Ever since I revealed publicly about hitting the much-coveted millionaire milestone I had set for myself again in 2014, lots of you’ve gotten reached out to ask in regards to the breakdown of my funding portfolio.
If you happen to’re new to my weblog, right here’s a fast breakdown of the place I began and the way I obtained right here.
In 2014, I used to be nonetheless an worker who solely knew learn how to funds and save.
I wrote my first article right here to share with my mates about how I managed to save lots of $20,000 as a recent grad who had began working full-time, which then unexpectedly went viral. That was in an period when most recent grads have been incomes $2k – $4k on common, and I used to be being paid the decrease finish of $2,500.
Again then, many individuals left feedback on that article, together with of us who suggested me to start out investing now that I had a good capital to work with. Nonetheless, I knew nothing about investing then, so I began studying – by way of a mixture of studying books, attending programs…and studying from Mr Market himself.
I’ll at all times keep in mind my first inventory buy. It was SingPost, which was closely shilled to me by my dealer again then (whom I’ve since “fired”) as he insisted that he was a “licensed skilled” and “knew higher” than me. I purchased SingPost at about $2 and misplaced near 80% of my funding on it. The monetary losses I incurred on that “protected, blue-chip” inventory taught me a painful lesson: the professionals do NOT essentially know higher than us.
If you happen to're Gen Z, that was in an period earlier than the invention of digital brokerages i.e. every retail investor had a human dealer assigned to their account, who earned some charges for every transaction that we made.
I used to be decided to be taught, and invested primarily within the Singapore inventory market throughout that point as I continued including periodically at strategic timings through the years e.g. through the 2016 oil disaster, the COVID pandemic crash and the 2021 – 2022 crash. The businesses I personal have continued to extend their dividends through the years, so I’ve loved each capital beneficial properties and a development in passive revenue (my dividend revenue collected annually has crossed 5-digits, which additionally means my yield-on-cost is now at double-digits). I wish to reinvest these dividends for much more development.
In 2016, I diversified into US and Hong Kong shares.
As I realized extra about investing, I realised that the listed shares now we have right here in Singapore are however a drop within the huge ocean. If I wished worldwide development and publicity, there have been far larger companies within the US and Hong Kong that have been making an influence throughout world markets.
My enterprise into the US markets have paid off properly. Many of the corporations I invested in have been scooped up at a major low cost through the years, together with Meta, Shopify and Masimo, simply to call a number of. I can’t be sharing the undervalued gems I discovered this yr as that’s a secret reserved just for my nearer mates and readers 😛
Whereas the Chinese language markets stay down and battered, the US markets have delivered astounding returns through the years and soared to new all-time highs this yr.
Because of this, my portfolio has benefited from a number of multi-baggers. All these have propelled my portfolio to new all-time highs as properly, as you’ll be able to see within the chart beneath.
In 2017, I added crypto into my portfolio.
I keep in mind being excited after I learnt about how crypto and blockchain expertise works, and I may see how within the close to foreseeable future, it will undoubtedly play a much bigger position in our funds. Nonetheless, investing in crypto throughout that interval the place everybody was calling crypto a rip-off wasn’t straightforward (and I, too, needed to take care of a whole lot of hate feedback and criticisms from skeptics and even a number of monetary bloggers who disagreed with me venturing into crypto belongings). Nonetheless, I tuned out the noise and purchased the majority of my cryptocurrencies then as a result of I really believed in the way forward for this new asset class.
Nonetheless, because it was fairly excessive danger and risky, I capped my publicity to only 20% of my complete portfolio. I don’t play MEME cash or NFTs, and I don’t commerce crypto futures or derivatives both.
In fact, this yr turned out to be a watershed yr for crypto, with the SEC approving crypto ETFs and governments lastly giving Bitcoin their stamp of approval (largely because of Donald Trump). As Bitcoin surged previous the $100,000 mark, my portfolio has additionally gone up. In fact, alongside the best way, I made a number of losses (anybody remembers USDT?) from crypto tasks that unexpectedly failed, however total, crypto has nonetheless given me a 4-5X acquire on my capital which is simply mind-boggling.
