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INVESTOR fr STEPS
INVESTOR STEPS
A coaching service for earnest investors
“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful”
“You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.”
“You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
“What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.”
“There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult. ”
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
“What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.”
“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field –- not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”
“The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.”
“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon. I read and think. The more I read and think, the less I make impulse decisions.”
“You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.”
“In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love.”
“I learned to go into business only with people whom I like, trust, and admire.”
“Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you how you’ll turn out to be.”
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About Investor Steps
Investor Steps is a service primarily for investors in Singapore, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
It is a one-to-one hand-holding and financial coaching service. This service includes:
- Portfolio construction
- Steps for implementation
- Advice on regular maintenance & realignment after a re-examination of the client’s needs and situation.
Our aim is to help investors apply the ageless principles, key lessons, and invaluable wisdom in the world-famous, #1 foundational book on the subject by Benjamin Graham called “The Intelligent Investor”.
At this point, we recommend that every visitor of this website buy and read this book. Every dollar and every minute you spend on it is likely going to be the greatest investment you can make.
The Gain You Can Expect
This chart that says it all: How a simple investment grows over decades. The chart above shows nearly 3 decades of the American stock market, as represented by the bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average index, from early-1992 to mid-2021. This is what you can expect over the long term, the (mostly) ups and (temporary) downs. The biggest ‘downs’ were in 2000 (The Internet Bubble) and in 2008 (The Great Recession), which seemed like doomsday scenarios back then. But we have the luxury of hindsight to see how smartly the economy and asset prices recovered.
For the long-term investor who simply buys and waits, the direction of the dotted green line is what matters. What’s more, this chart is logarithmic, not linear, as you will notice looking at the progression of the numbers on the right. On top of that, some more good news: the chart is of the price ONLY, it does not account for dividends that companies give out. If that was included, the gains that this chart shows would be even greater!
In general, it is safe to assume that the markets will generate 8% or so in total return (i.e. with dividends reinvested) if your portfolio entirely tracks the index.
How Investor Steps Works
Coach Sam takes on a select number of clients to help every year. Almost all the consultations happen via telephone or video conferencing (Zoom, Google Meet, etc).
The first conversation is usually about 30 minutes. This is for the client and Coach Sam to understand each other, and see if there is a fit. There is often a significant exchange of valuable ideas during this call.
Once a fit has been established, on the next call, a plan of action is created.This is also an education service – where the client learns about investing the right way, gains insights about his/her own self, understands where exactly he/she is allocating his capital to, and why. Coach Sam’s main role is that of an advisor. To that effect, all of the client’s capital is invested in their accounts they themselves open with relevant financial institutions, and hence own.
How Investor Steps Works
Coach Sam takes on a select number of clients to help every year. Almost all the consultations happen via telephone or video conferencing (Zoom), meet.
The first conversation is usually about 30 minutes. This is for the client and Coach Sam to understand each other, and see if there is a fit. There is often a significant exchange of valuable ideas during this call.
Once a fit has been established, on the next call, a plan of action is created.This is also an education service – where the client learns about investing the right way, gains insights about his/her own self, understands where exactly he/she is allocating his capital to, and why. Coach Sam’s main role is that of an advisor. To that effect, all of the client’s capital is invested in their accounts they themselves open with relevant financial institutions, and hence own.
Our Ideal Clients
Our Ideal Clients
If you think you have a few of the attributes listed below, we are right for you:
- Those who see the value of (value) investing.
- They have a need to invest in the right way, but don’t have the time, energy, interest, or aptitude to learn and experiment with this subject by themselves.
- Those who understand that “half knowledge is dangerous”.
- They want someone who knows the way and shows them the way quickly and directly.
- English-speaking, and residing in a developed country, so that you have easy access to good quality financial investments around the world.
- They are logical, and are open to sensible ideas i.e. are level-headed.
- They are not completely risk-averse i.e. they can stomach short-term price volatility.
- They do not have a fixation for extraordinary, unsustainable returns, such as a guaranteed 2% every month or doubling their capital every 3 years.
- They are looking for this specific kind of coaching service, and know that they would be better off with it than without.
- They can see the immense value of this service.
What You Get
The Value of Investor Steps
In a word: infinite. We mean it. Of course, one can try to quantify the value to a dollar amount by considering:
- the amount of the invested monies / the size of the portfolio,
- the time it stays invested,
- and the cost of not having taken the right steps i.e. waste of time, money, and opportunities because of lack of knowledge, clarity, and motivation when you needed it.
But safe to say, even with a moderate-size portfolio set up right to grow for a decade or so, the gains made by the investor client would be many thousand percentage points more than the cost you pay for this service.
As you can see, the difference at the end of 10 years is over $53,000 or 53% of the starting portfolio. If one starts with a bigger portfolio, your absolute profit is proportionally greater, while our fee stays the same. This is not even counting the fact that with Investor Steps, your rate of return can be much higher than 8% per year, while without the right actions, your gains on average can be much lower than 5%.
Our Fees
This is a fee-only service (no commissions charged, no matter the size of the portfolio) so that our interests are aligned with that of our clients, and we can recommend the best i.e. most suitable assets for our client’s unique needs and preferences. Coach Sam’s fee per hour is US$500. The typical fee for portfolio construction, explanation, and precise steps for implementation is US$2,000. For a review, every six months to a year, and guidance on portfolio adjustments, the fee is US$1,000.
About “The Intelligent Investor”
The author, Ben Graham (1894-1976) was a successful stock market investor, financial strategist, adjunct at Columbia Business School, and the teacher of Warren Buffett – who went on to become the world’s greatest investor. Buffett regards this book as a must-read (and apply) for all investors.
“By far the best book on investing ever written,” Buffett says about this book. “I recommended particularly Chapters 8 and 20”.
This book details, in a remarkably simple-to-understand way, how different types of investors (not speculators / gamblers / punters / short-term traders) can allocate their hard-earned money logically.
It prepares us with what can and does happen in the market every so often, and how we as ordinary human beings, with all our inherent biases, may react.
About “The Intelligent Investor”
The author, Ben Graham (1894-1976) was a successful stock market investor, financial strategist, adjunct at Columbia Business School, and the teacher of Warren Buffett – who went on to become the world’s greatest investor. Buffett regards this book as a must-read (and apply) for all investors.
“By far the best book on investing ever written,” Buffett says about this book. “I recommended particularly Chapters 8 and 20”
This book details, in a remarkably simple-to-understand way, how different types of investors (not speculators / gamblers / punters / short-term traders) can allocate their hard-earned money logically.
It prepares us with what can and does happen in the market every so often, and how we as ordinary human beings, with all our inherent biases, may react.