A tribute to my Dad.....the original Defence Tech bro

If not for my parents fueling my interest, I probably would not have fallen in love with Science & Technology (and defence tech)

On this day two years ago, I lost my dad to cancer. Here is a tribute to the person who ignited my passion for technology and gave me the foundations in investing and accounting.

He wasn’t just my father: he was the spark behind everything I do today. He brought me to airshows from the age of 8, talked to me about geopolitics as we read the newspaper together over breakfast, and introduced me to strategy games (Command & Conquer) long before I knew what “defence tech” or “capital allocation” even meant.

He (and my mum) never gave up on me: not even when I flopped Singapore’s national exam and scored 176 for my PSLE and was placed in the “Normal” stream, a label that stings in Singapore. At 15, he sat me down to teach me Principles of Accounting ironically a subject often assigned to “weaker” students. He drilled the double-entry principle into me until it finally clicked. I went on to ace it in university. To this day, reading financial statements feels more natural than reading a novel and is the perfect foundation for a career in investing.

And when I caught the investing bug in my teens? Despite our financial situation, he gave the green light for my mum to lend me $20k: nearly a year’s worth of his wages. I lost it all within a year 😬 and I had to work a telesales gig at Citibank to pay it back. He’d be proud to know that I’ve played a part in helping the team generate alpha at this point from all the defense names my employer has owned (in the International Equity Fund). So that $20k early lesson my parents funded was priceless. This not is investment advise (I’m not sure why anyone would consider it so :P) - and please note past performance doesn’t equate to future performance.

I woke up this morning realising that this Substack probably exists because some part of me misses talking defence with him. What I’ve written there is probably what I would have loved to talk to him about. I wish he were here to see how much fun I’m having and where this journey has led me.

📸 below from our last airshow together, 2020.

He wasn’t all work - also got me into collecting marvel comics since the 1990s, introduced me to rock music such as AC/DC and Guns & Roses and many more that’s a conversation not meant for here 😂.

Till we meet again.

In loving memory of Charles Selvaraj Arokiasamy (1951–2023)