Posts by Tim Staermose

Tim Staermose is Sovereign Man's Chief Investment officer, based in the Asia-Pacific region. Born to a Danish father and British mother in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Tim has led an international life since the day he was born. He has lived and worked throughout Asia, primarily focusing on equity research and emerging market opportunities.

  • First post: 07/02/2011
  • Posts written: 79

Latest Articles

How to find companies selling for less than cash

coin-company
[Editor’s note: This letter was penned by Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist and editor of the 4th Pillar Investment Alert.]

If you know me personally, you know I have a lot of hair.

So when I go get a haircut, I always feel bad that the price is the same for me as for people who are almost bald… so I tip accordingly.

Recently when I went for a long-overdue[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

One of the richest countries in the world now has one of the cheapest stock markets

singapore-stock-market
[Editor’s note: Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose, is filling in for Simon today.]

One of the wealthiest countries in the world-- the place where there are more millionaires per capita than anywhere else on the planet-- now has a dirt cheap stock market.

It’s Singapore.

And right now, the total market value of all stocks traded in Singapore amounts to about 107% of the country’s GDP.

The historical range[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Singapore

One of the world’s last great boomtowns

myanmar-boomtown
[Editor’s note: Our Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today from Yangon, Myanmar.]

Since so much of Asia is on holiday for the Lunar New Year, I decided to travel to Myanmar to check out how the economy is developing.

Myanmar was once the wealthiest economy in Southeast Asia. But decades of isolation and military rule have turned it into the poorest.

Myanmar is, no doubt, the Cuba[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Yangon, Myanmar

This currency has lost 97% of its value against the US dollar

dollar-rupiah-value
August 10, 2015
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor’s note: Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in today while Simon is teaching at his annual youth entrepreneurship workshop.]

In 1970, one United States dollar bought 360 Japanese yen. It also bought 363 Indonesian rupiah. Today, that same dollar buys just 124 yen. But, it buys over 13,500 rupiah.

Let that sink in. While the yen has gained 190% versus the greenback over[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Sovereign Valley, Chile

Gold stocks hit lows not seen since 2002

Gold-coins-investment
July 22, 2015
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor's note: This letter was written by Sovereign Man's Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose.]

The selling in gold (and silver) stocks has been nothing short of brutal in the past several sessions, save for a modest bounce Tuesday.

The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index of precious metals mining companies is now back to levels last seen in 2002. Gold then was less than 1/3rd the price it is now.

Admittedly,[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Sovereign Valley, Chile

China’s stock market is the biggest bubble in history.

China flag
July 7, 2015
Hong Kong

[Editor’s Note: This missive was penned by Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist.]

The Chinese stock market bubble is bursting. And the government is hitting the panic button.

Having actively encouraged the bubble with cheap money, lax margin loan regulations, and constant cheerleading and propaganda, Chinese authorties apparently also think they can mop up the mess.

Wrong.

Time and time again, governments who get[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Sovereign Valley, Chile

On the ground in Sydney, right in the midst of the hostage incident

Australia-hostage-situation
December 16, 2014
Sydney, Australia

[Editor’s note: This letter was penned by Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose]

As I was preparing to go and meet a friend who runs a nascent fund management business in Sydney yesterday, I noticed there was a lot of unusual activity going on a block or so from my downtown hotel.

Turns out an armed man had entered a busy café in the heart of[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Sydney, Australia

How to profit from a decline in the renminbi

Renminbi
November 28, 2014
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor's Note: This missive was penned by Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose]

I spent two days in China earlier this week. Among other things, I wanted to get a feel for where people on the ground see the currency heading.

My personal view is that, as the US dollar keeps strengthening against the euro, yen, etc. China will find it increasingly difficult to bear the[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

This has got to be the top…

Bill Gross
September 29, 2014
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor’s note: This note was penned by Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose.]

A few days ago, Bill Gross, the world’s most famous bond fund manager, sensationally resigned from PIMCO, the firm he co-founded in 1970.

Trouble had been brewing behind the scenes at PIMCO for months, and speculation was rife that all was not well at the bond behemoth.

Gross’s resignation, and[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

Twice as bad as subprime

Indonesia
June 17, 2014
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor’s note: This letter was written by Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose.]

49 million empty houses and apartments.

That’s the situation in China according to new research from Gan Li at Texas A&M University. Professor Gan conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of the Chinese property market.

Based on interviews with 28,000 urban households, he concluded vacancy rates are 22.4%, and[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

How to invest in Myanmar

Myanmar
May 21, 2014
Hong Kong

[Editor’s note: This letter was penned by Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose]

I just got back from the Myanmar Investment Summit.

Things are improving rapidly in the country since they started to open up a couple of years ago, and the opportunities are incredibly exciting.

Just imagine: 50 million people who have suffered from trade sanctions for so many years, they don’t even know[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Hong Kong

Why the Australian dollar is going to get weaker

Aussie Dollar
[Editor’s note: This column was written by Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose]

Earlier in the year I published a piece, setting out why I thought a weaker Australian dollar was inevitable.

