Bonding time via a cycling excursion! What we can impart to our children in our cycling trip in relation to our financial journey 🥰

AI generated image of father and son cycling trip

I just went for a cycling trip with my son for breakfast this morning. While I had written previously about how my solo cycling trip relates to the similarities of our financial journey here (Turning the focus back to Health in MoneyandHealth's blog - How a cycling trip relates to our financial journey 😉), my post today is a bit different cos I cycled with my son and I wanted to write this morning's journey from the parental perspective here.

The added twist is my wife wanted our son to write a short journal about this morning's trip but he was lazy to do so, so I challenged him to see who can come up with a better one with Mama as the judge 😂

Whether you are a parent or just a beginner investor or an experienced financial expert, I hope U can find nuggets of gold in this short article and simple for my Primary school son's reading, enjoy! 🥰

Waiting at the traffic light to cross, obeying the rules and being watchful at all times

1) Foresight - Importance of looking ahead and anticipation

Throughout the trip, I kept telling my son to look ahead and look far to watch out for on-going pedestrian/cyclists or anticipate any obstacles lying in wait or uneven path ahead of us, so that we can plan our own reactions and avoid any accidents.

• Similarly in our financial investing path, it is important to look ahead to anticipate any resistance (E.g. previous stock price resistance or support price levels) or potential obstacles (E.g. upcoming earnings that may trigger drastic fall in stock price) that may lie in wait for us when we buy or sell.

2) Hindsight is perfect - But we cannot move forward by always looking backwards

In addition to looking ahead, I also had to remind my son that we also need to be watchful of overtaking traffic coming from our left or right or behind us so that we do not crash into them.

• While we should be aware of traffic behind us, hindsight is always perfect. So it is no use lamenting on we should have done this (E.g. sold when price hit a high before it drops) or not do that (E.g. try to buy at the lowest and end up catch the falling knife). Just as we cannot drive or cycle ahead by relying on the rear view mirror for hindsight; in investing, we also cannot rely solely on hindsight or history to buy and sell.

3) Rules based and right of way

Throughout our cycling trip, we also had to obey traffic light rules, pedestrian zebra crossing, i.e. stop when it is not our turn and only proceed when traffic is clear. Similarly, we should observe right of way, keep left and stick to our cycling path on the park connector as we cycled.

• In our investing journey, we should also know when to proceed and when to stop. As I have said before - When you are unsure or times are too volatile, not buying or selling is also an action we decide to take!

• Sticking to our path and investing thesis is also crucial (E.g. do not toggle from short term trading to long-term investing just so you can bluff yourself into not taking the stop loss! )

Any journey is long and lonely unless you enjoy it or have a companion, guidance along the way

4) Companionship and guidance

Today was the 1st time we cycled along this route to a new destination, and we didn't know what to expect, how tough it might be. It's boring and even scary to journey ahead and step into the unknown but it would be heartening to have a companion to chat with, and watch our backs. To put it in my son's words, he enjoyed my companionship throughout the journey and was much fun!

• Many investors would agree - Investing is a long and lonely journey. is As I have written here before too (My 10th Year Investing milestone: On stage as panelist for Diligence Investment Membership club meet-up(19 Jul 25) , I cannot emphasize the importance to have like-minded buddies or seniors (前辈) or a supportive community (Big shout out to our Diligence Wealth Club community 🥰 ) to buddy up to walk/cycle alongside us, bounce off ideas, share insights and stock ideas or check our blind spots!

The journey ahead may seem never-ending, uncertain, esp when U are tired or lost and don't know what to expect ahead, but never be afraid to take a break and enjoy the journey.

5) Enjoy the journey, learn from our mistakes and savour the wins

As we cycled, we reached the Punggol Coast-to-Coast park connector when it seemed like a never-ending route with no end in sight. I assured my son that so long as we persevere, we will oversome and reach our destination finally! As the Chinese saying - 千里之行，始于足下（translated as - Every journey of a thousand miles starts from the first step we take).

• Just as many of my friends are wondering how to take their first steps into the investing journey, my advice is always to start small but start NOW! The best time to start was yesterday, the next best is to start NOW! Don't regret to start late like me in my 30s!

The destination is as important as the journey, especially when we reached it through our hard work!

6) The destination is as important as the journey

When my son and I finally reached our destination (Punggol Coast Hawker Centre), it was especially sweet for us since it was the first time we CYCLED here and reached our destination through our own hard work (previously we usually came by MRT or car).

• Investing is a lifelong journey, it can sometimes get demoralising to see our portfolio go from Green Green to Bright Red due to whatever reasons (E.g Iran crisis, Covid-19 pandemic, Liberation Day tariffs, Asian Financial Crisis), but so long as we persevere, we will prevail!

  Just look at where the market is now? Not to mention the dividends earned along the way! Mind you, it will take years and decades for us to work on our financial journey and build up our portfolio but it WILL bear fruits for us in the long run!

• As mentioned in my Labour Day post (Happy Labour Day! Selling your hours for money vs Making your money labour for U? What's your choice?) - "If you don't try to make your money work HARDER for you, then you will HAVE TO work harder for the money until you die!"

Enjoying the fruits of our labour and rewarding ourselves

7) Rewarding ourselves - taking some profits off the table.

Time to reward ourselves with a sumptuous breakfast after the sweaty and long ride! This was also to rest and refuel us for the return leg back home!

• Do not be afraid to reward ourselves along the way or to take some profits off the table, be it to pamper ourselves with dividends collected over the years or give ourselves a treat from a tidy capital gains.

• Recently 1 of my friend - I.T asked me what she should do with her Singtel shares when she realised it had hit >$5 (she bought at $2.60+ years ago), as she was worried whether the price may drop. I shared with her my thought (NOT allowed to advise) - Ask herself if the current dividend yield at her buy price meets her investing thesis or target yield. If yes, and she doesn't need the money or have nowhere else to deploy, then can consider leaving it. But if she wants to take some profit now, then can always consider selling partial to collect some "dividends" upfront years in advance and to avoid the FOMO of losing out on the gains if she thinks the price may drop.

• Remember - We don't have to aim to be the biggest winner or make the most amount of monies in our investing journey, but we need to have resources, stamina and determination to complete the journey.

My MoneyandHealth's words of wisdom:

[Financial literacy and investing is a lifelong journey... By penning my thoughts above in real life experience, I hope to raise the financial mindfulness and personal finance knowledge that can be accumulated and compound to be transformative in our financial journey!

You may be a financial savvy expert who already know most of the pointers mentioned above, or you could be a money noob who could benefit from incorporating several of the above factors into your life. No matter what, I hope you have absorbed some nuggets of wisdom or at least gave you some food for thought as you embark on your own financial journey😁]

To your money and health,

Mr MoneyandHealth (Mr MH) 🥰

Disclaimer: The author is NOT endorsed by any companies mentioned above to write this post. The author may have been, is still vested, will be investing into several of the companies mentioned above. The above article is purely the author expressing his layman views and babbling nonsense, please forgive if it doesn't make sense. The above article is NOT financial advice, and NOT a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or REITs. Pls do your own due diligence and/or consult a qualified financial advisor before making any moves or taking any actions. Pls note that past performance or track records is not an indicator or guarantee of future performance or potential.