Most people know Chloe Lin as the founder of Arigato Investor, a website that shares lessons on investing and financial wellness. But before she was a full-time investor and speaker travelling the world with her boyfriend, Chloe’s financial journey began in a frugal manner, raised by her grandmother, a woman whom as Chloe puts it, would “reused plastic bags, watered down soap to make it last longer, and would think thrice before spending even a single dollar.”
“I absorbed that mindset of frugality from a young age,” Chloe shares. “Even after I started working, I never bought luxury items or dined out unnecessarily. That helped me save quite a bit early on.”
But while those values laid the foundation for a strong savings habit, they also masked a deeper anxiety — a fear of not having enough.
That fear became real when her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, was retrenched at 50. Chloe had just graduated from university, and the security she thought she had quickly felt fragile. “That moment shook me,” she recalls. “It made me realise how uncertain life can be, even if you work hard all your life. Saving alone wasn’t enough.”
Learning To Invest (The Hard Way)
Motivated to take charge of her finances, Chloe turned to investing.
But like many beginners, she started with the wrong foot forward, chasing stock tips, following hype, and enduring the emotional rollercoaster of red portfolios. Worse still, she entrusted her savings to her then-boyfriend, who lost a significant amount through speculative trades.
“It crushed me, both financially and emotionally. But it was also my wake-up call,” she says. “I realised I could no longer afford to outsource my financial future. I had to learn to do this myself.”
So Chloe immersed herself in investing courses. But she soon discovered that knowledge wasn’t enough. “Investing isn’t just theory, it’s also an emotional journey. What seems simple in a textbook becomes a lot harder when your actual money is on the line.”
Eventually, Chloe found her footing through ETF investing. “It gave me peace of mind. No need to pick stocks or time the market.” When she paired ETFs with options strategies, she discovered a consistent way to generate monthly income, and more importantly, make her confident.
Investing Beyond the Numbers
Beyond financial returns, Chloe also made a habit of investing in herself. One of her most memorable decisions? Flying to Omaha for the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting.
“Being in the same room as Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, it was magical,” she recalls. “You’re surrounded by tens of thousands of people who are there not to speculate, but to learn and compound their knowledge.”
Attending the AGM yearly has become more than an investor’s pilgrimage — it’s Chloe’s way of reconnecting with her values. “It reminds me that wealth isn’t just about money. It’s about character, integrity, and patience.”
In fact, Chloe sees investing as a deeply human act. “You don’t need to be good at maths to invest. What matters most is your temperament. You need discipline, patience and emotional resilience.”
Breaking Misconceptions, Especially For Women
A recurring theme in Chloe’s story is empowerment, especially for women. “Too many women tell themselves, ‘I’m not good at numbers, investing isn’t for me.’ I used to believe that too,” she says. “But that’s just not true.”
Chloe’s background isn’t in finance; she studied communications at NTU. But through persistence and practice, she has built a million-dollar portfolio, created content for a growing online community and coached others to take control of their money.
“You don’t need to hand over your financial power to someone else. In fact, it’s one of the worst mistakes I made,” she says candidly. “Taking ownership of your finances builds not just wealth, but confidence. And when women are confident, everything changes. Their relationships, careers and choices.”
Learning To Live, Not Just Save
Despite her success, Chloe admits that learning to enjoy life has been a more recent lesson.
“Even after building a sizeable portfolio, I felt guilty spending on anything unnecessary. The fear of ‘what if’ was always there.”
It took a heartfelt conversation with her father, the same man whose retrenchment first triggered her investing journey, to shift her mindset. “He said, ‘If you don’t spend and enjoy life, what’s the point of all this money?’ That really hit me.”
Today, Chloe continues to invest consistently through dollar-cost averaging into ETFs, a strategy she says is “simple, stress-free, and powerful.” However, she also makes time to enjoy the present, such as the six-month road trip across the U.S. and Canada that she is currently on.
“Money should give us freedom, not fear. I still plan for the future, but I’m learning to live fully, and that’s the best return of all.”
Read the other articles in our #everydayinvestor series:
Patience Over Profits: Hazelle Soon Shares Why It Pays To Think Long-Term As An #EveryDayInvestor
Why Jeraldine Phneah Believes That Every Millennial Needs To Care About Their Investment Journey
How This Full-Time University Student Finds Time To Study, Work, Invest & Go To The Gym Regularly
Meet Gavin Tan, A 21-Year-Old NSF Who Has Invested In More Than 20 Stocks Since Starting His Investment JourneyFrom Overseas Travel To Overseas Stocks:
Yasmine Khater Shares How She Went From Living A YOLO Lifestyle To Becoming A Confident Investor
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