My 2021 Financial Review

2021 is like a whirlwind, twisting, topsy turvy.  It is also the year I really started my investing journey. Before that I was only dabbling in unit trusts and mutual funds.

Covid-19 pandemic has brought home to me that life is precious and time is the most important commodity we have. My goal in investing is to gain FIRE - Financial Independence Retire Early.  If I have a portfolio that generates passive income, I can have the freedom and time to pursue my dreams and spend more time with my loved ones.  My dream is to travel the world, experience different cultures and forge friendships with different nationalities.

My portfolio is like a Tale of 2 Cities.  The Emerald City is a beautiful city filled with lush trees, gorgeous flowers and plants.  The Ruby City is a work in progress with young saplings, hardly any flowers and plants.

In the Emerald City, my star performers are Propnex up 116%, The Hour Glass up 52%, IFast up 48%, HR Net up 49%.  Of the 3 bank stocks, DBS is the best performing at 28%.

In the Ruby City, my worst performers are DiDi down 70%, Top Gloves down 60%, OCBC Hang Seng Tech ETF down 39% and Nanofilm down 18%.  I did a conviction check and decided they are still worth holding.

I am also in the process of building a new city.  The  Sapphire City is also a work in progress with only sapling trees.  I hope to grow these trees so that they can provide a beautiful shade in my golden years.  My star performers are SPTM up 10%, SPYG up 10% and SPLG up 8%.  I intend to dollar cost average every month  into these ETFs and watch them grow into big trees with big branches providing great shades.

So far I am happy with my progress as there were more greens than reds and overall I am up 6%.

The key lessons that I learnt in 2021 are:

1. To diversify into different classes of assets - stocks, bonds, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and gold. This will help me to minimise my risks.

2.  To be patient as investing is a marathon, not a sprint.  With time, I can experience the magic of compounding happening.

3.  To cut loss when the fundamentals of the companies have changed.

4.  To hold onto quality stocks like DBS long term.

Most importantly, I know that I am not alone in this investing journey.  This is because of the wonderful, loving community of Mooers whom I share my triumphs and success but also my bloopers and bummers.

To all my friends and hardworking staff, here is wishing 2022 will be the Happiest and Most Prosperous New Year!