An update of myself

I have to apologise for the lack of updates to dear readers who have benefited from reading this blog (although it is not much, these are just the basic foundations of value investing). Busy with school work was the primary reason and laziness being the secondary reason. I've actually cut down on a lot of activities and allocate more time to school. Most of my brain cells are now directed towards Anatomy and Physiology. I'm studying Physiotherapy at NYP if you are wondering. It is a 3yrs Diploma and 1yr Degree overseas course. Currently Universities in Singapore don't have this course. Yep! I'm climbing towards the plan that I set up for myself. Graduate with a degree and set up a healthcare business. With the accumulated profits, I can further invest in businesses.

Recent portfolio changes and updates

I will be doing a mid-year review of my portfolio at the end of June. My mom has decided to invest her savings with me and it will be officially called The Chan Partnership. I've sold off my losses in ChinaACorp. A loss of ~$1400, about 10% of my previous portfolio not including injected funds from Mom. This will be my last and final attempt on speculation and deeply regreted it. With the extra funds, I bought SBSTransit giving close to 7% annual dividends at 13X PER. Although crude oil prices will continue to rise but I foresee that the public transport pie will get bigger in Singapore. Margins will be offset by growing commuters as more people realise the high cost of maintaining a car in Singapore. It is not a fantastic investment but it is a safe one with an adequate margin of safety. Mom, your son will be extra careful with your hard earned money! d:D

Kingsmen continues to do well and I'm positive about their business prospect with more IR projects coming in. Much more emphasis is also placed on the designs of retail outlets to attract more customers. I think Warren Buffett said this before 'a business that helps other businesses make more money is a great business'.

The focus now is not really on the sub-prime issue but on inflation which affects everyone globally. It is increasingly challenging for value investors to deal with inflation as we need to adjust our calculations on the value of businesses accordingly. Time may actually be our foe if the price of the business remains stagnant for years even though we know the value of the business should be worth a lot more. Inflation eats into our profits as buying power of money decreases.