hi i m stil doing fine, at least still having my job & being still able to ride with the rally, not the best i can hope for, but definitely not the worst either. For this sharp & unexpected rally, i have managed to recover all my previous losses in the sinking S-chips. I guess i am lucky coz i have been able to slowly dispose of them one by one in exchange for some really good stocks along the way that proved to be quite a bargain. I suppose i have not been brave enough to rebalance my portfolio earlier in march when everything was so low, otherwise i would have made a substantial gain in this round. Nevertheless, i admit even if i had the chance i might not have the courage to do so given that the confidence level was so low at that time that I did not even bother to look at the market much. But i still managed to buy in some of my latest favourite stocks in this rally and locked in a bit of profits. I believe that this round of rally looks similar to that in jan this year, the only difference in that the magnitude is larger due to the market sentiments. However, as many has said, the economy has not really turned around yet, so i believe i still have another chance and shot at a low in the coming few months. I will be sitting tight now, and catch the opportunity when it comes to buy low. My gut instinct is that this should come in the next few months\' time, as this rally is losing much of the steam, and as STI has not managed to climb above 2,300 and does not look likely to, it may just be another round of downwards slide again at the turn of the release of some bad news, and mark my words, this time it could really be bad and possibly record a new low. I believe that Golden Agri has reported quite a loss in its earnings but ASL marine should have quite a stong report card, as such if the price is right in time to come, it will surely pay to buy low as it will surely rise up along with the others in the next wave of rally, or more so, the BULL run.
Investing is made to look a lot more complex than it really is, by the daily market commentators and the \"talking heads\" which add no value whatsoever to one\'s investment goals ! Basically, investment should follow the golden rules which have existed for decades:- 1) Buy what you understand; and treat owning shares as part-ownership of companies 2) Do your own research and study into the company before you decide to purchase 3) Purchase with a margin of safety 4) Adopt a long-term time horizon 5) Reinvest dividends if you feel comfortable with owning part of the Company If this strategy is followed consistently and without deviation, long-term consistent returns should not be difficult to achieve. Problem is too many people are concerned about what the market is going to do next, and watch PRICES as if they are an indicator of VALUE. VALUE is the independent and objective assessment of a company\'s financials, prospects, strategies and plans. PRICE is simply the last transaction done on a stock exchange. By tying our notions of value to the price, we get a very distorted view of what really constitutes \"value\". I strongly recommend reading up more on Benjamin Graham and Phil Fisher. They were the ones who helped me to adopt a value mindset and to approach the stock market merely as an avenue for executing a transaction rather than as a barometer of whether the companies I own have value or not.
ya, i think that of course value investing certainly will reward investors in time to come, but personally i would prefer to adopt a mixed approach in that i would not want to miss out on cyclical bulls as well. Yes, value investing will give long term consistent rate of return minimising the risks but you can only \"benefit\" at the end of one secular bull run, am i right? Whereeas, if we are able to make use of the cyclical opportunities within the rallies of a bear market, we can stand to benefit equally as well, whilst at the same time minimising on risks? Yes, and of course when we choose stocks, we would have factored in the margin of safety as well, if we see that the price is higher than the perceived value of that stock we pick, we would not buy and instead wait until the value comes presented again. I guess when investing, too many factors are involved to be considered, one just has to be careful in his planning & execution, be it value or technical investing or mixed.
hmm.. dont wait too long for the consolidation though, else you might miss out on the BULL run, if it turns out to be the real one! I am waiting for the BEAR to stretch its claws and strike and the chance to hop onto the bull to charge at the next fight!
Hi Sean Ng, Perhaps you can explain to me what is a \"cyclical bull\" ? How is it different from a \"secular bull\" ? I am not familiar with these terms. Also, I do not agree that value investing can only make you money during a full bull run. Remember that good companies give dividends as well as capital appreciation over time. You don\'t need a full fledged bull run to be able to see positive returns on the securities you hold.
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