Category: Thoughts On Investing

Some Thoughts on My Investment Philosophy

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For people who invest, their investment actions are usually guided by a philosophy of which investors themselves are consciously or unconsciously aware. It is like asking yourself to list out all items that are in your wallet now; unless you take a pause, open your wallet, one is usually not fully aware of what is in there. Similarly, it is a tall task to give a full answer to one’s investment philosophy. So, this blog piece is not meant to be a complete account, nor final or conclusive. As time goes by, as I age and gain more experience, I will likely abandon some beliefs that are stated below and form some that are new.

I first traded stocks when I was under 20 — I bought an A-share company listed in Shenzhen. Since then, I have invested in A-shares, Hong Kong–listed stocks, U.S. stocks, bonds, funds, real estates and other types of assets and financial contracts.

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A Decade of Inequality: Has the Booming Stock Market Benefited All?

Jackson Zhu1 Comment

My wife and I decided not to go anywhere on New Year’s Day. Instead, we spent the day at home. Bored, I decided to devote my first day of this new decade to examining something interesting of the past decade. One of the most distinctive features of the 2010s was America’s roaring stock market, which now is the longest bull market in history. Including dividends, $1 invested in the S&P 500 Index — a basket of some 500 companies — has turned into $3.6, a whopping 13.6% annualized rate of return. The stunning performance of America’s stock market invites the arrival of a very logical conclusion: over the past decade, American companies and people have fared well.

However, this rosy image does not square with reality. For the 19 years from 1999 to 2018, real median household income in the U.S. has only grown at 0.14% a year; from 2007 to 2018, the pace was only 0.32% a year.

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The Power of Writing & Reading

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[The body of this piece was written by me in December 2018]

When I was still living with my parents, I used to read almost all the newspapers and magazines my parents subscribed.  In college, I served a leadership role with the university’s reading club.  Later at Yale University, forced by the teaching environment and enlightened by some elective courses that I chose to take, I discovered that I have a real passion for not only reading but also writing.

As I write more and more, gradually, I started to realize that writing has some kind of “superpower” with it.  It is intangible and difficult to describe.  But let me make an attempt here.

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Searching for the Path to Professional Excellence

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As an MBA student, I admire successful bankers, consultants and asset managers and more importantly I admire the organizations that they lead. I hope that one day I will do something as great as they have. Yet sometimes I struggle to understand what it takes to be there – why are these organizations so successful? What are the traits that they uniquely possess? How have they managed their business and their people? Or simply put, how have these organizations achieved “Professional Excellence”?

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What does Uber gain by entering China?

Jackson Zhu3 Comments

Before leaving Hong Kong for graduate school, I spent some time in Shenzhen helping a friend with their startup. Every morning, I commuted to Shenzhen from Hong Kong and at around 9 am I would try to hail a taxi on the street, but morning was the time when it was impossible to hail a taxi by just standing there. The only way to get a taxi or a private car was through a mobile transportation app. This is why millions of consumers in China, including me, use Didi and Uber.

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