At what age to start investing in the stock market?

A blog post at Bully the Bear has generated much interest and discussion: The youth and the stock market.

Although I have some ideas of my own, I was feeling lazy and didn't want to comment but a cboxer, Evolution of the "lobster taller than small girl , ak's t shirt older than evo" fame, put me in the hot seat and asked "Ak , whats ur view on LP's new post".

I said that I have introduced my 9 year old niece to investing in the stock market. Yes, she is in primary 3 this year. She has some savings in the bank which is paid a paltry sum of interest. 0.2% per annum for young savers? Maybe it is more, I am not very sure but still paltry.

Anyway, she has some shares in SPH for more than a year now bought using my account and she has collected one year's worth of dividends. It is quite a lot of money for a 9 year old and she's happy with the dividends, needless to say.

Getting dividends from investing in SPH has demonstrated to my niece the power of delayed gratification. 

By not using her savings on things she wants to buy and by investing for income, she is able to use the passive income to buy the things she wants later on without touching her savings at all. 

I heard from my sister that my niece is very frugal these days and I heard from my mom that my niece would sometimes ask her what's the latest share price of SPH.

Sound ideas in personal finance and investment, I believe, should be taught to children as soon as they are able to understand them. Teaching them the importance of thrift and savings is but the first step. How to make their savings work harder? 

Now, that's a big second step.

I remember how I would save all my pocket money when I was a boy in order to buy the toys I wanted. 

If only I had someone to tell me I should save all my money and how to make my money work harder for me then.

Related posts:
1. Teaching young children financial literacy.
2. Little book that beats the market.

Tea with AK71: Mahjong RubiksCube.

I had lunch with an old friend whom I have known for more than 20 years. As we grow older, we grow more sentimental, perhaps. After lunch, I decided to walk into a shop selling comics and knick knacks. It is a shop I enjoyed going to frequently in my younger days. Just when I thought there's nothing interesting enough for me to buy, this caught my eyes!

The RubiksCube was first introduced when I was in primary school, I think. See how it has evolved? Amazing! My friend opened his, I scrambled it up and he tried to put it back together again. It is much more difficult compared to the old cube with solid colors.

We have to make sure that the 6 sides each has the correct family of symbols AND the symbols have to be in sequence if numbers are involved (as in the TONG ZI, WAN ZI and TIAO ZI) AND the right side up (this applies to all sides, the other three sides being HONG ZHONG, BAI BAN and FA CAI)! Wah!

A small detail on the packaging caught my eyes too. Why does one say for ages 3 to adult and another, ages 8 to adult? Hmmm... Maybe, I am not smart enough to comprehend this. Made in China, where else? ;p

Tea with AK71: $1.20 Ice Kachang.

Recently, while chatting in LP's cbox, Isaac mentioned Ice Kachang at some food centre priced at $1.50 a bowl. Some said that's cheap and that Ice Kachang costs $2.00 or $2.50 these days. Really?

I said I like the Ice Kachang at Tiong Bahru Market.  It is only $1.20 a bowl! Where to find? Tian Tian Yuan Dessert Garden, Tiong Bahru Market. Haha.. I went there for a bowl of the said Ice Kachang this evening and took some photos with my trusty Samsung phone camera:

I like Tiong Bahru Market. It is bright, airy and clean. You get a glimpse of the market here in the background:

These are photos of the Ice Kachang after I have mixed it up. Some would eat up all the ice first but I can't do it. I would get severe brain freeze!

How many attap chee? Three! Quite generous, I feel. Of course, lots of corn and lots of chendol as well!

Feel like having an inexpensive dessert, Singapore style? You know where to go. :)

Courage Marine: A dividend of 0.71c per share.

On 18 January, Courage Marine gapped up as it opened at 22c. My overnight sell queue was filled as I reduced my exposure to the counter by half. At the time, I said "The BDI has already broken the previous low and it is yet unclear where the next low would be but with greater increase in bulk shipping capacity in the near future, upside could be limited as supply outstrips demand." Recently, the BDI has found another low and has turned up:

In its press release, Courage Marine's management said that "Based on the report from Deutsche Bank on Feb 9, 2011, the BDI may experience a possible turnaround from current low level and is expected to return to normal in 1 to 2 months’ time." I expect normal to mean 2,500 or so but that would still be a lower high. The future for bulk carriers looks difficult indeed if this were the case.

I also said that "I would hold on to see if price could go higher either through further developments in its plan to dual list in Hong Kong or through a possibly generous dividend payout." Well, a dividend of 0.71c per share has been declared. Not too spectacular although it represents a dividend payout ratio of 83% based on the net profit after tax.

What would I do now? Sell into strength, if the opportunity presents itself.

See press release here.

Related posts:
Courage Marine: Dual listing.
Courage Marine: Retreating to support.