Investment Analysis Then and Now

Thanks to Covid19, the world's share markets have gone crazy. Last week saw the Dow Jones in free fall and then yesterday night, it gained a whopping 1,294 points. Last week, gold prices surged to a historical high, only to fall steeply this week. On whichever side of the markets you are on, the emotional roller coaster must have gone from euphoria to heart attack and back again, OR vice versa.

For the first time, I see my children analyse the markets. 

At the same age as The Daughter, The Husband and I pored through The Straits Times, analysing the end of day share prices, reading Annual Reports, visiting shops and factories. Today's young people create Excel spreadsheets with correlation matrices and pull data from Thomson Reuters into an Excel spreadsheet that auto updates certain key numbers. The Daughter just went through an amazingly complicated spreadsheet with me. I swear that it gave me a headache.

The headache feels good.

It feels good to know that The Daughter surpasses me. In this world of constant change and advances, if you don't keep up, you get left behind. As age comes on us, we learn more slowly and with greater effort. The baton needs to be passed to the next generation who have both the speed and the stamina to keep up with the rest of the world. I am falling back. My kids need to run for the family now.

Knowledge is power. Skills are insurance against life's vagaries. It gives me great comfort to know that The Daughter knows where to pull data (Thomson Reuters) and how to analyse it better than I do.

When the children were growing up, my greatest fear was that they would be lesser people than me and The Husband. I feared that they would be less smart, less disciplined, less frugal and less able to earn a living. So, I made it a habit to always look dumber than they. I never had answers to their questions. I encouraged them to think and find their own answers. I asked their opinions and praised their clumsy attempts at thinking and evaluating. I overlooked poor judgment and praised good judgment.

For years, it was a pretense. I wanted them to grow up confident that they could find answers when no one else could. My solution was to stand by and watch lovingly as they groped for answers.

Now, it is no longer a pretense. I am careful to NOT debate current affairs and history with The Son. His logic is incisive and his argumentation is tight. He also knows more than I do. I am careful to NOT gainsay The Daughter's investment analysis because she has a bloody spreadsheet to back her up!

Many parents try to tell their children everything and order them around all the time. Don't. It does not form in your children the habit of self-reliance. It does not build self-confidence. Your children learn that they will always need to look to you for support and help. The smarter you are, the more it is important to look as stupid as you can. That way, your children are forced to step up and be better than you. Then, when you are old, they can take the baton from you and run faster than you can.

Muscles grow when used. Judgment grows when used too.

My children surpass both The Husband and me. For this reason, I look at Covid19 and feel no fear. I am ready to die anytime because my job is done.