Sea turtles and minority retail investors

The life of a sea turtle is hard.

Even before it’s hatched, most of the hundred of eggs that were laid will be eaten by opportunistic seagulls…

After it’s hatched, the young sea turtle hatchlings instinctively do a reverse Normandy invasion – make a mad rush to the waters!

Along the way, many more will fall prey to the crabs, lizards, dogs, foxes, more shorebirds, you name it!

This is the most dangerous phase of a sea turtle’s life.

The few that finally got into the ocean will have to face more under water predators like small marine mammals...

It’s said that less than 10% of the eggs that were laid will survive their first year.

As the young sea turtle feeds and grow in size, the less natural predators it will face. A fully grown sea turtle can only be threatened by the bigger sharks - like the tiger sharks. You need strong teeth to chew through the shell!

Only by braving and surviving all these dangers that an adult sea turtle will earn the “right” to mate and lay new eggs for the next generation of hatchlings.

A sea turtle never have the luxury of feeling “safe”.

But that’s about wild sea turtles.

Imagine some bleeding hearts animal lovers bring the turtle eggs home, incubate them, hatch them, feed them, treated them like pets…  

After several generations, can these “domesticated” sea turtles ever return to the wild?

(By the way, you may have to watch that some of these bleeding hearts are not operating a sea turtle farm in disguise!)

Which kind of minority retail investor do you prefer to be?

Minority shareholders – what about your duties and obligations?

I can’t help be amazed at the way some retail “investors” sometimes mistake owning a few shares of a listed company as if they really “own” the business.

All this talk about aligning the management’s compensation with shareholders interests… How the laws and regulations can be better improved to “protect” minority shareholders, etc…

I guess calling myself a speculator makes life a lot easier for me. And my trading cousins must be smiling at me and giving me a high five! What matters to us is how much skin we bring to the game, and when we leave the table, whether our pockets are flushed with more cash than we entered the game!?

Come on! Let’s admit it. We are all greedy “freeloaders” when we “invest” in a listed company.

We part with our money, and in exchange for doing absolutely nothing, we either:

a)   Hope to make a capital gain by selling our shares to a greater fool out there. (If you think the price will go higher why are you selling?)

b)   Or like a leech, we just want the get the regular “ang pows” (dividends) every year from your “investment”. We see our penny invested as bigger than a bullock cart’s wheel!

I won’t talk about your minority shareholders’ rights. You know them better than me. I just would like to gently point out:

1. Where were you when Management has decided to “downsize” 5% of the workforce in order to meet your incessant demands to show earnings growth?

2. What about the employees’ benefits and rights when you applaud management’s wise decision to “outsource” non-critical business activities?  

3. Have you ever once considered the environment impact and whether child labour was employed by the units outside the shores of Singapore? Far from our prying eyes?

4. Did you notice that most top management teams have only a token number of female executives? How about the Board members? You only question about their “independence”; but never wonder why so few female Board of Directors?

5. How about the quality of the products and services of the listed companies you own? Did you ever ask during the AGM how the customer experience can be improved? Or were you only interested on the buffet spread? 

I can go and go – like the energizer bunny. But you get the picture. It’s all about me, me, me!

Me? I am an equities man-whore. I’m in it for the money. (I never said I was a saint!)

I employ a “don’t ask; don’t tell” policy.

Hey lady! No kissing on the lips 

被動 - 伍佰 and 蘇慧倫

This song is dedicated to a flawed tulip friend and her partner in crime.