{"id":6141,"date":"2021-02-07T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T01:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2021-02-25T16:58:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T08:58:24","slug":"5-questions-withchong-ser-jing-co-founder-portfolio-manager-of-the-compounder-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/5-questions-withchong-ser-jing-co-founder-portfolio-manager-of-the-compounder-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions With\u2026Chong Ser Jing, Co-Founder & Portfolio Manager Of The Compounder Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chong Ser Jing<\/a> knows a lot about investing. A former full-timer writer and analyst at The Motley Fool Singapore, a stock-centric website that previously had a strong presence in Singapore<\/a>, Ser Jing and his colleague Jeremy Chia at The Motley Fool Singapore went on to start their own investment blog \u2013 The Good Investor<\/a> – after the closure of The Motley Fool Singapore. Similar to The Motley Fool Singapore, The Good Investor has proven to be a popular hit among investors in Singapore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the investment\narticles that he writes, Ser Jing is well-known in Singapore\u2019s investment\nspace. However, fewer people know that Ser Jing and Jeremy also started their\nown investment fund for accredited\ninvestors in Singapore called Compounder\nFund<\/a>. This makes\nthem somewhat unique because while many fund managers are usually employed by\nfinancial institutions, Ser Jing is not just a fund manager, but can also be\nthought of as an entrepreneur.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this edition of 5 Questions With\u2026, we talk to Ser Jing on how it\u2019s being responsible for investing on behalf of other investors, how he got started in this extremely competitive industry, and how his daily routine is like as a fund manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>Putting Passion On Paper: Founder of Papercranes Design, Aerilynn Tan, On the Challenges of Being a Solopreneur<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy Ho (Timothy): Many people are always curious about how it\u2019s like being a fund manager. How much time do you spend analysing stocks before investing in them? Also, how are the hours like working as a fund manager, and when you meet your clients, is it similar to what we see in The Wolf of Wall Street? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chong Ser Jing (Ser Jing):<\/strong> The time I spend to analyse a\ncompany before I make an investment decision on its shares varies widely. It\ncan be a few days to a few months, depending on the complexity of the business\nand how much prior-knowledge I already have about the type of business that the\ncompany is in. In fact, even for the ones where I can make a decision in only a\nfew days, it\u2019s because of the knowledge I\u2019ve accumulated through all the years\nI\u2019ve been investing. This is one of the beautiful things about long-term investing\u2013\nthe compounding of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A regular day for me involves a\nshort meditation session, a quick workout, and a lot of reading and writing\n(the writing is for the investment theses for the companies Compounder Fund\nholds, or for The Good Investors). Interspersed throughout a typical week are\ncoffees\/meals with friends, family, and prospective\/current investors of my\nfund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never watched The Wolf of Wall\nStreet (I don\u2019t enjoy movies about conmen deriving joy from conning people),\nbut I think you\u2019re probably referring to meetings with investors over expensive\ndrinks and fancy dinners. No, my meetings with investors are the entire\nopposite! We hold a lot of video-calls. For in-person meetings, it\u2019s typically\nover a quiet coffee. During the meetings, Jeremy (my co-founder) and I spend\ntime sharing our mission for the fund \u2013 why we built it, and what we want to\naccomplish. We also spend time sharing exactly how the fund invests, and\nunderstanding the investor as a person. We do so to increase the odds that the\ninvestors we do take on are well-aligned with what we aim to accomplish for the\nfund. Investing is one of my passions and I consider it a hobby I love deeply.\nI invest for the intellectual challenge, and simply because I can help improve\nthe financial health of others. My hours involved in investing in a day are\nlong, but not because I\u2019m glued to the trading screen \u2013 I don\u2019t check prices\noften. It\u2019s long because my mind is constantly thinking about investing-related\ntopics, and about what makes certain companies tick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also enjoy reading books and I often read books that are closely related to my professional work as a fund manager \u2013 is that considered work, or is that enjoyment? I find that to be enjoyment! But if someone thinks of it as work, then they can add those long reading hours to my \u201cworking\u201d hours too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy: Most funds are usually\ncreated and operated by financial institutions. This is also because as a\nfinancial institution, it\u2019s easier to attract investors. How did you manage to\nget the investors needed when you first start this fund?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ser Jing:<\/strong> Jeremy and I are incredibly\nblessed. We had set a modest target for ourselves when Compounder Fund did its\nfirst-ever fund-raising, and we exceeded the target by 3x! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early investors in the fund came\nfrom four groups: Family; friends; members of The Motley Fool Singapore\u2019s\ninvestment newsletter services; and individuals who heard about us through word\nof mouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people helped us along the way\nand we\u2019re grateful for their tremendous support. Jeremy and I are also thankful\nthat we\u2019ve had exposure to the investing community in Singapore due to our work\nwith Fool Singapore in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy: Share with us a couple of common\nmisconceptions that you think people have about how it\u2019s like being a fund\nmanager?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ser Jing:<\/strong> I can think of 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, that I have to stay up late\nat night monitoring the US markets since my fund has US-listed shares. I don\u2019t\nmonitor the markets at all. Because we\u2019re long-term investors that aim to find\ngreat companies and hold their shares for the long run, I spend my time\nthinking about business developments and the quality of a company\u2019s management\nteams. I can do these things during the day so there\u2019s no need for me to stay\nup late at night monitoring the markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, that I have to know about\npolitical developments and the state of the global economy. I don\u2019t spend any\ntime at all thinking about such things because I know that I don\u2019t know these\nissues well, and that they don\u2019t matter at all for the way I invest. I\u2019m just\ninterested in finding great companies, so that\u2019s where I focus my\nknowledge-gathering on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim: What are 2 investment books\n(only!) that you think anyone who wants to get started on investing needs to\nread?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ser Jing:<\/strong> The first is\u201cThinking, Fast\nand Slow\u201d by Daniel Kahneman. This is a book on behavioural psychology, which\nis a field of study on how our minds often engage in non-rational behavior. I\nbelieve that having the right behaviour while investing in stocks is far <\/em>more\nimportant than knowing how to analyse a company. \u201cThinking, Fast and Slow\u201d\nhelps us to understand how our minds can trip us up and cause us to exhibit bad\ninvesting behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book 2:<\/strong> The second book is \u201cOne Up on Wall Street\u201d by\nPeter Lynch. Lynch is one of my investing heroes and the book is about his\nexperience running the Fidelity Magellan Fund during his tenure (1977-1990).\nIt\u2019s a fantastic book on how one of the most successful fund managers of all\ntime did it, how he analyses companies, what he pays attention to, and most\nimportantly, the investing behaviours he exhibited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim: Many finance undergraduates\nthat I talk to always dream about wanting to be a fund manager. What is 1\ncareer advice that you would share with these students who aspire to be a fund\nmanager when they grow up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ser Jing:<\/strong> There are many, many <\/em>different\nways to profit in the financial markets. Find out what works for you. And don\u2019t\ntry to be a version of somebody else \u2013 just be yourself. And lastly, do it\nbecause you genuinely enjoy it and can help others, and not for selfish\nmonetary reasons \u2013 life will be so much more meaningful and fulfilling this\nway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lastly, do it because you genuinely enjoy it and can help others, and not for selfish monetary reasons \u2013 life will be so much more meaningful and fulfilling this way.<\/p>Chong Ser Jing<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>5 Questions With\u2026Kenneth Lou, Co-Founder & CEO of Seedly<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How is it like being a fund manager? 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