A Speculation on the Sex Lives of Speculators

This titillating article explains the concept of dominance and hierarchy in Singapore society. It should not be misinterpreted as an article which advises readers to speculate in stocks to improve their sex lives.

A colleague of mine, a 33-year-old storage engineer which I will call G, was a happy man last week. After purchasing 100,000 shares of a construction company using contra, he watched the stock rise 2 cents and then promptly unloaded his position to make about $2000 in less than 3 hours.

These are indeed happy days supported by a strong bull market.

G wanted to know if this market will rise further and promises that if he makes $6,000 the following day, he will give other engineers in the account a karaoke treat after National day (And it’s more like the kind of karaoke found in Kabuki rather the mellow kind of karaoke found in K-Box).

All my years studying finance has told me that technical indicators are not fully reliable in a market which is steadily increasing in terms of market efficiency. In fact, as my interest in evolutionary psychology is now beginning to eclipse my interest in finance, I believe that it’s actually easier to predict G’s sex life than what would happen to the markets tomorrow.

Richard Dawkins once mentioned a phenomenon known as the “Duke of Marlborough Effect”. The best way to understand this effect is to read the Duchess of Marlborough’s diary. One of the entries read, “His Grace returned from the wars today and pleasured me twice in his top-boots.” Clearly, being victorious in battle has had quite a remarkable effect on the Duke of Marlborough’s libido.

There is a distinct study which shows that tennis players experience elevated testosterone levels two days before a match but something amazing happens after the match is over. Winners in a tennis match somehow can maintain the elevated testosterone levels but losers experience a precipitous drop when the event is over.

Many theories have been offered to explain this phenomenon. Could this be nature’s way of ensuring that that in many species, winners who are more likely to corner more resources and go on to produce more progeny who in turn, are more likely to emerge winners in the game of life?

If you are willing to accept this theory, then you would be able to accept some facets of Singaporean life and the dominance hierarchies which inundate all aspects of our society today.

Suppose winners would already gain more access to resources which aid in reproduction. Along with the aid of a meritocracy like Singapore, they are given labels like “scholar” or “RI boy” or “ACS boy” (For the sake of easy identification). These labels then proceed to reinforce the winners in many aspects of their daily lives whether it is in a competitive job search or in a singles dating situation. We will eventually create a pecking order within our society so that, as a population, we can define a system of procreation to best optimise our human resources in the future era.

Through these lenses of evolutionary psychology, we would also be able to understand why even famous and highly sensible bloggers like Blinkymummy once wrote an article praising the confidence and eligibility of the ACS boy and the RI boy. Perhaps this highly intelligent and independent lady can also be reframed as a product of centuries of evolutionary adaptation.

While many champions for a more liberal society in Singapore would be fervently waiting for a hot lady blogger to talk about the insatiable sexual appetites of her kopi-kia, Normal Technical stream boyfriend, evolutionary psychologists may have already found a clue behind the pains in a meritocracy like Singapore – the bespectacled scholar who recently had a glowing review from his head of department is more likely to have rigorous, hot and steamy sex with his spouse than the poor kopi-kia who, once again, spent $25 on Toto and did not the win last week.

Thus, humanity is in-built with mechanisms to purge the weak, meritocracies turn up the heat and makes things even worse.

Anyway, the markets corrected the following day and the STI dropped more than 1% the next day. I did not catch G to ask how he was doing and I certainly wished that whatever occurred the previous night between himself and his wife would make up for any market losses he would face the following day. He did claim that his gains were not saved at all. Most of his profits from the stock market were spent on paying for childcare.

Maybe that’s the real reason why people love bull markets, contra trading and throwing fundamentals out of the window.

Victory is sweet and the bedroom action that occurs later is even sweeter.

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Christopher Ng Wai Chung, 32, is an IT Project manager who dabbles in personal finance and wealth management. His books, Growing your tree of Prosperity and Harvesting the Fruits of Prosperity meld his philosophical ideas with the realities of seeking financial independence in Singapore. His books can now be found in all major bookstores in Singapore.

His own blog can be found in treeofprosperity.blogspot.com. He can be reached at waichung.ng@gmail.com.

For more information about Chris Ng and his Prosperity Series, click here

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