Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Timeline for freedom, what's keeping me back?

My mom told me to consider deferring my thoughts of quitting to maybe the end of the year. Her worry cos the swine flu sweeping the globe might dampen the economic recovery so finding a job is not that easy.

I appreciate her thoughts. But I dont really intend to look for a job immediately. Though I have also been pondering about the timeline to do so.

Previously was July/Aug period. Now considering Sept/Oct period even til the end of the year. Why the deferrment? Well its the reserve level. I have not built up the reserve level to 12 months income yet. To do that, without touching my investment funds, would take me up another 7 months of saving up. Starting from next month, up to end of Oct. Cos included 1/2 month bonus.

Hmmm... wonders why am I getting hesistent? Is it worries about finding a job later on, worries about paying insurance which is about $4.5k or worries that 12 months income is not enough...

Signz when will it ever be enough? To work until you are 50s, then retrenched, then decide that THAT would be your break? Signz what is worrying me?

I have to really decide nearer to the date of FREEDOM. Maybe its jitters. Think I would give it deeper thoughts during the June break, hopefully win big big, or meet some rich guy in Macau.
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More stock counters that I am monitoring have the faster MA cross the slower MA and the closing price is below the slower MA. 6 counters have hit 1/3 retracement. Amongst them, 4 have hit 1/2 retracement. 1 has hit 2/3 retracement. I used the calculated prices for retracement as buy-in cues now. I buy-in around the 1/2 retracement prices.

Though I had just bought into CapLand, at a pricey $2.45, for me, its cause I still have capital released from previous round of selling, so I start buying cos it has hit my first buy-in target price. Of course there is still more room to fall. Maybe there would be more. Also I wanna buy in for the dividends, plus also to have some for maybe medium term investments instead of trading ones. I am waiting to buy more at the next lower set buy-in prices.

Start monitoring the market for buy-in opportunities. You would have to decide, how low is cheap enough for you and when prices hit that level, are you going to buy, or wait some more? Its really something no one can teach you. You have to do some hands-on, mistakes and self-doubts for such decisions. Maybe you made the right decision to wait/buy, or wrong one where prices fell further. Its something you have to live with. Dont play up on your mistakes, just learn from it, cos we are not living in 6/6 hindsight.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Stock Opportunities for Buy-In, when exactly I am not sure.

1st Quarter financial results are out.

That would impact share prices. A company making losses, would inevitably have its share prices falling.

Then SWINE fever sweeping fear much like SARS, hence that would also have a huge negative impact on share prices, especially sectors affected.

All these meant

Opportunities are coming. Start monitoring, then when its low enough for you, you decide whether to buy in or not. Definitely is not time for selling unless your stock counter is still rallying.

But cos things have only just started heading down, its best to monitor a bit first. Either that or you may risk ending up over invested too early.

Changing Oneself

Hmm this weekend, been somewhat pigging out a tad bit too much that I decided and resolutely went for 3rd swim session with sister. That was AFTER we came back from East Coast, eating Carl's Jr burgers, fries and drink. Why we ended up there was also due to boredom so asked Dad if he was going out. Then we decided East Coast and went there. Saw the kangeroo shoes and also the Ripple which is like a skateboard thingy. But since not nice to leave dad alone sitting for an hour while go cycling, skating, so my sister and I settled for walking along the beach for 20 minutes, discussing stuff.

In the later morning, earlier, I had gone to the temple to pray. Offer incense to the deities in the Temple and prayed specifically to Monkey God. May things go my way, everything also shun shun li li. Even if I have the intention to quit, still want things to be shun li, dont want to have to work like a dog, dog tired type. After coming back from the temple, I finally had a good sleep. Think I napped for 3.5hrs at a shot. Cos the weather has been blistering hot so much so, that one like myself who sleeps wrapped up in blanket, cant sleep without the fan blowing. But for unknown reasons, I kept waking up at 7.30am for the past few weekdays. It resulted in tiredness cos wake too early, plus too hot to go back to sleep. So was somewhat under the weather, especially on Saturday.
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Last night and by today's afternoon, I've finished plowing through the stack of Annual reports and Financial summaries sent to me by post due to my stock investment. The Annual reports give a clearer picture of assets, especially for Property counters. They will list out the Malls, Hotels, Offices owned by them. One can be surprised by the familarity of the names. In fact, it becomes more tuned in. Next time, I am at those places, I'll keep my eyes peeled for occupancy, crowd, biz in general, even up coming projects nearby eg IR. While travelling in Quetzal's car, noticed a couple of new development, under some of these counters too. Hmm... considerations for going in for medium term investment. See how.

