Different soups offer varying flavors and textures. Some are as simple as adding hot water to a cardboard box mix, lacking depth and flavour due to minimal preparation. Others, simmered over time, undergo chemical transformations that enhance taste. 

According to americatestkitchen.com, ‘many of the chemical transformations that make soup delicious—Maillard browning, conversion of collagen to gelatin, dissolving pectin from plant cell walls—happen only under the influence of heat, during direct cooking’. 

Similarly when a soup or stew is allowed to rest overnight in the fridge it has a more balanced and smooth flavour due to the ‘flow of soluble flavour compounds from where they’re more concentrated to where they’re less concentrated’. Cooking beans in broth imparts flavor, but prolonged soaking achieves fuller infusion. Similarly, gently double boiling soups over hours enhances their richness. 

Though I am not an expert on soups, or cooking for that matter, understanding the significance of time in crafting exquisite soups parallels the importance of long-term investment. Just as patience yields tastier soups, long-term investment reduces both the chances of losing money and the magnitude of potential losses.

In July 2022, Lewis Lu and in January 2022, Kate Poh, financial advisors from ADR Group (representing Manulife Financial Advisors) and Winners Harbour (representing Prudential Assurance Company Singapore)respectively, shared analogies linking cooking time with soup flavor to the correct holding period for a pooled investment (UT/ILP/ETF). I hope that since then both these advisors have treated their customers to many bowls of soups and left a lasting impression on the importance of long-term investing