At our recent client event, we were happy to have an overwhelming response to our 5-question quiz. Within these answers include important tidbits for investors and Singaporeans — How many of these would you have guessed correctly?

For the the first time in nearly 50 years, both stocks and bonds were down by double digits (2022). Over the past few years, from lockdowns to re-openings and adapting to drastic changes in our lifestyles and behaviour. Now we’re in 2023; how’re you doing?

An old joke goes - a statistician is a person who lays with his head in an oven and his feet in a freezer happily proclaiming “On average, I feel comfortable.”

Taking that example into the investment world, averages seldom reflect actual investor experience.

When is the best time to invest? The common refrain would be to wait for the ‘best time’ to put your money to work. But the truth is you don’t need to wait for the best time to still get good results.

When markets go up, many investors always claim that they can stomach volatility. After all, volatility that pushes the prices of assets upwards is always welcomed. Only when we experience downward volatility, our true investment stomach is revealed!

You’ve probably experienced that wave of relief before, when you manage to narrowly avoid a disaster. Now that the market is very choppy, it makes sense to take a step back, assess your investments and perhaps take some extra precautions — after all downturns are only a matter of time.

You’ve done everything right: You’ve set a long investment horizon to ensure positive returns, and reduced your equity allocation to make room for bonds to absorb shocks in the market. So what should one do when the invested assets suddenly don’t seem to behave anymore?

Volatility is back in the markets after one and a half years of relatively smooth sailing and rising asset prices. But just how common are market declines and what do they mean for annual returns?

Panic selling not only locks in your losses but also puts you at risk for missing the market’s best days, and the impact of missing just a few of the market’s best days can be profound

When it comes to investing, the biggest elephant in the room is the word — “uncertainty.” No one can say for certain what the markets will do nor is there a crystal ball that’ll show you the outcome of any situation. However, we have provided some pointers that can help you keep things in perspective during this “uncertain” period.

Staying upright on a bike is much easier when you’re moving, and more enjoyable than frequently having to start and stop. Having discipline in a financial plan is not dissimilar; the ability to reach your destination can be positively impacted by building small, repeatable habits.

Are bonds really safer than stocks? The data suggests otherwise.

As we face speculations about a coming crisis, how should investors respond?

In volatile markets, whether investors end up making or losing money depends less on what the market is doing and more on how they react.

Markets may seem scary right now, but there is no need to panic.