Musings about Life and Investments

The second wave has begun. Make no mistake. Some cities are going to lock down again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV5dh1W80Zc https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/25/countries-unlikely-to-impose-full-lockdowns-if-theres-second-wave-analysts-say.html I doubt countries wil lgo through a full lock down like the first time. But it could be serious. I mentioned in my earlier posts that infections are rising again, particularly in the Americas. But surprisingly, the "serious" cases have fallen to 1% out of 99%. Death rates have held steady and I was hoping for the virus to mutate to something less deadly. The second wave for Spanish flu was especially deadly, where most of the deaths occurred. I suspect as hospitals become overloaded with patients, a "limited" lock-down will happen in affected cities. This is to "flatten the curve" due to limited hospital capacity. Death rates should climb but I doubt it will be greater than what we saw in the fi...

Over the last 10 years, I've developed into someone more zen. I've learned to meditate, used mindfulness in the last three years. It has helped to keep me calm even in the most trying times. In the last 30 years, I've been practising visualisation for success. I learned that in my competitive sports years. It set the sails so that my ship goes in the right direction in general, without much distractions.  Lately, I've learned to respond correctly to every situation. You see, the key to happiness, success and building meaningful relationships is to respond appropriately and positively no matter what you get. It's a serve and volley game tennis game.  50% of the time, life around you sucks. Your colleagues, friends, loved ones say something, do something that lets you down. You feel disappointed.   The other half the time, things according to your plan. You are happy.  However, it also means you are happy only 50% of the time. If you are happy only half...

I’m sharing what I presented to some friends. This is what I’ve garnered in my own research. Instead of looking at news and valuation for what drives the stock markets, why don’t we look at the balance sheets. Below is a chart of the S&P500 vs assets of major central banks over the last 12 years. Pretty consistent right?   Below are the biggest money supply increases / money printers of the world. The Fed, ECB, BOJ. Surprisingly, PBOC or People’s Bank of China did not increase. That could be because China issues bonds mostly in USD, not RMB. It needs to maintain currency stability to service USD debt. Looking at the MSCI Europe, the index trend pretty much follows its balance sheets / money supply. Both rise in tandem. The MSCI Japan also increases in tandem. The Chinese index did not rise and mirrored the balance sheet / money supply. It was sideways from 2009 – 2020. While the stock markets have corrected, it is...