2022 Year-End Summary — Financials

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

As we just entered 2023, I would like to share with you a quick summary of 2022 from the perspective of financials.

As you can see from the chat above, our Total Net-Worth (TNW) has been increasing every year, but the increment year-on-year has been dropping, which means we are further away from our 40/40 goal than 2019 while I am 3 years closer to age 40.

This is mainly due to our investment.

I was mostly out of a job in 2020, but our investment carried us through.

In 2021, it is the opposite. I got my salary back, but our investment tanked, resulting in an overall lower increment than 2020.

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2022, on the other hand, was a disgrace. 

Our investment continued the dive, but not as drastic as 2021. I was able to hold on to my salary for the most part and most of the pay for the freelancer work I did in 2021 came in 2022. But we still had a lower increment than 2021. 

Worse still, at the end of 2022, our actual TNW was lower than our conservative projection. This means we have fallen behind our projection in absolute terms, aka, we are poorer than we planned to be.

Again, investment contributed to most of it. Even we were conservative about our projection, we did not forecast a negative return on investment. But we have been in the red zone for the last 18 consecutive months.

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With the market showing some signs of recovery and my new start in career, we hope to reverse this declining trend of increment and catch up with our projection in 2023.

Let’s revisit the numbers by the end of 2023.

Slight Recovery! Monthly Net-Worth Update — Nov 2021

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming there! 

Time flies. It is almost end of Nov.

Here is another monthly update of our TNW.

Net-Worth increase from last month: 10K SGD, -0.6KG Gold

This month is a bit special.

Due to some arrangements, I have not received my salary this month yet.

So it will be counted next month as to not disrupt our update cadence.

So coming back to this month, 30% of that increase was from recovery of stock portfolio and the rest was pretty much Forex. 

SGD dropped a bit against USD/RMB/HKD.

The gold price increased, causing our net-worth in terms of Gold to fall.

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Investment: -5.67% annualized return, incl. dividend

Compared to last month, it is slight recovery.

Hope the recovery continues.

Till next time!

Half-Conscious Update

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

This is going to be a quick one. 

After 6-hour interviews, my head is half dead to say the least. 

I have done 6/7 hours of face-to-face interviews in a day before. Never thought online interviews would be more tiring on the mind.

So this will be a quick update.

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1.All the interviews

I have done 10 interviews in the past two days. This has become the full-time job.

Luckily, work is not so full now.

And I am only half way through.

This is so far the largest hiring efforts for me.

The experiences did bring some additional learnings about interviews for both sides.

I will summarize those in a post after I have gone through the whole process.

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2.All the games.

When Cyberpunk 2077 first came out in Dec, I was quite busy and did not play it. 

Afterwards, I was just scared off by all the ridiculous bugs, reported by players.

A friend tried Cyberpunk 2077 again recently and told me that the game was playable now after all the patches.

So I tried it also. 

And I am hooked.

I have always fancied a futuristic and chaotic world. I still remember the first movie of this kind where Humans can unlock the full potential of our brains and be God-like!

Even only a few hours in the game, I can see the complexity and connections of the storyline. If it is anywhere close to the Witcher 3, it is a more than great game. CDPR’s ability is not to be underestimated.

The gameplay is good too. The shooting is definitely not the best but it is good enough for a RPG. The progression and weapon systems are good too!

All in all, I think I am going to throw lots of hours into this game.

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3.All the cases

The recent outbreak of Covid cases is literally in my neighborhood. We have been keeping our kids at home for a while. 

Luckily, my wife and I are both working from home.

Sometimes, I cannot help feeling lucky not being able to onboard my China job. If I did, we would probably be in different places in times like this.

Money is important for sure. But life is more than that.

Stay safe!!

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4.All the losses

The stock market….arh…do not even get me started on this.

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk28 2021

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

 

Past one and half weeks was so freaking dark. 

I was losing my monthly salary roughly every two days.

If this trend continues, I will slip into poverty really fast ;)

Luckily, my portfolio rebounded a bit on Friday. Lets see how it goes next week.

Below is a summary of the transactions.

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Capital injection: ~4KSGD

1.AHT

It dropped below my lowest buying point. So I went in with a small position.

And it turned out to be way too early.

It dropped 22% in the next two days…

I guess I am still a bit rushy in adding positions to lower costs.

There have been many lessons before this one.

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Capital outflow: None

It crossed my mind multiple times that I should just sell some of the positions and buy them back at a lower price.