The market on friday has turned a bit more. In some of my counters, I am seeing up to almost 50% retracement, in a few, 1/3. Though there are still quite a number still going up, with no trace of weakness. Sian that SPC. I just have to wait and monitor a bit. Dont want to make the same mistake of overinvestment that until REAL good opportunities, then no capital to buy. SIAN. I better practice more REFRAIN now, dont be too eager to go in then end up going in too early.
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Changing Oneself

Hmm read both Tab's and Quetzal entries about changing oneself and being happier or not being able to do it.

For myself, over the years, I have gradually really come to terms with my own personality self. Though I do have flaws, I dont think I want to trade for others. In case one dunno, my temper is not exactly good, sometimes short fuse, mostly more dormant over the years. My face is not exactly one for making jokes and stuff. But heck.

The thought experiment of being in a room with total strangers and how would one react to it.

Hmm, the secondary day me, would totally ignore everybody and just do my thing.

The JC day me would wait at the side, wait for pple to make a move and interact with those few who do.

The Uni day me would go up to maybe those who looked like in the same plight, lost and lonely too and make some talk.

The current me would have either heck it all or if have to, make small talk with whoever is around, near, beside, provided they are interested.

At least that is what I think I would do. In spite of the years, I am still not the 'life of the crowd', still tend to be at the sidelines, though I dont mind being the focus at times. But I am not the alpha type. Not a bitch, more aloof, though I do still have the habit of observing, listening and thinking more instead of talking.

Am I alright with my current self?

Except for the more negative perspective of things which I really need to consciously change now, I am alright. I have made conscious changes to my own personality in terms of doing things, taking initiative, speaking with pple. Gradually over time, I found, I can be proactive, initate stuff eg conversations, discussions, take the necessary first step. Provided I feel and want to do that. So that depends on the situation, hence in the room, if I feel the need to participate, I would go up and self-introd and talk, if dont feel the need, I would just stand at a corner and be fine with both ways. Some would call it 'wearing' a mask but if its fine both ways, I would think its more an internal thingy.

Then would I want to be completely different from the personality that I have now?

I guess I cant really tell which is better unless suddenly I suffered from Amnesia and then my personality suddenly changed into a sweet, demure, positive one, then I can somewhat make a fairer comparison AFTER I regained the memory of my current personality. The grass always seems greener on the other side. One is seldom very satisified nor happy with oneself. In fact, we play up personal flaws, while neglecting to notice that other 'perfect' people have flaws too, at times worst. Its just we dont see them cos either dont know them well enough or hidden. No need to bash yourself up for own flaws. I think everybody has them.

Even if your personality really changes to the one that you thought was ideal, it doesnt mean life would automatically go smoothly. It doesnt gurantee becoming rich, popular, everything shun shun li li. You really wont know until you are actually there. Since in the game of life, where every decision branches off into another scenario, and there is no way one can retrace life, just lead it forward. No need to dwell too much on the past, be it poor decisions, what ifs. Theres just too much of those. Focus on making a better decision for the current self. At least that is more real for myself.

Sure enough there are doubts, insecurities, but as long as at the end of the day, you can live with your choice, anything goes, as long as you are happy.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Fatiqued

SIGNZ and SIANZ... have to do an admin thing tonight.

Its stupid. A short deadline. Then didnt really have that many free periods to clear it, so left it until today. Have to finish tom. Its either go in work earlier to clear or clear at home. But still have to spend some time at work to clear it... The difference is the timing of going in. Reckon about 1hr plus should do the trick, provided I can login. Its crap cos I REALLY DONT FEEL LIKE DOING IT NOW, TOMORROW OR EVEN GO IN EARLIER... SIGNZ

Think based on my current state, and how inefficient I am working at home, I would most likely be going in much earlier to clear it off once and for all. At least I can look forward to the weekend, the guitar lessons after.
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I rather look at the stock market.

A few more counters continued to have strong showing, unfortunately those are the counters that I have finished selling off the shares. Then those on hand, there are quite a few with Faster MA crossing Slower MA and also closing prices below Slower MA. Just that prices have fallen by 50% of rise yet. Its alot of waiting now for the opportune time to buy and also to see if signs verfiy a correction.
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Signz turned down dinner with the rest due partly cos I just sprained my ankle, and the place was kinda far from where I was. It would take me more than 45mins to reach, plus hobbling on an ankle that was starting to hurt. And cos I had packed my swim gear, I just headed to 2nd session of swimming instead. My stamina has improved alot, could swim 5 laps at a go with just a brief stop to catch the breath. Then I did another continuous thing. Found with 32 strokes, I could finish one lap instead of 45 strokes previously. All these meant, I finished 12 laps in 30mins instead of 45mins. Quota reached, I left and showered.

