After STI tumbled nearly 15% in less than two weeks’ time, I wrote a few blog posts such as “Market crashed! What should you do“, “Is cash the king now?“. In the posts, I urge investors to take this opportunities to reflect themselves on their own investment profiles and re-evaluate their investment strategies.

In today’s Sunday Times, Christopher Tan, COE of Providend, made an excellent point on reflection. In the article “Amid  turmoil; try to be content”, he said:

“Beyond just thinking about our investments, perhaps this is a good time for us to reflect on how we have been responding to the world post-2008.

“Perhaps we have been overly confident. Despite living in uncertain times, we keep pushing property and car prices to ridiculous new highs. We fund our purchases by taking on more debt which will take our entire lifetime to pay. We live our lives as if the good times will always be here and we will always have our jobs.

“Can we see that we are behaving in the same way that the developed world did a decades ago? One day, this house of cards will tumble. We are motivated to chase the Singapore Dream and, as a result, we buy things we do not need, with the money we do not have, to impress the people we do not know.

I met quite a number of investors during the past two weeks.

I met people who were extremely worried that any talk about the stock market is a sin. I met people who were very excited as they moved in and out of the market, made thousands in a day, and lost huge in minutes.

I met people who had pumped a big sum just before the market crashed. Some were regretted and not sure what to do; Some were not bothered as they believed the market will come back no matter what; Some bought more; Some sold all.

Now think about it, what investment is all about?

The most important question you should ask yourself is not what much money you made or lost, but if you are happy with your current position.

I know traders who made a lot of money by speculating the stock markets but ultimately quit because it is just too stressful in emotion and health. I also come across this “millionaire teacher” who invests passively while being a teacher for years; He never has to worry about the swing of the markets, no need to guess what double dip what so ever, but beat the market consistently.

The investment market is like a mirror, it only reflects yourself. if you are not happy, the market will look ugly to you.