In light of the recent bounce in the Australian dollar, some people have asked me about it.

My views have not really changed.

I am a long-term thinker on this. Yes, the recent bounce in the Australian[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

Wow. China’s new policy is like free money for investors…

Stock Prices
April 10, 2014
Bali, Indonesia

[Editor’s Note: Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today.]

In a speech at the Boao Forum for Asia on Hainan Island today, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced a significant step toward the opening of China’s capital markets.

In short, it will soon be possible for Hong Kong-listed shares to be traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and for Shanghai-listed shares to[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

Guess which precious metal is controlled by the Russians…

Palladium
March 24, 2014
Bali, Indonesia

Palladium is like the Rodney Dangerfield of precious metals. It never gets any respect.

If you ask someone about precious metals, in fact, just about everyone has heard of gold and silver. And occasionally platinum.

But palladium is one of those obscure precious metals that few people think about, or even know about.

Aside from actually having its own currency code (XPD), palladium is widely used[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

The dominoes begin to fall in China

The risk of China

Forget tapering. Forget Ukraine. The largest single risk to the world economy and financial markets right now is China.



What’s going on in China reminds me a lot of what I witnessed firsthand when I lived in South Korea in the 1990s, before that economy’s crash in 1998.

Just as China now, South Korea was an immature, state-controlled financial system funneling cheap money to well-connected and politically favored large enterprises.

Fuelled by[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

Perfect storm sending the A$ below 85c

Australian dollar
December 18, 2013
Hong Kong

 

[Editor’s Note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in today while Simon is scouting new agricultural properties.]

Earlier this year I ate a $36 hamburger in Sydney.

And after the sticker shock wore off, I wrote about the Australian dollar’s massive, obvious overvaluation.

When the Aussie dollar passed A$1.04 per US dollar, I advised readers of my premium investment newsletter to[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Hong Kong

How to profit from China’s horrible air pollution

Pyramid of platinum ingots
October 24, 2013

Hong Kong

[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today.]

 China’s major cities have a huge air-pollution problem.  And in other breaking news, the Pope is Catholic.

It’s obvious that all the heavy industry, coal-fired power plants, and choking traffic congestion, etc. have all taken a massive toll on Chinese air quality.

It’s gotten to the point where the pollution[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Hong Kong

The easiest places offshore… to get divorced

Divorce
[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today.]

Recently, I had the not-so-pleasant experience of dissolving my marriage. My wife and I never had kids, and our lives were going in completely different directions.

We remain friends. But we were spending hardly any time together, and agreed that it was for the best to go our separate ways.

According to the law in the Philippines,[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Hong Kong

A hidden paradise with no income tax or property tax…

Norfolk Island Vista
June 20, 2013
Burnt Pine, Norfolk Island

[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today.]

If you’re looking for a clean, safe, English-speaking tax haven, with a mild, maritime climate, and an advanced, Western lifestyle, Norfolk Island should be on your radar.

This unique external territory of Australia lies roughly 2 hours and 30 minutes’ flying time northeast of Sydney, and 1 hour and 50[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Burnt Pine, Norfolk Island

Time to get out? What the cult of Bernanke is telling us…

Bernanke
June 6, 2013
Jakarta, Indonesia

[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in today while Simon is looking at agricultural property in Chile.]

It’s always a bit amusing to meet an investor making money in the markets right now who actually thinks it’s because he’s smarter than everyone else.

Everyone knows the Fed’s quantitative easing program calls for them to buy $85 billion worth of bonds and mortgage[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Jakarta, Indonesia

How to invest in Myanmar

Follow Myanmar
Myanmar is among the hottest “frontier” investment markets today.

The country is going from an authoritarian regime to democracy, from a conflict situation to a situation of relative peace, and, most importantly, from a closed economy of state-owned companies, to an open, free market economy.

Such positive change all at once in one country is unprecedented.

Fund managers are falling over themselves to invest there. At The Myanmar Investment[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

It’s becoming harder to buy and sell gold in Hong Kong

[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today from Hong Kong.]

It took me two attempts. But, today I opened an account at the Bank of China.

The reason? They’ll no longer buy gold bullion from you unless you bank with them.

I wasn’t selling personally. But, an overseas friend is having a temporary liquidity crisis, and asked me to liquidate a couple[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Hong Kong

Check out this billionaire’s New Zealand Hideaway

New Zealand
[Editor's note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man's Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today from Bay of Islands, New Zealand.]

The wealthy have been diversifying internationally for centuries. Baron de Rothschild famously sent four of his five sons to different points of the compass: one to London, one to Paris, one to Naples, and one to Vienna.

Russian oligarchs and Arab oil sheikhs have been calling London home for decades, while[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bay of Islands, New Zealand

A second passport you’d probably never think of

South Korea

Over dinner with a friend in Busan, South Korea yesterday, the conversation turned to residency and second citizenships. My friend is a successful entrepreneur who’s lived in South Korea ever since I first met him in 1996.