I've a number of mates who began out in crypto throughout the identical time as me, however made a much bigger transfer in liquidating all their different belongings (equities, bonds) to place all of it into crypto. They turned multi-millionaires ("whales") a lot sooner than me - over the last crypto bull cycle in 2020 - and have since cashed out on among the cash to purchase property. Do I remorse it? In fact I ponder what my life may have been like if I had taken the chance again then, however I additionally know that even when given the possibility to show again time (and with out hindsight bias), I'd have nonetheless made the identical resolution as a result of I had to consider my household and children. Typically, it pays to start out investing early when you have no commitments to care for but.
In 2024, my funding portfolio crossed 1 million {dollars}.
Final yr, because of the bullish efficiency of the inventory and crypto markets, in addition to the results of long-term compounded development, my funding portfolio has surged previous the $1 million greenback mark this yr.
Actually, I didn’t see this coming, and this realisation solely hit me this month after I was doing my yearly evaluation of my funds to replicate on how (properly or badly) I’ve executed this yr. The purpose I had set for myself in my 20s was to hit $1M by the point I turned 45, however again in 2022, this didn’t look doable (my portfolio was down by -35% in that yr alone) so I assumed I’d need to push the timeline additional again. Who would have recognized that the markets would come roaring again the best way it did in these latest 2 years?
A number of the shares I personal? Meta, Shopify, Disney, Tencent, Alibaba (sure I’m within the inexperienced for this since I averaged down at a time when most buyers have been fleeing), Zoom, DBS, Jardine C&C, and many others. I maintain some ETFs, however they’re a small portion of my portfolio in comparison with particular person shares. As you’ll be able to see from my choice, my funding strategy has at all times been to search out fantastic corporations and purchase them once they’re undervalued – that is very a lot influenced by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, whose writings and annual AGM sharings enormously impressed me in my youthful years. Even in crypto, I apply the identical investing philosophy – though the dangers are undoubtedly larger there since extra crypto tasks fail than corporations going bankrupt or delisting.
Personally, I don’t commerce, I don’t use margin, and I don’t make use of leverage. I’ve taken programs to learn to do them, however have concluded that such high-risk trades don’t swimsuit me as a result of I merely can’t sleep properly at evening for so long as the place is open. I’ve additionally dabbled in choices and futures up to now, however have come to grasp through the years that these approaches are actually ill-suited to me given my persona and schedule. As an alternative, I very a lot want to check the basics of corporations and doing market analysis vs. charts for patterns, and I keep away from shares like Tesla not as a result of I don’t imagine of their future, however as a result of my coronary heart can’t face up to the volatility (aka Elon Musk).
The $1M doesn't embrace my 2 properties (1 in Singapore, 1 abroad) or CPF belongings as these are much less liquid investments.
If you happen to’ve caught round for the final 10 years and watched my funding development story occur, I hope this conjures up you that it’s doable to change into a millionaire if you constantly save and make investments your technique to monetary freedom. I additionally wish to thanks for supporting the work that I do on this weblog, as a result of whereas I don’t take up a whole lot of sponsored gigs not like different full-time KOLs (to the purpose the place I’m infamous among the many companies for being “choosy” and turning down a whole lot of gigs, together with alternatives by XM, and many others – properly, that’s a label I’m completely satisfied to simply accept), this facet hustle referred to as writing (or content material creation?) has nonetheless given me a good revenue that has helped me to save lots of and make investments much more.
I’ve loved writing on this weblog for the final 10 years, and I look ahead to having the ability to do it for a great 10, 20, and even 30 extra years. Maybe then it’ll change into a retirement journey weblog fairly than educating folks on managing their funds higher, haha.
If you happen to’re new right here and don’t have any urge for food to undergo the 700+ articles that I’ve written and charted within the final 10 years right here, it is possible for you to to learn extra about my story and strategy subsequent yr when my e book is out in bookstores later this yr. Please do help that; I’m excited to lastly realise my childhood dream of changing into a broadcast writer 🙂
2024, you’ve been completely wonderful – right here’s to larger issues to return in 2025.
With love,
Finances Babe
