Sunday, January 24, 2016

Great Chinese New Year Sale!

Have you ever experienced that feeling when you wanted to buy something, but you couldn't afford it? You walked off and you passed the same shop every day, hoping that you could eventually afford it some day. How would you react when the shop put a sign "SALE: 20% OFF SELECTED ITEMS + 4% CASH REBATE"? You started to contemplate, but again you walked off, hoping that the shop will offer greater discount next month. The following week, the shop put another sign "SALE: 40% OFF ALL ITEMS + 6% CASH REBATE". Would you still walk off or jump into the shoppers queue?

I guess if you have been waiting to buy something that you always dream of, you will eventually jump at the opportunity.You will probably be more worried, if the items go out of stock, than getting more discount by waiting another week. 

That's exactly how I felt these recent weeks. I've been wanting to increase my exposure to equity since I started this journey 3 years ago. Back then, I just felt the price was not too attractive with major stock indexes at their all time high and any dip barely touch 10% before the major stock indexes recovered and reached new all time high. Frankly, I've been waiting for the fire sale to happen!! I've been buying into equities if you follow my previous posts, and I really pray that the sale will not end so soon as I will be injecting fresh funds over the coming months.

It's strange how human mind works. Things we do right when we shop, we'll do just the opposite when it comes to investing. Instead of getting excited, we're paralyzed when market is being generous. Penny wise pound foolish, heh?

There are a few posts I want to write, but I'll be pretty occupied in the next few weeks as I'm preparing for exam. So pardon me, if you don't see me too active in updating the blog. Oh ya, I also added a link to the Rolf Suey, another blogger friend. You can find the link at the blog roll section. Do visit his page to pick a cent or two.

Friday, January 8, 2016

December 2015 - Low Cost Portfolio Update

My low cost portfolio that I started in 2015 finished the year with -3.02% return. During the month of December I made a significant contribution of $29,500.00. Bulk of the cash contribution came from exercising the share options of the company where I worked. I channeled the cash proceeds to grow my low cost portfolio.

I bought 4000 shares of CNOOC at HKD 8.26 per share during December, as many companies in energy and commodity sectors were hammered badly due to persistent sell-off in oil and commodities. The purchase and cash injection brought the portfolio asset allocation ratio to 52.39% for equity vs 47.61% for bonds/cash. It's still within the range of my targeted allocation of 60%:40% at the current market level of STI between 2500-3500.

There were many other big energy companies that I was tempted to add into the low cost portfolio. However as the portfolio had about 10-11% exposure to the energy sector, through Keppel Corp & CNOOC, my next purchase would be outside of the sector to allow diversification for better risk management.



Link to Yaruzi's low cost portfolio as of Dec 2015

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Recent Buy - Low Cost Portfolio

Bought Singtel 1400 shares @ $3.53 this morning. My maiden purchase for 2016.

Monday, January 4, 2016

December 2015 - Unit Trust Portfolio Update

I was away mostly for vacation in December. As I was enjoying quality time with my family, I was pretty much isolated from what's happening in the market.

Total portfolio was down -0.07% ($191.69) for the year, and 2015 was the first year the portfolio return was negative. Total platform fees paid for 2015 were $772.46 and these hadn't included annual management fees of the funds. When all the fees combined, was it a drag to the portfolio performance? Yes absolutely in my opinion.

Below was the summary of my transactions in Dec 2015:
1. Bought
Aviva Inv Glb HY Bd Am USD(SGD) $1,293.20



Link to Yaruzi's unit trust portfolio allocation as of Dec 2015