Many of us are familiar with the parable about a group of blind men and an elephant.

The blind men heard that a strange animal (the elephant) was brought into town and they wanted to feel for themselves what this animal was like. So each of them felt part of the elephant.

The one who touched the side of the elephant said the animal was like a wall. The one who touched the tail, said no, the animal was like a rope. The one who touched the trunk described the animal as a huge snake. The one who touched the ear proclaimed that the animal was like a fan. The one who touched one of the elephant's legs said it was more like a tree.

This story reminded me of my own experience with different friends when we talked about our investments.

When discussing the CPF with one group of friends, I told them that my wife and I could withdraw the interests from our OA and SA amounting to $50k pa. My friends immediately proclaimed that we were too conservative and that we parked too much money into the CPF. They advised that we should invest some of the money in property or stocks.

Yet with another group of friends talking about stocks and shares, I told them that my yearly dividends were around $55k and one of the friends quickly estimated that my invested capital must be above $1M. The rest expressed concern that I might over exposing myself to the vagaries of the stock market. They advised caution and suggested that I move some of the money to safer investment such as SSB or even the CPF.

Then with yet another group of friends discussing property prices and en-blocs, upon hearing that I have 2 condos, they said better to play safe and not to over invest in property as the market is unpredictable especially now that we are closer to retirement age.

What is a person to do?