What can the small ant teach us about investing for the future? (Sunday Message by Calvin Tan)

calvintaneng

Publish date: Sun, 09 Oct 2016, 02:46 PM

God made animals for us to learn from them, and not for them to learn from us.

Proverbs 30
24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.

Proverbs 6: 6 -11 (KJV):

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

7Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

8Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

9How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

11So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

These are the lessons from the ant

1. Ants are among the smallest of creatures yet they are exceedingly wise. So small yet ants have survived while many gone extinct. How did they do it?

Because they are very smart & very clever or "exceedingly wise".

2. So the Bible tells us sluggard or very lazy fellas to "Go to the ant and consider her ways, and be wise"

See how Isaac Watts wrote:

The Sluggard

'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain,
"You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again."
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Turns his sides and his shoulders and his heavy head.

"A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;"
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number,
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.

I pass'd by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher;
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find
That he took better care for improving his mind:
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking;
But scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me,"
This man's but a picture of what I might be:
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,

Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.

3. Which having no guide, overseer or ruler.

The ants are a social group of creatures just like the bees. They don't have a leader or Alpha Male like the lion, wolf or other animals. No one to guide them. No one to check up on them. And no one to rule over them. Each ant is fully independent and well disciplined. No one play truant or "ciak chua" (eat snake) or steal time from employers.

4. Provides her meat in the summer. Gathers her food in the harvest.

The ants anticipate winter while summer is still on. So they store up in good times to prepare for bad times.

In summer while the ants worked hard to gather for the coming winter, the butterfly dances from flower to flower without a trace of care for the future. At the first froze of winter all the butterflies died. Only the ants survived in their nest with a well stored larder.

5. "So shall your poverty comes as one who travels and your lack like a soldier".

Those who travel through life flippantly without thinking of wealth accumulation & like a soldier who has to depend on ration in the war zone.

Today, many are spending like no tomorrow. The little savings in EPF cannot cover retirement expenses after the ravages of future inflation. Do you think the BRIM ration or they called "dedak" can feed you well in retirement?

So those who invest wisely will have a better retirement like the ant.

And now for the practical appications to real life.

The ants are hard working and diligent. No need external force to control, guide or direct them.

They work collectly as one organisation. The survival of one and the survival of all is the same. They all gather food from every where. The leaf cutter ants even learn to grow food like farmers.

The ants form long lines to their food source. And when they meet each other head on they stop and greet each other through their antennae (later called radio). As ants are blind this is the excellent method of gathering information: information of food source, imminent danger or other important information.

This social networking is how my Johor Sifu told me how he discovered 3A stock through other i3 Investors' Forum members. So he loaded up 1 million shares of 3A between 90 cts to Rm1.00

He sold all at above Rm1.30 & made over Rm300,000

So he told me not to waste time answering or quarelling with every Tom, Dick or Harry to little purpose.

The productive thing to do is like the ant. Since i3 Forum members are from all over Malaysia & some have traveled to far flung places. Also some with a wealth of life long valuable experiences to share. Some work in Listed Companies. Or have close friends working in listed companies. All these are other vital information could and should be shared in a cooperative manner among fellow i3 Forum members.

See, if fellow Forums can tell us more about Penang, Sarawak or Sabah. Calvin offers glimpses of Iskandar as he travels there every week. So sharing information here is a form of net working.

This networking will be very productive for information gathering. See the word radio or "antennae" came from the root word "ant". Today this radio wave and now www (world wide web) has helped us to gather information or spread information right in the living room of my apartment in Singapore!

Yes,

Dear Friends of i3 Forum.

Calvin wishes all peace and harmony like the lesson from the ant.

Note: sometimes ant also warn other ants of coming danger. This is needed in case ant eaters appear.

Have a nice day

Warmest regards

Calvin Tan

Jurong West, Singapore

Discussions

Be the first to like this. Showing 15 of 15 comments

choop818

Calvin, what will the ant store in anticipation of very hard times? What will it concentrate on? What will be its first choice for a safe haven, will it be in bonds, shares, real estate, commodities or currency (local or foreign)? Joseph in biblical times advised the Pharaoh to store grain, what should we store in present times?

