Review/Reflections for 2012

The year is ending soon and it is time to look back at 2012. 2012 is also the first full year that I had become a full-time investor and sad to say, my first full year of unemployment. STI started the year at around 2650 points and it is up around 20% from the start of the year at the time of this blog post. Most investors who stay invested throughout the year would have done well.

I have not computed my returns for the year but I reckon that I had also done reasonably well this year. I had not made much changes throughout the year on my portfolio as I added onto my better ideas and also reduced my stake in a few counters. All in, I have done less than 15 sell trades for the year. It is higher than previous years but still ok as I need some fresh funds to invest in better ideas and also sell off some of those less promising stocks. I have stayed almost 100% invested throughout the year. My stock count is almost the same as last year, so I have not added much new counters this year into my portfolio. I have not applied for any IPOs this year and followed through my rights issue and scrip dividend scheme strategies. For my CPF OA Investment portfolio, it is a simple case of re-investing the dividend received from my stock holdings into existing unit trusts. I could not re-invest into more stocks due to my low CPF OA Stock Investment limit. For my CPF SA Investment portfolio, there is no activity since I could not invest any more funds as I have hit the CPF SA Investment Threshold. I need to overcome these problems for CPF Investment but there is no solution at this moment. Since I did not make any contribution to my CPF for the year, there is no way I can overcome these limits, unless I sell some investments.

I have attended around 100 company meetings this year which includes AGMs, EGMs, briefings etc. This is a record for one year since I started my investment journey as a part-time investor around 10 years back. Being a full-time investor certainly have an advantage as it allows me to spend more time going through those annual reports/circulars and attend company meetings to ask them questions. It certainly allowed me to gain more insights into those companies that I have invested. That is one main advantage that I have as a full-time investor over those part-time ones.

I have also joined an investment group this year. Basically, this group of passionate investors met once per month to discuss various investment ideas/strategies. I have also met some of these fellow investors at company meetings. Joining an investment group is important as it allows you to share your ideas with others and get inputs from them as well. It helps you grow to be a better investor. Do not be afraid to share ideas with others as that is the only way for you to learn. You might not agree with some of their ideas, but it helps you gain insights on their thinking. Most importantly, you know that you are not all alone in this investing journey and it keeps you focused on your investment process/ideas as you defend them during discussions. You learn from your mistakes as well during debates.

There is no big expenses for the year, and therefore I am quite comfortable in matching the cash flow from my investments with my expenses every month. This is very important for a full-time investor. I don't want to be in a situation to be forced to sell my stocks in order to pay my bills every month.

2012 had been a good year for investors and I sincerely hope that readers of this blog had made some decent profits as well. As this is the last post of the year for this blog, I wish to thank all of you readers out there for your support in 2012 and enjoy your holidays!