However, I managed to stop myself from doing it. 

I do not know whether that is the right decision, but I know I am bad at predicting the market.

So I stayed put.

Happy investing!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk22 2021

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

So we are entering June.

Summary is officially here. 

Hope stock market will warm up too.

Here are my transactions for the last week!

Capital injection: ~20KSGD

1.YALA

I was waiting for the entry point at 18.5 and I surely got it.

And it just kept dropping, even after the announcement of share buy-back.

So after the two transactions last week, I added another 1000 shares at 15.5. 

And it continued to drop afterwards. 

This stock is the number 1 holdings in my portfolio now.

Let’s see how it goes.

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Capital outflow: None

1.CSPC PHARMA

We cleared the position last week with ~40% gain.

I think we were just learning our lessons to pocket the gains gradually.

It is a small position anyway.

The whole portfolio is still in the deep red. 

Hope the market warms up with summer.

Happy investing!

Till next time!

Finally transactions !— Wk21 2021

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Finally, I have some transactions to report.

I believed the buying points had come and I make the move. It turned out I could have waited a bit more.

Anyway, below are the transactions.

Capital injection: ~43K SGD

1.YALA

I have been waiting for 18.5 buying point and it finally came. So the positions were added. 

And it kept going down to below 16…haha…

So I added a bit more at 16.4.

And it all happened within 3 days…

I think the company is still solid. I still believe in its products and services and its ability to monetize them. The financial reports look good too.

The market is on the downward trend and this stock is being badly affected.

Lets see. Only time will tell.

2.TENCENT

I never planned to add positions. But the prices dipped to 75–76 range and it looked attractive.

So I added some positions. And of course, it continued to dip after my buy.

Similar to the one above, it is for holding.

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Capital outflow: None

I do sometimes regret that I did not reduce my positions when the “profit-taking” started. Now I have lost all the gains and even more.

My account has been in the very RED zone recently.

For investing, the only way to learn may be actually experiencing the loss and emotional swing. Otherwise, we can read as much as we like and much of it wont make sense until we have experienced.

Two things are important during the process:

• We do learn
• We do not let the emotional swing affect our lives too much

After all, we invest to make money to have good lives.

The above to us both.

Happy investing!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk18 2021

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Here is another update on the transactions.

Capital injection: None

My account is back in the negative. And it is really the Covid related stocks, like airlines.

With the 9-month high cases in Singapore, I really hope there wont be one more wave.

Take care and stay safe!

I am still watching the markets.

My proceeds from selling my previous flat will reach mid of this month. So I will have more war-chest to deploy by then.

Overall, I think it is not too bad a time to go in.

Stay tuned!

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Capital outflow: None

Again, this is not the time to sell.

Happy investing!

Till next time!

Take a Deep Breath…and Survive

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

It is my first time experiencing such a turbulent market situation ever. 

A few days ago, e-cigerate industry got hit really hard, due to restrictive regulations in China. So the RLX almost halved.

I thought these kind of restrictions would tank the market in the short term. But in the long term, they would accelerate the exit of followers and benefit the leaders.

Therefore, I almost emptied my war chest to top up RLX. I thought the bottom had been reached.

And yet again, there was another 20% drop…So it has been more than halved.

And now, naturally my portfolio is back to the deep red zone.

The market is really interesting! And I think that is the time we learn to fear the market.

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So what do we do now?

Some one told me that the difference between those who earn money and those who lose money in the market is not really knowledge or techniques, but the patience and the capability for emotional management.

So take a breath and survive and stay in the game.

If we want to beat the majority in the market, we need to be able to endure the up-and-downs and the emotional sway that comes with it.

Stay in the game. That is the key!

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Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk11 2021

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Times flies. We are already in Mid March！Q2 is just around the corner.

Here is another update.

Capital injection: None

I tried a few times to add positions, but the price I set was too low. 

Honestly, after the water-fall type of drop, I was a bit scared. I do not know whether we are near the bottom already. 

And most importantly, my war chest is very small now. I am afraid that I will deploy them too early.

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Capital outflow: None

Again, this is not the time to sell.

No one can predict how the market will perform in the short term.

Anyway, Hang On!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk10 2021

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

My Gosh! The Market!

My profit has dropped from the peak of 60k SGD to the negative, since I adjusted my investment approach.

It feels like shit. But deep down, I know it is good. Otherwise, money would feel too easy and we know that is not the case.

