Rainer's Investment Insights

TO REDIRECT TO THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE! Since the last update in September , it was like living in revolving doors! Swings in the markets were never longer than a few weeks and yet the velocity and size of the moves, tempting on the way up, destructive on the way down, caused havoc with time lines and - bottom lines.  However, WE DID NOT SIT ON THE SIDELINES THIS TIME, but tried our best to recapture the losses of early August! First, the overview since inception in October 2009, for Portfolios A-D, with D (yellow line) being the highest risk. For more description please click here . RETURN OVERVIEW SINCE INCEPTION: (25 months) (on SGD basis!) MSCI WORLD                      = down -3%  MSCI Asia Pacific                = down -11% LionGlobal MAP Growth   = down  -7% LionGlobal MAP Balanced= down  -2%  United Millennium Trust1  = down  -5.5% Port A (conservative)        =  up     +9% PortB (balanced)                =  up    +12% PortC (growth)                   =

The noise of the talking heads has become deafening.  Most investors have lost heart as a result.  That makes it more difficult to keep to a distinct and clearly marked investment path. However, is this miserable mood really justified? - No, no I am not talking about fundamentals, the potential fallout from Europe imploding, US not agreeing to reduce a deficit, instead rather harp on overdone ideologies. And I am sure you can come up with another 50 examples of why calamity in stock markets is just around the corner.  I am talking about technical analysis of the advanced kind, the ones with reliable forecast ability. It's all in the eyes of the beholder: if you are uncertain and more inclined to expect the worst, no amount of fair indications will turn you head.  What is needed is the convinction that a problem, ANY problem, will come with adequate solutions, ultimately, if we only keep our wits together.  Sadly, the majority of our news caster have been 'murdoched

iGP, the Singapore platform for Accredited Investors , has published an interview in their latest iGP magazine.  Since I am one of three investment directors providing answers to iGP questions, I wanted to include it here on the blog as well, as you may not be able to obtain the magazine where you are. For ease of differentiation, my responses are in bold .  But that does not mean that the other guys aren't worth reading. Titled "Finding Answers Amidst the Volatility" , iGP considers it "...wise to relook at your investment strategies. Find out what three investment experts have to say." "With the kind of market volatility we have seen this year... "I t has been quite a year. The events in Egypt and Libya affecting the Middle East as well as the catastrophe in Japan early in the year had put some pres­sure on the global markets. Coupled with the ongoing US and Europe debt crisis, investors find the markets to be fraught with uncertaint

Financial Markets are moving so fast nowadays it is not surprising for disillusion to set in among even the most seasoned of observers.  When dealing with mutual funds only, this pace is becoming hazardous on many levels, especially the reaction and preparation time of bringing portfolios in line with moving markets. What's Happening To Markets? If you believe the talking heads, it's all about Europe, Greece and now Italy that are scaring away punters.  Pardon me for sounding terribly naive, but was it not to be expected that after a run up of nearly 20% in many markets profit taking would set in? There may well be a different dimension to the story: America's super financial institutions are on a war path to drive yields up in Italy now, with the same ferocity as they have done with Greek bonds, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even France. Why only those and NOT the UK, which in % terms of GDP has a much larger debt than Italy? Let's look at a fictitious large US f

Hijacked Once upon a time, Greece was gallantly giving the world its wealth of ideas, poetry and scientific perspectives (which it had learned from Egypt, Persia, India and other places). Much of what has been achieved by the Western World can be attributed to those Greek gifts.  What has gone 'unnoticed' is that the Greeks then and today are different. And while they should be in Europe, they are by no means German in attitude and culture, nor British, Finnish or Polish.  But somehow the bigger countries happily ignore the implications when cultures clash. "a way of life: asceticism, anti-conformism and anti-conventionalism' Now they face the WRATH OF DEMOCRACY in Greek fashion, the original version so to speak.  It implies that you cannot just ride roughshod over people and their innate quirks and qualities.  This is  what could have been playing on Greece's Prime Minister's mind when he announc