A blog on wealth and investing—with one aim: to be truly useful, even if just for one person.
There's this idea Elon Musk comes back to time and again—across interviews, talks, and off-the-cuff remarks—and it really stuck with me:
Not fame. Not fortune. Not trying to impress. Just... usefulness.
He's said many times that he never set out to build something "great." He just wanted to build something useful. And over the years, that simple mindset became his compass. Whether it's electric cars, rockets, social media, or AI, his guiding question is:
"Is this useful to humanity?"
He once described real work using a kind of physics analogy (and as a former aerospace engineer, I loved this):
"The area under the curve of total utility is: how useful have you been × how many people you've helped."
The more useful you are, to more people, over time—the more meaningful your work becomes. It's a simple and beautiful idea. And like most meaningful things, it's also really hard.
But it's worth striving for.
That idea hit me like a quiet thunderbolt. It made me stop and ask:
What am I doing that's actually useful? What's the area under my own utility curve? How many people have I been userful to?
In my day job, I try my best to support the people around me, hoping my work has been helpful and useful for the business, for my colleagues, ultimately for our clients. Meanwhile, investing has always been a deep passion of mine—something I genuinely love and want to spend the rest of my short life learning, doing and mastering.
So here I am, starting this blog.
Not because I have all the answers. Not because I've found some secret formula. Not because I need anyone's approval. But because a quiet voice keeps nudging me: Maybe this could be useful for more people out there - just one person, even. And that's enough.
And if writing here creates even a tiny bump on someone's utility curve—well, that feels like a good place to start.
Let's take a step back.
I've been thinking a lot about this idea of usefulness—not just in investing, but in life.
If you look around, the people we genuinely admire tend to have something in common: they make things better for others. Often quietly, sometimes dramatically, but always in a real and tangible way.
I think of my favourite teachers growing up. The ones who made you feel seen. Who explained things clearly, believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself, and didn't give up on you when you struggled. That's real usefulness.
Or doctors and nurses. People who spend their days—and often nights—helping others heal. They're not doing it for status. They do it because someone has to. And that matters.
Or engineers. The ones who quietly design the bridges we cross, the power systems we depend on, the tools we use every day without thinking. They're rarely in the spotlight—but their work makes the world safer, faster, better. That's usefulness, built into everyday life.
Or custodians and cleaners. The people who keep our schools, hospitals, and public spaces clean and safe. You may not notice them, but without them, everything stops. Their work is quiet, vital, and often taken for granted. That's usefulness, without applause.
also in business world, the most impactful and successful startups didn't just start with a fancy pitch deck and a dream of becoming unicorns. They started by asking:
What's broken? How can I help fix it?
Stripe made online payments simple. Google made knowledge accessible. Amazon made shopping easier. ChatGPT brought expert-level intelligence into everyday conversation. SpaceX might one day take us to Mars—making humanity multiplanetary for the first time. These are all usefulness at scale. And honestly, they deserve every bit of the enormous value they've created. Who wouldn't want to succeed and build wealth like that?
And if you look at politics and leadership, the ones who leave a legacy aren't the loudest or the most charismatic. They're the ones who showed up, did the hard work, and quietly made life better. Think of someone like Lee Kuan Yew. He didn't just change Singapore—he built it. That's usefulness, distilled.
So… what about investing?
At first glance, it might not seem like the most "useful" thing. You're not exactly performing surgery or building bridges. But I genuinely believe investing—done right—can be a deeply useful craft.
Take Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. Yes, they built extraordinary wealth. But more than that, they spent decades sharing their thinking with the world. Their letters, interviews, and even their casual remarks have helped millions (myself included) see the world more clearly, act more patiently, and make better decisions—both in markets and in life.
And zooming out, investing plays a bigger role than just moving numbers around. Venture capital, for example, helps turn raw ideas into world-changing companies. IPOs aren't just flashy headlines—they're what allow useful businesses to scale, hire, and grow sustainably. Somewhere behind every great product or service you use today, chances are, an investor took a leap of faith early on.
Of course, there's also the side of investing that's all noise and greed and speculation. Let's leave that aside for now.
Because while I fully understand how small I am in the grand scheme of things, maybe—just maybe—this blog can be a small act of usefulness too.
If I can help someone steer clear of a dodgy product…
Or give a friend the confidence to stay calm when markets are going haywire…
Or nudge just one reader to zoom out, think long-term, and invest with intention…
Well, that feels like a win. That feels useful to me.
And if you're wondering what real financial wisdom looks like in practice, take a look at Jason Zweig from The Wall Street Journal, or Morgan Housel from The Collaborative Fund or Howard Marks of Oaktree. Their writing has helped countless people—including me—stay grounded, clear-headed, and calm. That's usefulness in action.
So, what can you expect from this blog?
Think of it as part notebook, part guide, part quiet companion. Here's what I'll be writing about:
No hype. No fads. No shortcuts. No get-rich-quick ideas and schemes. Just reflections and ideas I hope will help you invest with a clear mind, protect your capital by avoiding big mistakes, and grow your and your family's hard-earned wealth over generations.
This blog isn't a business. There's nothing for sale here. It's just me, sharing what I believe, what I know—and being honest about what I don't.
If anything I write helps someone…
…then that's enough.
And if writing all this helps me think more clearly along the way? I'm pretty sure it will. That's a win for me too.
Your feedback, thoughts, or questions are always welcome. That's part of the usefulness loop, after all.
If you've made it this far—thank you.
In a world overflowing with flashy headlines and endless scrolling, the fact that you spent 5 or 6 minutes reading someone else's quiet thoughts? That tells me something. You're probably thoughtful, maybe a bit contrarian, and definitely not here to chase the next shiny thing. You're exactly who I'm writing for.
This blog won't be for everyone. And that's perfectly okay.
But if any of this resonates—if you've ever looked around at the financial world and thought, "There has to be a better, calmer, saner way to do this"—then I hope you'll stick around.
"The area under the curve of total utility is: how useful have you been to your fellow human beings × how many people." – Elon Musk
Think about the products, services, and more importantly people who've helped you and been useful for you—mentors, friends, maybe even strangers who shared a perspective that stuck. You can do the same. We all can.
Let's see if we can tilt that curve upward—for as long as we're lucky enough to be in the game.