It is good to be in reality with foot on the ground again.

I will hang on. 

Capital injection: None

The market has not shown signs of recovery. So I will hold my war chest for now.

I tried a few times to add positions. However, the price I set was not reached.

No hurry!

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Capital outflow: None

Again, this is not the time to sell.

But if you are feeling so bad that your daily life, like your appetite, sleep or work is affected, then sell some of your positions. 

Immediately after you sell some, you will be worried about the recovery of the market because it would make the selling decision a bad one.

This is nothing more than hedging your emotions. And it will make you feel better.

No matter whether it continues to drop or starts to recover, you can see the bright side for you.

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk6 2021

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Another update on my transactions in the past week.

Capital injection: None

I did not see any opportunities last week for capital injection.

1.Semiconductor Mfg Intl:

This stock confused the hell out of me.

The stock price is dropping from Wednesday. 

On Thursday after market, the companied announced their quarterly earnings report, which beat expectation.

On Friday, it dropped another 10+%.

With no noticeable change on the fundamentals, I was just confused.

I wanted to add more shares on Friday, but essentially decided to wait some more and see.

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Capital outflow: None

Happy Investing!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk5 2021

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Another update on my transactions in the past week.

Last week, the market was pretty much in the Red. And the GME episode and especially the reactions from Wall Street were just hilarious!

It is incredible to see so many opportunities floating around all the time. I can only blame my lack of capabilities to capture them.

Anyway, let’s get back to reality. Over the past week, I made the following transactions:

Capital injection: ~15KSGD

1.Nvidia

Nvidia technology is no doubt in the lead. I have purchased 4 Nvidia graphic cards directly and indirectly since I started to use computers.

I could still recall the time in 2017/18 when Nvidia mid-high end cards were selling at a premium due to the demand for mining. That price hike pushed my plan for building a new gaming PC by about a year.

With Bitcoin price in the cloud now, the demand will persist. It does seem the situation is repeating itself with the high-end 30 series.

Therefore, I think the stock could farewell in the mid term. 

Over last week, the stock dropped by 6%, which makes this purchase my most costly purchase from Nvidia so far. 

I hope I could make enough money later on from this purchase to buy a few new cards from them. Haha.

I also wanted to add some shares of China Southern Airline and also Semiconductor. However I missed the opportunity window again due to indecisiveness. 

Let see how the market moves this week.

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Capital outflow: None

Happy Investing!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk 3 2021

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here.

Another update on my transactions.

I might be enjoying the buying a bit too much. I think I need to slow down.

Over the past week, I made the following transactions:

Capital injection: ~16KSGD

1.Semiconductor Mfg Intl 

This is the leading enterprise for Chinese Chips. 

The share price kept shooting up. We have decided to buy more, at a much higher price than the first transaction of course.

We believe there is still potential and also this is the compare we are willing to bet on for the long-term.

The price did drop a bit after our second buy. Let's see how it performs going forward.

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Capital outflow

None.

But I am seriously thinking of clearing my ES3 positions. The index is just not moving. 

We are still making the decision,

Happy Investing!

Till next time!

My Market Transactions — Wk 2

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here.

I am happy to be writing this post, because that means I have recovered somehow.

While the losses are lost, I have cowardly adjusted to the reality.

With the new year break over, I think it is time for me to resume my investment journey.

After reviewing my investment history, especially after comparing with my wife’s investment outcomes, I have decided to move away from only Broad Index ETFs.

I will keep a look out and invest in individual stocks from time to time.

As promised, I will report my transactions here for your reference.

Over the past week, I made the following transactions:

Capital injection: ~40KUSD

1.Semiconductor Mfg Intl: This is the leading enterprise for Chinese Chips. 

China will develop their own chips now for sure. The point of return is long passed.

With the US ban and conflict between the executives, the stock price halved. I think it is worth a shot in the long term.

2.Conch Cement: leading concrete producer in China.

Infrastructure building in China wont stop. So demand is there.

Moreover, it gives ~4% dividend.

Good for the long term.

3.China Southern Airlines: 

Airlines will recover after Covid. 

But why this airline? Not sure, my wife asked me to.

The stock prices last week show that we might be too optimistic about the Covid situation.

Capital outflow

None.

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You might have noticed. All my injection was into Chinese corporations.

It might be my bias, but I have more confidence on China than the US for now.

The stock market is going well in the new year. Hope this will last.

Till next time.