Then I was hungry. Was thinking of what food to eat, then I settled on the Simple Bao Bing, aka chinese popiah, not the fried one. The wrapped one. Dabaoed 4, each $1.40. The chilli is really really power but I only ordered one. Previously too power that eating 2 chilli ones caused me to have a bit of diarrhoea but had to wait cos the Auntie who made it is quite slow. Then went home, ate 2 for dinner. Kinda stoned now. Dont think I am up to doing work now. Just wanna enjoy some personal time, family time, doing simple things like lazing around, updating blogs, share files, rubbing muscle cream for ankle, for sore muscles, drinking a cup of Oolong tea, honey lime. That sort of thing.
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Well I just caught a praying mantis that flew into the house and released it outside at the potted plants. That's my good deed for today.

Think later go and play guitar a bit, then sleep. I really really dont want this evening time to end but guess I am feeling quite fatiqued.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Frustrated

Woke up and practiced some guitar until fingers pain. The thing is that swimming caused the skin to peel off easily. So better practice more to grow back the skin. Also practicing the guitar is my outlet for negative energy. Its soothing and calming over turbulent emotions at times.

Its getting frustrating, going to see the top specialist for my problem and nothing much improvement can be seen. The medicine caused me to have gastric pains instead so stopped it. The nasal spray, I've kept using, but dont see much improvement. Told the doc what was wrong, no improvement and the best he could was to prescribe another gastric medicine. SIGNZ... Not to mention, he doesnt really believe what I say about my chronic problem. Its frustrating to have to go back and its been really almost half a year of treatment. Seriously should I continue?

I must be allergic to work and should really quit real soon. My decision is almost a given. The only thing is the timing of it, as exactly when.
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Going to HK trip in June. Was just checking out the webpages of the hotels we would be staying at. Think instead of going to the gyms, I shall bring my swim gear and go swimming. Looking at the pools, dont think they are very deep. Or at most I swim near the edges. Dont think I wanna go lift weights or do treadmills. Rather swim, though I only know breast stroke.

Yesterday I went swimming and did 12 laps. Didnt think I was up to doing more than that cos usually I go on a rather empty stomach, and after swimming then eat dinner. So I try not to delay dinner too much for stomach considerations. Last week or so, I weighed myself, down to 65.6kg, almost 3kg loss. But later that weekend, ate a bit more, back to 66.6kg. Hmm think I shall weigh again next week after I've finished another 2 swim sessions for this week's quota. Its true I have lost some weight, though not yet reached and stablised at 3kg and above. Think that would require more time. I do notice my flatter stomach, slightly more toned arms, though still have bat-wings. Also my jeans are getting looser. Think that is motivation enough to keep it up. Its only been the 7th week since I've started swimming twice a week, 12 laps each time.
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Monitored stock market today, the rise seems to have teethered off. My dad feels that its a pull-back/retracement. So I went and did some calculation for the 1/2, 1/2 and 2/3 retracement. Today's trading prices for a few of my counters hit the 1/3 retracement mark. But I am not buying in yet cos its still high. I shall monitor if it hits near the 1/2 retracement part and start buying-in.

Also using the Moving Average Cross-over, 2days, 19days, suggested by my dad, cos that is Zheng Yuan Cang's method, 2-3 counters I am monitoring, has the faster MA cross the slower MA from above plus closing price is below slower MA. Its a sign. BUT I am not selling. WHY? Cos the current gains is still too little, though still have gains. If I go sell off, later have to try to buy back, which is difficult when one has a proper job, and cannot be actively monitoring for buy-in. Quite a lot of work also, given I have more than 5 counters. So I'll just wait it out instead. Choosing to wait for buy-in chances. The current prices now for my remaining counters are not attractive enough for me to want to sell, though still have gains. Others have just reached break-even prices but then prices gone downwards. So hold again. Get dividend loh.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Focused on myself and moving forward

