2009 Resolutions

New year and new beginning, I would like to be a little bit more serious and stop fooling around haha...

1) Achieve at least a B or B+ for all my modules. (Would be great to get all As, that would be my goal in mind, but I'm happy with a B.)

2) At least 3 hrs of quality reading a day. 2 hrs allocated to school work and 1 hr to finance books. (Definitely would want to spend more hrs reading. Warren Buffett reads at least 5-8 hrs a day. Not that I dont read, I'm a binge reader of everything online like politics, business news, world affairs etc. I hope to spend more time on books and less on other distractions.)

3) Finish reading Security Analysis. (Finally that 1 hr came to good use.)

4) Exercise at least 2 times a week. (I want abs!)

5) Sleep early and wake up early. (Sleep before 12am if there is school tmr. 1am if there is no school. Wake up at 9am. This rule wont apply if there are special occasions like partying. :P)

6) Plan out a daily timetable. (I'm a carefree lazy person, this is to help me organise and be discipline.)

7) Would like to meet more friends. (Half my life revolves around them haha...)

8) Investment goals. (Needless to say, read my previous postings for more info.)

9) Get a gf? (Everyone keeps telling me this. How do you actually "get" 1? Can buy with cash? Need lots of love right? Haha...*joking*.)

10) Last and most important, I wish everyone around me to be happy. (I am happy if you are, it means a lot to me. One of my reasons for living a happier life.)

Hope that I can meet all those targets. God bless and good health people! :D

Year End Portfolio 2008

2008 is a tough year for all investors. Experts have mentioned that this financial crisis is more severe than the great depression of 1927. I don't know how long the bear will last, but I'm sure the market will rise again. Nothing is new in market cycles, the boom and bust, top and bottom. History repeats itself because greed, fear, hope and ignorance will always be there in the emotions of the market.

It's a fruitful year for me and a great learning experience to ride this bear market. I've grown wiser and hopefully my capital allocation skills have improved. Made many investor friends this year. They are all very successful in their own ways and I wish them well and a prosperous new year in the years ahead. They have taught me a lot and have given me great insights in personal finance and how to enjoy life. I would like to thank them personally. (pappy, dream, san jie, uncle88, kk, superfriends I've met this year and online friends...etc etc the list can go on and on :P) You can chat with us at pappy's blog, it's getting crowded haha...

I'm happy with the past performance as I've met my target of beating the STI ETF benchmark by 10% for 2 consecutive years. However past performance is not a good indicator of future performance. I feel that I'm quite lucky and would like to be lucky again. Only time will tell, after 5 years if I've not met my target, would be better off investing in the STI ETF itself.

Cheers and Happy New Year to all readers! :D