Right now, he has an investors’ visa. The requirements are simple; when he got his, an investment of KRW50 million (about US$46,000) was enough to qualify.

But due to a rise in popularity, and some[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

This is what happens when you don’t have reserve currency status

Costa Rica
[Editor’s note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist is filling in for Simon today from San Jose, Costa Rica.]

It’s easy to see why people like Costa Rica so much.

The country is gorgeous, and the climate can be excellent. There are plenty of cooling breezes to keep it comfortable year-round, despite the tropical location. And during the dry season, the country is bathed in constant sunshine.

The higher[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

Four reasons why gold stocks are so hated

Five full years on from the financial crisis, stock markets have regained lost ground and are within striking distance of new record highs.

Yet, it's only NOW, after all the gains from the bottom have been made, that the investing crowd is starting to put money back into stocks.

Curious. When stocks were CHEAP, nobody wanted them. Now that they've breached record nominal highs again (Dow 14,000++), investors are piling back in.

[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

Arbitrage lessons from the most expensive city on Earth

January 9, 2013
Sydney, Australia

 
[Editor’s note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today.]


No matter where you live in the Western world right now, the sands of your local economic landscape are likely shifting. To gain your footing, it’s essential to learn classic arbitrage techniques.

Take Sydney, Australia, for example, one of the most spectacular cities in the world. The stunning geographical setting[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Sydney, Australia

It’s as easy as buying an ice cream cone…

JureHongKong
December 5, 2012
Hong Kong

[Editor's Note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today.]

Since 2009, the benchmark Shanghai Stock Exchange index has been in a deep funk.  Last week, in fact, the index hit 4-year lows and dipped below the psychological 2,000 level.

Further, a recent survey of 8,438 Chinese households published by China's Southwestern University of Finance and Economics found that 77% of those[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

No inflation here– parking spot in suburban Hong Kong sells for $168,000

HKdollar
Reporting from: Hong Kong

[Editor's Note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today.]

In another absurd example of what happens when unrestrained money printing meets idiotic government taxes, the price of parking spaces at a suburban apartment complex some 40 minutes from central Hong Kong is now HK$1.3 million, or approximately US$168,000.

There are two key factors driving this lunacy--

1) the tidal wave of[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

A city of 7 million you’ve probably never heard of…

Tim3
November 13, 2012,
Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia.

[Editor’s note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today.]

Surabaya in East Java is a glamorous old city that became a colonial stronghold during the time of the Dutch East Indies.  It was also the starting point for the Indonesian independence movement, which fanned out across the archipelago after the Japanese surrender in 1945.

The city probably reached its[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

I didn’t see this covered in any western newspaper

phillipines
October 22, 2012,
Bangkok, Thailand

[Editor's note: Tim Staermose, Sovereign Man's Chief Investment Strategist, is filling in for Simon today.]

When it comes to investing in Asia, the two countries which soak up the vast majority of investment chatter are India and China. And with good reason, they're the two largest economies in the region.

Yet one of the most compelling stories in Asia right now is an often forgotten about corner--[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bangkok, Thailand

What’s Next for Gold and Silver?

Gold-bars-vault
October 3, 2012
Bali, Indonesia

In the investment world, it's said that the best remedy for high prices is... high prices. And the best remedy for low prices is... low prices.

In other words, when the price of an asset is high, demand cools off until prices fall. When the price of an asset is low, its relative cheapness causes demand to surge until prices rise.

It's a simple premise... and I[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Bali, Indonesia

It’s officially a 3-way race to the bottom

race-to-bottom
September 26, 2012
Hong Kong

It's now officially a 3-way race to the bottom between the dollar, the euro, and the yen.

It started on September 6th with the ECB announcing a new, UNLIMITED bond-buying program. A week later, the US Federal Reserve officially announced QE3, another open-ended (de facto limitless) bond buying program. One week after that, the Bank of Japan announced it was adding another 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) to[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

Now even private companies are trying to borrow their way out of debt

private-companies-debt
September 19, 2012
Hong Kong

One of the best short-selling ideas I’ve had over the past year or so was in Fortescue Metals (FMG listed on the Australian Securities Exchange). If you’re unfamiliar with ‘shorting’ a stock, it’s essentially a bet that a company’s price will fall instead of rise.

In the case of Fortescue, the company was due for a fall. Fortescue’s only business is digging up iron ore in Western Australia[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Undisclosed Location

The end of the euro: When will it happen?

Piazza-San-Silvestro
August 31, 2012
Rome, Italy

My 2-year old nephew in Australia loves getting postcards.  He already associates me with frequent traveling.  I’m referred to as “Tim Hong Kong jet plane.”

So before leaving Italy today, after a fantastic week in the Umbrian countryside with our Sovereign Man Total Access members, I set out to mail him some postcards. What I got, among other things, was a useful lesson in Italian bureaucracy.

In[...] Click here to continue reading
  • Rome, Italy