today, my goals is more than this, but its on what i believe i can achieve. And that goal might be too “big” for most people, thus i keep it to myself, and share it only with my wife. 🙂
ii) I don’t really count the hours… but back then when i was learning, i spent a lot of time in learning as well as in researching. Those knowledge is accumulated, and now i spend more time on researching than on learning. Also, i enjoy reading books on investments. Is that counted as time spend on investing? Anyway, i think i spend probably 20 hours on investing a week, at most. Probably lesser. But back then… a lot… really a lot. Perhaps more than 30 hours a week. Possibly more.
iii) After leaving enough for my kids (perhaps a few million ringgit per person), my wife and i will give virtually all our wealth back to society. Bill & Melinda Gates foundation did a very good job, and i might emulate what Buffett did. Then again, my wealth is insignificant compared to what Bill n Melinda Gates foundation have, thus, for now, i’m just compounding it until it’s big enough to make an impact to the society.
Thank you for the answers. It explains the WHY and the HOW to achieve what is set out to do. The 3rd answer (which I consider is equally if not even more important from a philosophical standpoint) determines the character of the investor and differentiates him/her from others especially where the love of wealth far exceeds the ability to show concern for others in whatever ways possible.
Once again, thank you for the answers.