14 learnings on life and investing from my recent climb of Mt Kinabalu (4,095m)

Countless parallels to life, relationships, business and investing.

1 | Hiking is a marathon, not a sprint. It is about finishing. Whether or not you finish first or last it doesn’t matter, as long as you finish. There are no gold medals for the fastest, and only rescue for those who don’t. It only matters as long as you finish, and that you remain safe when you finish. Safety first, go slow.

It is the same with investing. Never be permanently wiped out, avoid all unlimited downside trades, and then you can focus on making asymmetric bets with unlimited upside, and that’s when the alpha is generated.

2 | As you hike and take every single step, be present, enjoy every moment, every step you make, and every breath you take. feel the majestic grandeur of the nature around you.

Enjoy the journey, learn about businesses, investing, and life. Keep learning, keep growing, keep being curious and enjoy every moment.

3 | I was in awe out the scale of the human labour require for the entire operations. We saw numerous porters carrying up 20-40+ kg of fresh water, food, furniture, equipment for the lodge where we stayed at. There were also a number of porters who carried up luggage for some climbers as well. Without them, the support, the ecosystem, none of these would have been possible for us to experience the climb.

It is ever easier than ever to get data, but we cannot be lazy. We need to learn to appreciate the ecosystem and what we have now with the internet, versus 50 years old with libraries and faxes. Use them to your advantage. Easily available does not mean everyone will actually read them. Do not confuse it.

4 | We had a fantastic mountain guide who was one of the oldest and fittest at 52 years and he has been doing it over 32 years old since he was 20 years old. He still does this three times a week and will retire next year. He was leading us in our walk through easier path with such a controlled and comfortable pace, like he is meditating. Without him, it would have been so much more difficult. Having the right leader to help guide you really matters.

Having the right mentors, the right people around you matters. They can have the right expertise, experience to share that can help you in your journey to become better and to avoid the pitfalls.

5 | The pace is what matters for everyone in your group to finish, the speed doesn’t matter if you cannot all finish in the end.

In investing too, it is not about seeking hyper-growth and unrealistically high returns. It is not a get rich quick game, but a get rich slow game.

6 | When ascending up and descending back down, it is not an individual effort but a collective team effort. The company matters. Without the right company to support you mentally on every step of the way makes so much of a difference, everyone has a role to play.

Like in investing, there are going to be ups and downs. The right people/investors to stand by you matters, and not run away at the first sight of trouble. Choosing carefully the right team to the best of your ability matters.

7 | Sometimes a member of your team is not going to be feeling very well or can be injured, it is being prepared and bringing along extra supplies, medical or food, and continuously supporting them with what you have physically and mentally. Remember that if they can’t finish, you can’t finish.

Know that the businesses that we invest in are not going to do well all the time, it is not going to be a straight line. There are going to be ups and downs, and they will zig and zag from time to time. We need to have the patience to stand by them through difficult times, and the good times, and not sell them.

8 | Run your own race at your own pace, sometimes you will overtake and sometimes others will overtake. Don’t be stressed by someone behind you trying to push you go faster. You set your own pace. If they want to overtake, just stand to the side and let them overtake, if not just chill. Separately, if you want to overtake someone slower, then just overtake on the side.

Find your own investment strategy that suits you best, that energises you. The real race is against yourself, not against others. There will always be someone who will do better than you in any given year, so chill. It is not about being the top 10% in a year, but the top 10% after 10 or 20 years and more.

9 | Be prepared mentally and physically. We exercised prior before and was mentally prepared for how intensive the climb was going to be, and when it turned out, it felt so much harder, but it was still hard and tiring beyond all our expectations. You can only be prepared to a certain extent, until you experience the actual. And it was really hard by the time we completed. Most of my group never climbed a mountain of this proportions before.

The toughest part in investing in preparing the mind that short-term price volatility is going to be inevitable and unavoidable. Trying to avoid it will be suboptimal. Mr Market is a voting machine and he just likes to throw tantrums and get either super excited and optimistic and super upset and pessimistic. Once you get a get a sense of how often selloffs occur and how much, you look forward to selloffs to get the chance to add to your highest conviction companies.

10 | We did our research prior were well prepared with the right equipment, the right equipment, waterproof and wind proof jackets, water bags, hiking poles, headlamps, clothing, food, so we can be ready for what may come as well as the unforeseen.

When you have done your research thoroughly and Mr Market decides to throw a tantrum, you are ready to embrace and pounce on the price declines, rather than getting worried or upset.

11 | Always remember to never get complacent and choose speed, or get distracted. Do a misstep over a loose rock, and you may just end up spraining your ankle (like me), and end up not finishing the climb. But thankfully, it was serious and painful, but it was still okay enough for me to complete the last 8km. It was insanely painfully with every descend as my right ankle landed on every step.

Never think highly of yourself. Stay humble, have humility. The moment you lose that, you stop listening, you stop absorbing, you stop learning, and then with a mis-step you might just result in eventual failure. Never do that.

12 | At the end, despite how much preparation, it is really willpower at the end that gets everyone through to the end. It can be so powerful, the human mind and the will power. Despite how tough it is, we were just highly focused on taking step at a time mindfully and carefully, that’s all that mattered. I sprained my right ankle horribly with 8km left, it was really painful, but I kept persisting, and my teammates were patient with me and walked slower. “Stay hard” by David Goggins was our slogan to keep us going.

Investing too is a slog, managers get paid to endure all the emotional and psychological elements with all the ups and downs. It is knowing when to keep pursuing and staying the course even especially when the going gets tough.

13 | When you summit, eventually you have to come down. You can’t stay at the top for too long, you have to go descend so you can climb even higher mountains.

Markets too have ups and downs, it’s the downs that make the ups worthwhile. Treat it like a beautiful adventurous journey and know there will always be ups and downs because of never-changing human behaviour of greed and fear.

14 | Memories over medals. We did not finish first, but we finished in the end, and that’s what matters. To Team Endurance! Always be hard!

If you beat the index after 10 or 20 years, you will be in the top quartile. You want to keep staying and playing the game, and keeping doing okay and eventually you will do very well.

PS: Thank you for making it this far.

Below was our 2D1N itinerary by the way. We used Borneo Calling as our tour company and highly recommend them.

Day 1: Timpohon Gate (1,866m) to Laban Rata Resthouse (3,272m) 6km and 1,406m altitude gain from 0830-1430hrs. Sleep from 1800-0100hrs.

Day 2: Laban Rata Resthouse (3,272m) to Low’s Peak (4,095m) 2km and 823m altitude gain from 0230-0545hrs. Then descend back same way 2km to Laban Rata Resthouse from 0630-0930hrs. Rest and then descend back at to Timpohon Gate 6km from 1030-1615hrs.

03 March 2024 | Eugene Ng | Vision Capital Fund | eugene.ng@visioncapitalfund.co

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