2016-10-09 16:37

calvintaneng

choop818
Before the advent of QE OR KEYNEYSIAN PUMP PRIMING, the Safest Form of Defense was just Cash - Pure Cash, as advocated by Robert Prechter in his book called CONQUER THE CRASH.

That was true in 1929, 1997/8, 2007/8 in all those market crashes CASH WAS KING. Austrian School of Thought was correct then.

Times have changed now that Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen have embraced the Keynesian theory of John Maynard Keynes and Paul Krugman.

I do not think Cash is now king anymore. As the new fangled peril now is the Printing Machine. So With Endless QE Cash itself is now in danger of dilution.

As the future is unknown Dr Marc Faber advises holding 4 classes of investment in 25% proportion each - Shares, Gold, Bond (or cash) and real estate.
This is capital protection at its best, according to Dr Marc.

What is Calvin's position?

I agree with Warren Buffet that gold is a non productive commodity. Bond is too dull for me. A cash buffer of at least 6 months should be reserved for emergencies. A little real physical gold as a form of insurance is ok as gold has store of value and portable. In 1975 Vietnamese boat people made their escape with physical gold only.

For real estate I think the very best is in Iskandar low cost house, single storey houses, double storey landed houses below Rm400,000. Only Apartment to buy is Rm200k and below. These apartments give a rental yield of 6 to 8% with capital aprreciation of 4%.

Landed houses now give a rental yield of 5% to 6% plus capital gain of around 6% yearly.

So at minimum 10% overall yield I find them Rock Solid as a class.

The 2 group of investment would be a basket of highly defensive shares like utility, health care, education, consumer stables (not consumer discretionary), and also construction stocks which will benefit from Govt pump priming.

Will the market eventually crash like TTB of ICapbiz predicted?
Only God knows. However, John Maynard Keynes' WAY TO WEALTH already show us that his 2 funds survived the great depression pretty well.

So I think the danger today is not so much another huge crash. The fear is men panicked into cash. And cash itself is slowly steadily being eroded by the relentless printing of fiat money which eventually destroy all the remaining value of paper money.

2016-10-09 17:33

choop818

Calvin, thanks for your quick response. Safe haven in cash will depend on public preference. Mr. Pretcher was obviously refering to USD. If there is a migration (currently happening) to USD stocks/cash, our own currency may be in jeopardy with the outflow. Investment/speculation in shares still holds the highest attraction because of its volatility - it can make you rich or poor in an instant. In the local context, it will be a dream situation for cash rich companies like ICap.

2016-10-09 18:42

newb1995

Calvin, are u lecturer?

2016-10-09 18:47

calvintaneng

Posted by newb1995 > Oct 9, 2016 06:47 PM | Report Abuse

Calvin, are u lecturer?

Yes, long ago.

2016-10-09 18:58

newb1995

Calvin si fu, my friend recommend me to buy steel related stock, is it good to enter now?

2016-10-09 19:00

calvintaneng

newb1995 Calvin si fu, my friend recommend me to buy steel related stock, is it good to enter now?
09/10/2016 19:00

Steel is still good. Try to buy on pull back on days of weakness

2016-10-09 19:03

newb1995

Thanks Calvin si fu, mind to share which steel stock u recommend?

2016-10-09 19:32

calvintaneng

Long steel stocks that will benefit from MRT job orders like Anjoo, SSteel & Masteel.

The hype over flat steel is only temporary due to market captured from mega steel losses.

But try to buy only on market weakness.Avoid day trading.

2016-10-09 19:37

newb1995

Cscsteel good to buy?

2016-10-09 19:39

calvintaneng

Newb1995

Take a look at Cscteel products

Business Background
CSC Steel Holdings Berhad is engaged in the investment holding and provision of management services. The Company's operating divisions include cold rolled and galvanised steel products, investment holding and others. Its products include hot-rolled pickled and oiled steels, cold-rolled steels, hot-dipped galvanized steels and pre-painted galvanized steels (PPGIs). Its hot-rolled pickled and oil steels are applied in automotive wheels, strapping, tubing, racks and automotive inner stamping parts. Its cold-rolled steels are applied in electrical and electronic appliances, drums, steel pipes, automobile parts and office furniture. Its hot-dipped galvanized steels are applied in PPGI substrate, ceiling tee strips, door and window frames, steel nails, steel decks, trunks, trusses, home appliance casings, filter frames, expanded metals, satellite panels and microwave oven inner parts.

