Why I Am Passionate.... The Winning Mentality of Kobe Bryant

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3jhP-WXFnU


Many people close to me feel that I'm obsessed about investing. Obsessed about money. Am I really obsessed?

I've listened to the video above. One part of Kobe Bryant's interview impressed upon me, "many players do it for the money and as soon as they have some, they drop off. I'm just obsessed with being the best". It was something along the likes.

I realised I was obsessed to be the best in what I do, whether in real estate or stocks or options. Whatever I do, I want to be the best. If I want to be a trainer, I wanna be among the best in the business. I'll study great speakers and mirror them. If I wanna be the best stock investor, I mirror the best, learn from them.

But there's another saying, "much money has been spent to feel good. Why don't we cut out the middle man and go straight to the source, which is to feel good?" To be joyful, I meditate, practice mindfulness for calmness and happiness. Money doesn't make me happier, it just gives me more choices. I find calmness and confidence in myself, not from money.

The reason then for wanting more money is this:


Above is a picture of a kindergarten. Not every child comes from an emotionally stable, blessed family. I came from one where my parents made terrible financial mistakes. I didn't have a mentor to guide me then. I never had the choice to study in fancy universities in the US when I didn't do well in my A Levels. Heck, I'm from Mensa and I bet I can do as well as the lucky ACS kids who get second chances in life. My dad lost a lot of money in the stock markets, my future university school fees. I vowed never to lose this much, but even if I did, I'll make it all back and more. When I did badly for my A Levels, I went to a second tier university, studied an easy course on a stipend from the university because I scored straight As in my first year. You see, I am a person who just needs a break in life, who needs second chances and I'll grab it. I failed so many times in life, but I was always determined to prove my detractors wrong. I took my CFA and my Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst to prove I had the grit, discipline to pass professional exams. 

I'm not wealthy by any standards, but I am determined to make a dent in the universe. I am determined to help as many people as I can, as many children from disadvantaged homes as I can so that they can have the same opportunities as all the ACS kids from wealthy homes. I came from Raffles, borne from a "rags to riches" mentality. But after that, I'm all game to change the lives of many. 

If you are reading this and you are successful, please spare a thought for the disadvantaged people. You are already blessed. The world needs you to give them hope. 

If you are down in life and you are reading this, have hope. History is littered with people that were severely disadvantaged and yet made it. Do not dispair. Keep trying, think harder, look for role models, follow what they do. You will get there. But when you do, give back to society, especially to those that came from the same background as yourself. 

Comments

  1. jeffreygoh0825 December 2020 at 17:17

    Jeff, I'm totally agree with you and I'm blessed to have learn many gurus. I yet to achieve my goal but I'm determine to continue searching and learning new knowledge to improve my investing and trading journey. I'm confident this day may come if I don't give up half way.

    thanks for the sharing of knowledge!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeffrey Ong25 December 2020 at 23:03

    Thanks Jeffrey Goh, for your kind words. This year started horribly for me, but ended with 25% profit. I've also had a lot of "sifus" in my life and I have a support group to guide me. Keep learning. Feel free to email me directly for queries, not on this public forum. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Funds Portfolio 14 Jan 2021

Image
  Below is the overall performance of my funds. For CPF, I put everything into funds. I refuse to buy SGD stocks because you should see the performance of MSCI Singapore below. In the last 1 year, the performance was down 5.9%. it is only this year that the performance went up slightly but it is still down. If I had used my CPF and cash to buy SGX listed companies I would have done at best 5% even with superior stock picking.   Look at the other indices. MSCI world is up 16.1%, S&P500 is up 18.0%, China is up 38.6%, Europe up 6.2%, MSCI Asia ex Japan up 28.2%. NASDAQ was of course the best performer with 44.7%. So the growth is NOT in Singapore. It is either in the US or Asia, mainly China. Even the best companies from Singapore are listed in NASDAQ, e.g. SEA Ltd. We have become the “forgotten man” or “sick Man” of Asia in terms of stock markets.       The average performance of my funds are 25.8%. this is unrealised return and doesn’t include realised gains...
Read more

This Too Shall Pass

Image
This is a good article to serve as a reminder. At the risk of sounding old, with 23 years of experience in the financial industry, and it may seem corny, but I must admit “I’ve seen it all before”.  1998 Asian Financial Crisis, 2001 Sep 11, SARS in 2003, 2008 global financial crisis. The chart does look scary. It is the fastest 18% fall in history because we are in the age of automation and robots trading. ETFs are also causing this sell down as it indiscriminately liquidates stocks when investors sell. Below is the S&P500 ETF, SPY. 18% drop from 18 Feb to now, in 15 trading days. If you are very worried, stretch out your chart on a weekly basis, and over 5 years. It now looks like familiar territory? It is now resting on the 150 weeks moving average. On 24 Dec 18, it rested on the same moving average and shot up by over 25%.  On 8 Feb 2016, it tested again and recovered 53%. Now does it look familiar?  We have seen this happen twice previously in t...
Read more

A Bull Run is Born from Pessimism

Image
“A Bull Run is born from pessimism”. Some famous fund manager said that. I think it’s Peter Lynch. The bottom of the “Big Correction” was Christmas Eve, 24 th  Dec 2018. All stock markets rallied very hard in the first four months of 2019. But then the Trade War started, with Twitters threatening every other day of escalating embargoes. Asia ex Japan, MSCI Emerging Market and Japan were hit very hard, while the western world continued to rally. It was very difficult as an advisor to “push” or “persuade” clients to increase equity allocation because the news was simply very bad at every angle. There lies my repeated urgings to ignore mainstream news. One simply cannot make economic forecasts and translate that to equity returns! What matters is momentum and value! Pick the best value or cheapest stocks, sectors, funds, check the technicals if they are going to rise or fall. If they are rising, you buy. If they are falling, stay far away. Now that most of the easy money is made ...
Read more