The DOLLAR SAPLING

The Dollar Sapling was created as a platform to share my personal experience in investing and personal finance. While money may not grow on trees, it can most certainly grow like trees. With proper resources (water and nutrients), diligence (oxygen) and a positive environment (sunlight), anyone can learn to manage their finances and learn to grow their savings.

Adulting is a daunting transition and gaining a foothold of one’s finances can seem like an impossible uphill task. This is something that everyone my age can empathise with given that essential personal finance topics such as insurance, CPF, credit cards, loans and investing are not part of school curriculum. As a firm believer that financial management is an essential skill, I created this website with the aim of helping anyone who wishes to learn.

This website will not help you get-rich-quick but it is my wish that it can help you kickstart your lifelong journey to financial independence by improving your financial literacy, much like how fertilisers help saplings grow better.

The author

My name is CTKS and I love to talk about everything finance and economics related. I was first introduced to investing by my father when I was in Secondary school and was immediately intrigued by the idea of making your money work for you. However, I did not act on it due to the lack of time and the seemingly steep learning curve. As I entered Junior College and began to take more control of my finances (when I had my own debit card and savings account), I wanted to grow my savings for the future. On my 18th birthday, I asked to open a brokerage account and I am now on my lifelong journey towards financial independence and ultimately financial freedom. I was fortunate that I had my father to guide me and he has been my biggest influence.

While many may consider growth and value investing two separate philosophies, I find that they are not mutually exclusive. I adopt a “hybrid” approach to investing as I like to buy businesses with great growth prospects when they are cheap. This approach is borrowed from the likes of many legendary investors such as Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch.

My goal is to build up my portfolio when I am young and let compound interest do its work. It is my dream to attain financial independence by 40. I hope that my experiences and reflections can benefit you or motivate you to embark on your journey if you have not done so.