Review/Reflections for 2011

2011 will always be a year that I remember and it is a milestone in my investing journey. It is the year where I morphed from an employee to a full-time private investor. How time flies! I had been a fruitful few months since I started doing full-time investing. Initially, there were some sceptics out there who doubted my decision. Some said that I was "silly" to give up my job for the uncertain world of investment. Some declared that I did it on impulse and will not last more than two months. Some said that I was too young to "retire" and should continue working.

Despite all the above critics, I pushed on and stayed firm on my decision. I enjoyed investing and it was not a big unknown to me as I had been doing it on the sideline for more than 10 years when I was in full-time employment. Therefore, I know what I am embarking into and it is something that I considered seriously before coming to a decision. I was getting bored and unhappy with my day job in IT. I wanted a change not only in environment but also in form. I wanted full control of my time. I wanted to start to enjoy my life again.

Granted, what I earn now from pure investment is much less than when I was holding a day job. But money is not everything in life. As long as my current mode of operation is sustainable, I will continue to do full-time investing for as long as I can.

2011 was not a good year for investors. Markets had been down and companies not doing well. As I had been quite defensive in my portfolio positioning since last year, I had not been hit very badly by the market sell-down. Also, the rights issue strategy came into play again and I was able to subscribe for some excess rights shares at a good price for some companies in my portfolio. As usual, I met my objective of minimizing sell trades to save on brokerages.

By attending more AGMs/EGMs in 2011 and having more time in hand to go through annual reports and circulars more throughly, I believe that I have a better understanding of the companies in my portfolio now as compared to a few months back when I was in full-time employment. Knowledge is only useful when applied, and therefore I believe that my skill-set will be useful when selecting companies to invest. I also gained more confidence in overweighting my better stock ideas in my portfolio, since I have done more research now and hopefully they can translate into better portfolio performance in the future.

Thanks for all those readers who had visited my blog and also left some comments here in 2011. I believe the sky is darkest before dawn, and hopefully 2012 will be a better year for all investors out there. I hope that all of you can continue your investing journey and enjoy the process, as much as I do. Wishing all of you out there a fruitful and profitable 2012!