Application of products:

Automotive wheels (Is New Car Sales OK?)
Electrical and electronic appliances
Drums
Racks
Window frames
Steel nails
microwave ovens inner parts
Others

These are all consumer discretionary stocks. It depends on the health of the world economy.

Now people like TTB of Icapboz thinks that world is entering great depression again. So all these products will have less demand

I cannot predict what's going to happen to world markets.

I think Long Steel that depends on Local MRT. LRT & Infrar works will be more certain.

In any case both long steel and flat steel have already run up so much in prices. So I am not longer bullish on them

I still like BPuri above them all as I think Bpuri is a great buy now.

2016-10-09 19:51

calvintaneng

http://bonescythe.blogspot.sg/2015/09/bina-puri-hot-bargain.html

2016-10-09 21:09

新鸟

到底是乌鸦还是老鹰？小心这只喜欢误导人的乌鸦。

2016-10-09 21:58

calvintaneng

calvintaneng And for Projects Awarded for Year 2016 the results will show up in the Balance Sheet for 31 December 2017.

And More:

Since Malaysia's GE is coming soon there will be more project awards for BPuri as it is Govt Linked. See Pm Najib gave lots of projects to GKent & GKent shares have more than doubled in price by now.

Both UMNO & MCA Companies will need cash for the coming GE - latest by year 2018.

And read carefully the words of BPuri's Matthew Tee:

Bina Puri Holdings Bhd executive director Matthew Tee Kai Woon is of the view that Budget 2017 will be positive for construction firms, with more contracts to be awarded in the final quarter of this year.

“The immediate one will be MRT2 and LRT3, followed by the Sabah section of Pan Borneo Highway next year,” he commented.

Tee also advised investors to start looking at construction stocks, because they are the prime beneficiaries of mega infrastructure projects.

“It should be a good year for us. If the oil price rebounds, there will be a lot of oil and gas projects that require general works from us,” he further said.

NOTE:

1) BUDGET 2017 WILL BE POSITIVE FOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
2) MORE CONTRACTS TO BE AWARDED IN THE FINAL QUARTER OF THIS YEAR
3) IMMEDIATE ONE WILL BE MRT2 and MRT3
4) FOLLOWED BY PAN BORNEO HIGHWAY NEXT YEAR (Bpuri with CMSB already secured Sarawak side. Now Brunei & Sabah portion coming soon)
5) HE ALSO ADVISED INVESTORS TO START LOOKING AT CONSTRUCTION STOCKS
6) BECAUSE THEY ARE PRIME BENEFICIARIES OF MEGA INFRARSTRUCTURE PROJECTS
7) IT SHOULD BE A GOOD YEAR FOR US (BPURI)
8) IF OIL PRICE REBOUNDS, THERE WILL BE A LOT OF OIL AND GAS PROJECTS THAT REQUIRE GENERAL WORKS FROM US

AND FURTHER NOTE: BPURI's SUBSTANTIAL SHARE HOLDERS IS MMC'S BOSS. Although he is holding BPuri Shares in private capacity I think if BPuri needs help MMC will definitely be there.

ALL THE SALIENT FACTORS POINT TO A VERY POSITIVE TIME AHEAD FOR BPURI

BPURI - AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME!

2016-10-10 00:14

choop818

Calvin, at this point in time, your humble ant should be your role model, to store rather than to splash. Investors should be advised that any investments should be on short term basis only. It will be crazy to go long now as a drastic reversal is expected to happen soon.

2016-10-10 01:00

Featured Posts

MQ Trader

Introducing MY's First IPO Fund for Sophisticated Investors!

MQ Chat

New Update. Discover investment communities that resonate with your ideas

MQ Trader

M & A Value Partners IPO Equity Fund has been launched - Targeted 13% Return p.a

Latest Videos