Ben | Finance & Investing
Finance consultant; plain-English corporate and personal finance concepts, investing, and planning.
Survivors of 2000 Crash: Lessons for Today’s Market
Most of my clients are asking me the same question recently. Are we heading into another 2000? From March 2000, the Nasdaq spent more than a decade underwater. A trillion dollars evaporated. Almost none of them know what actually happened to the investors who survived it.
Fed Cuts Don’t Guarantee Bond Rallies, History Shows
For years, a familiar pitch has followed every Fed cut: rates are dropping, so bonds should rally. But history is a little messier than that. Bond outcomes do NOT move in a predictable manner just because the US Fed changes policy. Source:...
Patience and Diversification Beat Hype; No Shortcuts
Sorry your goals take decades. Sorry diversification means missing the moonshot stock your friend won’t shut up about. Sorry market timing hasn’t worked for anyone, no matter who promised you it would. Sorry the boring portfolio outpaces the exciting one over 30 years. Sorry...
Surround Yourself with High Performers, Reach MDRT
Look at the people you spend the most time with at work. That’s roughly where you’ll end up too. At Summit Planners’ Q2 kickoff, the numbers were shared. 13.4% of the advisory force already achieved MDRT in Q1 alone. By mid-year, we’re aiming...
Private‑Bank Tools Go Mainstream in 2026
Trust structures. Premium financing. Credit lines. Multi-currency custody. For most of the last 30 years, these instruments lived mainly inside a private bank. The shelf looks different in 2026.
US Estate Tax Applies Below $10M for Singapore Residents
$500K in US-listed shares across two brokerages. Tech professional, Singapore tax resident. He thinks his exposure to US estate tax starts at $10M, because that is the exemption he read about.
Silence Cost Siblings $1.8 Million in Lost Growth
$1.8 million. Sitting in a joint estate account for 2 years. 3 siblings. One dad, now gone. Nobody at the dinner table wanted to be the one to raise it. So nobody did. Here is what 2 years of silence actually cost them.
Five Funds Rarely Provide True Diversification
5 funds. That's what most clients are told is a diversified portfolio. 5 funds is almost never diversification. Open them up and you usually find the same 30 stocks repeated five ways.
Banks Promise Difference, Offer No Real Guidance
$4.2 million. Sitting in UOB savings account for 7 months. The family sold the landed property. 4 banks rang him in the same month. Every pitch opened with "we are different". None of them told him what to do on Monday morning. Here...
Training Consultants Hurts Now, Fuels Long‑term Profitability
We invest an obscene amount of resources, time, energy into training our financial consultants. Ask any organisation, they will tell you that it does not make financial sense. Why? In the short term, profitability takes a hit. Because if I’m here...
Hidden Costs Bleeding Portfolio Returns Over Three Years
3 years in. The portfolio still hadn't broken even. A consultant I've been coaching came to me wondering why. The funds were reasonable. The market had been fine. So the question was, where was the money going?
All Banks Claim Uniqueness, but Offer Identical Pitches
"Your property sale just cleared. 3 banks are calling this week." "Great. Any difference?" "Bank A says they're boutique. Bank B says they're personalised. Bank C says they're different." "And...?"
Even $400K Earners Need Work‑Life Balance
She's earning $400K a year. Top performer. 12-hour days. 8 years running. She came to me and said: "I want to stop this madness before the kids stop needing me." "Can I afford it?"
Millionaires' Private Conversations Defy Common Stereotypes
Nearly a decade of sitting across from millionaires. Hearing what they actually say when the door closes. Most of it doesn't match what people assume.
Even $1.2M Earners Question Leaving for Family
$1.2M combined income. Both professional executives. Both smart with money in most ways. She told me she wanted to leave her job. Spend more time with the kids before they got too old. "We can afford it. Right?"