The portfolio’s job
Liquidity
Money you can reach this week and the next few years of spending, so a bad market never forces a sale.
Insights · Guide · How I invest
One core. Five ratios. Every goal.
Two building blocks: shares for growth, bonds for steadiness. Only the ratio changes, set to the risk you can hold through a bad year.
Plan before portfolio
The number comes first, the product last.
The portfolio’s job
Income
CPF LIFE first, then income plans for a set period: the spending you cannot do without, paid whatever markets do.
The portfolio’s job
Growth
The rest, invested for the long run, to stay ahead of prices across a retirement that may last thirty years.
Thousands of products. Three decisions that matter.
Hot funds, tips and forecasts make the noise and decide little. A short list, made once, written down and kept, decides how a portfolio does for you.
- 1How much in sharesSet by your profile, not by the news.
- 2How much kept safeEnough for the years of spending ahead, so you never sell in a fall.
- 3When to rebalanceBy a rule agreed in advance, never because of a headline.
The right profile is the one you will hold through a bad year.
Five profiles, one core. A long horizon usually means more in shares; what you would do when they fall sets the final mix. Every goal uses the same two building blocks; nothing new is bought for a new goal.
Navy: shares. Blue: bonds. The mix for each profile, as an illustration; yours is set together, in writing, before any money moves.
What you get
- Thousands of companies around the world, not a handful of bets
- Low costs, because fees are certain and returns are not
- A plan that does not depend on anyone predicting markets
- A review every year, changed for life events, never for recent returns
What you accept
- Shares can fall by a third or more in a bad year
- Some years, the fund in the headlines will have done better
- No promises: projections are illustrations, not forecasts
- Patience; the hard part is behaviour, not knowledge
Room for ideas, once the plan is safe
Holdings of your own choosing, or more income from investments, sit beside the core, never in its place, and only once the spending that matters is secure.
The plan is kept, not just made.
Where do you sit on the map?
A first conversation looks at your goals and your two risks, then the mix that fits them. Meeting one sells nothing.
General information, not advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any investment. Investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Thomas Chai Kian Teck, Certified Financial Planner, MAS Rep. No. CKT300001354.