You Probably Use Two or Three of the Seven Investing Styles Already. Here Is How to Tell
Value, growth, dividend, quality, index, momentum and contrarian, in plain words, with where each one meets your CPF, SRS and cash.
Two retirees in the same neighbourhood can both be investing sensibly and still disagree about what investing is. One buys a fund that tracks the market and seldom opens the statement, and the other reads every dividend announcement and notes each payment date. They are using two different styles, and most of us use two or three without ever having named them.
If you have invested for years, I think this will put names to things you already do. If you are only starting, it shows the choices in front of you before you commit any money. My husband described his approach to me recently as “buy the big ones and leave them alone”, and he was surprised that it has a name. I was a little surprised how many of the seven I use myself.
What This Piece Does
It describes seven investing styles in plain words, with the question each one asks and what the habit looks like in practice.
It explains why most investors use a mix of two or three styles, and gives six questions for finding yours.
It sets out where CPF, SRS and cash each suit or limit a style, and what a style cannot tell you.
This piece takes no view on share price direction. Nothing here is a recommendation.
This piece is free for everyone, and it stays with the styles themselves. Checking whether one particular holding fits a style, with the numbers behind it, is the work Iggy does in his full analysis on the channel and on Substack.
The Seven Styles at a Glance
The Four Styles Most Readers Will Recognise
Dividend investing: where does the payout come from?
Index investing: what are you choosing not to decide?
Quality investing: how do you tell a strong business from a familiar one?
Value investing: is the price low, or low for a reason?
Angela’s Observation
The Other Three: Growth, Momentum and Contrarian
Growth investing: what are you waiting for?
Momentum investing: what happens when it stops?
Contrarian investing: how do you know the crowd is wrong?
“But I Only Do One of These”
Where CPF, SRS and Cash Meet These Styles
CPF Ordinary Account money
SRS money
Cash
Angela’s Observation
What a Style Does Not Tell You