#1 Straits Times bestseller
Build lasting wealth in an hour a day.
Stop renting stocks. Start owning businesses.
Out now in paperback, ebook and audiobook.
In Singapore, find it at Kinokuniya and Book Bar.
Featured on
→ Hit #1 in three categories, Amazon SG→ #1 New Release in Stock Market Investing at launch, Amazon US
What you’ll learn
A complete system for investing alongside a full-time career, in an hour a day.
Spot quality businesses
Tell durable compounders from value traps using simple, repeatable checks.
Value a stock in six steps
The Lunch Break Valuation, built to run in your spare time, not your full day.
Build a focused portfolio
Hold 15 to 25 businesses you understand, not a scattered basket you don’t.
Avoid the costly mistakes
The behavioural traps that quietly wreck returns, and how to sidestep them.
Praise for The Lunch Break Investor
“For anyone investing alongside a day job, this book shows you how to invest to live, not the other way around.”
Chin Hui Leong
Co-Founder and Head of Investing, The Smart Investor
“Thomas’s story reminds me of my own. Neither of us grew up around markets, and neither of us had any business becoming an investor. What we had was curiosity about great businesses. This is the book I wish someone had handed me when I was starting out.”
Dennis Hong
Founder, ShawSpring Partners
“Thomas is a clear thinker and a contrarian investor. He outlines how investors can apply his principles to build wealth patiently for the long term.”
Robert Vinall
Fund Manager, RV Capital
“A clear, practical framework for building lasting wealth through patient ownership of quality businesses. Every busy professional investing in the stock market should have this book on their shelf.”
Gautam Baid
Author of The Joys of Compounding
“Thomas Chua writes like a friend who has already walked the road and wants to save you from the wrong turns. If you want to stop trading and start owning great businesses, this is the book that will show you how.”
Eugene Ng
Founder of Vision Capital Fund and author of Vision Investing
“The principles in this book capture what actually works, and Thomas makes them accessible to anyone building wealth alongside a full-time career.”
Clay Finck
The Investor’s Podcast Network
“Thomas Chua’s own story, from a childhood defined by financial hardship to teaching ordinary people to think and invest like owners, is proof that steady, patient ownership beats frantic activity every time. This is the book I’ll be recommending to anyone curious to learn how to build real wealth without turning investing into a second job.”
Bogumil Baranowski
Founder of Blue Infinitas Capital and host of Talking Billions
Inside the book
A janitor who never earned more than $8 an hour built an $8 million portfolio. A tax auditor turned $5,000 into $22 million. No finance degrees. No Bloomberg terminals. They owned great businesses and got out of the way. Chapter 1 tells their story. The rest teaches you to do the same:
Part I: The foundation
1. The Millionaires Nobody Knew
2. The Heart of Steady Compounding
3. Economic Moats
4. The Three Drivers of Capital Appreciation
5. It’s Always About Management
Part II: Finding your winners
6. Finding Your First Steady Compounders
7. Valuation
Part III: The mechanics
8. Buying Strategies
9. Selling Strategies
10. Building a Winning Portfolio
Part IV: The long game
11. Beyond The Numbers
Including the six economic moats, the Crayon Test, and the three rules that tell you when to sell.
Hi, I’m Thomas.
I grew up poor in Singapore. As a teenager, I walked into a library and read every investing book I could find. Nobody around me invested, so I taught myself, with real money and real mistakes. At 31, I reached financial independence using the exact approach in this book.
→ Left public service in 2021 to invest and write full-time
→ Featured on national TV, radio and press in Singapore: CNA, MoneyFM 89.3, The Business Times and The Straits Times
This book is everything I wish I’d known when I started.
From the book talks
From the Book Bar launch talk with Reggie Koh of The Financial Coconut, 5 Sep 2026.
Kinokuniya Takashimaya, 22 Aug 2026, with He Ruiming of The Woke Salaryman. Watch the full talk
Book Bar, 57 Duxton Road, 5 Sep 2026, with Reggie Koh of The Financial Coconut
Bukit Jalil Tsutaya Books, Kuala Lumpur, 17 Oct 2026, with HY Tan and Guan of doitduit.my
What readers say
“I was impressed by the book. I was even more impressed by the man behind it.”
Broadcaster, MoneyFM 89.3 · LinkedIn
“Thomas’s book is wonderful. Worth your time. Easy to read through. Practical.”
Fluent in Quality · X
“What to buy, when to buy, why to buy, how and when to rebalance, when to sell and much more. Simply, a summarised encyclopaedia for investors.”
Reader · X
“You know it’s better than good when you see someone (me) bought both the analog and digital version of it. One for reference and another when on the move.”
Reader · X
“The book is a practical, easy-to-follow guide to long-term investing for busy people.”
Reader · Facebook
“I just finished your book. Outstanding job! It is both enjoyable and useful.”
Richard Ligmanowski
Reader
Questions, answered
Where can I buy it?
In Singapore, Kinokuniya and Book Bar carry it. Everywhere else, the button routes you to a retailer for your region. The ebook is instant.
What formats does the book come in?
Paperback, ebook, and audiobook.
I already follow Steady Compounding. Is this just the blog?
No. The blog gives you ideas. The book is the complete system in one place, the six moats, the Lunch Break Valuation, the Crayon Test, and the three selling rules, in the order you’d actually use them.
Get The Lunch Break Investor
Out now in paperback, ebook and audiobook.
Already have the book? Everything from page 169 is at steadycompounding.com/tools.
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