Technically, the fact that I am still up at this hour, 12.30am, online and blogging is attempting sucide. Why? Cos tom I would have to wake up in the wee hours of 6.30am for work. Yes, I be ending at my usual time... Its gonna be a LONG, tiring day. Then unreasonable deadlines start appearing cos its the exam season again... Signz
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Nevermind that, I will worry about that after I have woken up tomorrow, though technically now is already tomorrow. I headed to swim the second time this week cos this week was too intense. I used Mon and Tue to study for jap test. Think should have passed cos didnt hear from sensei. BUT it was ultra crowded with kids, instructors and parents. After 4 laps, I decided to leave. This week I will have to up the swim session to 3 times. Maybe Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Nevermind that its one after another. Tom is seriously going to be crappy. Dont think I wanna go tom. Then friday have guitar. Jap stopped for 2 weeks.
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I ate lunch, reached home. Then after practicing guitar, printing new songs, and practicing those too, I settled down to read the TA book. I was midway through Chapter 10 about Oscillators. Cos I read half last weekend, then only continued today, some of the stuff is lost, vague to me. But I finished that chapter. The next few chapters are about how to plot your own charts, the different types of charts to plot, as well as the Wave Theories. Think for now, I will take my time to dilligently finish. No point rushing through and not understanding. After that fell asleep on the floor with the fan blowing.

Woke up and continued with the other plan for today, which was to clear up my CDs so that I can free up a shelf on my table to put the pile of Annual Reports I had received. Also put all Share-related stuff in that shelf for easy access. I went over to Popular to buy a CD storage. They had 96 and 200 cd storage. In the end I decided to err on the up side and buy the 200 cd one for $21.

What I had seriously forgotten was the sheer number of Cds I had bought previously, especially for Game, Animation soundtrack, including Jpop, Jrock, some Eng cds. When I reached home, I set about taking the CDs out from the cases, put the CD and song sheet, plus also cut out the list of songs to put inside the cd storage. Also organized the Cds I had into sections. The empty cd cases, I set aside, intending to give to Salvation or Recycling. By the time I was finally done, it was already 11.30pm. I had 90 empty cd cases to give away and the CD storage had about 150 cds inside.

I still have a few vcd boxes still lying around cos they were mixed up with the Cds and also 7-8 burnt cds that I am unsure if I still wanna keep. For now, I am putting them aside, just put in the annual report into the shelf and also find a space for the CD storage.
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Think the plan for next weekend, depending on whether will be going to Msia for paint ball, I shall clear the top of the shelf so that I can put the cd storage and also create more space on my very very cluttered table. But for now, I am glad to have cleared part of the floor of the room that had a growing pile of annual report on it.

Still have clothes, plus my files, vcds, dvds and even game dvds to clear up from the floor of the room. All of them need space. Need to organize them. But seriously, if you think my cd collection was bad, its nothing compared to the Game dvd collection, animation dvd collection, older vcd collection. I dont even dare to think about how to organzie those.
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Logined to key in 'Sell' orders in case market goes up tomorrow cos there is no way I can login tomorrow. Will be kept very very busy. Plus very very tired. So I just key in my orders and just need to wait for sms confirmation.
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My dad fell asleep and I had finally access to watch cable tv. Was watching LA ink and am again very impressed with the standard of the tatoos created. IF I am ever getting one, I shall fly all the way there to do it.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

If Today Was Your Last Day

This is a song that I really fall for when I first heard it. It has very insightful lyrics that really reflect the whole myrid of thoughts that I experienced since feeling fatiqued from work.

If Today Was Your Last Day



My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each days a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned
Leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
If today was your last day

Going against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts cause there's no second try
So live it like you're never living twice
Don't take the free ride in your whole life

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
And would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies
And would you find that one your dreaming of
Swear up and down to god above
That you'll finally fall in love
If today was your last day

If today was your last day
Would you make your mark
On ending a broken heart
You know it's never too late
To shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
Cause you can't rewind
A moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
Cause the hands of time
Are never on your side

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
And would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies
And would you find that one your dreaming of
Swear up and down to god above
That you'll finally fall in love
If today was your last day.


My life is more meaningful with going for the Guitar class, Jap class and even swimming twice a week. It makes it more enriching, more pro-active than just a passive phase. Also the foray into the Stock market help empower. If I just die the today, there is much fewer regrets. Will try to spend more quality time with family too.

HoT HOT day

Friday nights are really more productive in the 'entertainment' sense, cos there's guitar lesson and meeting up with friends after.

The guitar lesson was kinda fun, with laughter and smiles as we moved onto more difficult technique. Back to 3 students in total now. I forgot really what we were smiling about as we struggled with some of the new plucking and strumming styles. Some were because of questions asked, some due to answers given, some due to the very fast tempo and struggles encountered.

After that I rushed off to meet up friends for them to watch me eat a late dinner... We treated FH to celebrate his graduation finally. Technically he's a fresh graduate now, despite working for longer than us.

Almost involved in a car accident while in Quetzal's car and driving towards Keppel Bay. Hmm... the last check with my policies, I am worth half a million. But if I quit civil service, I am reduced in value to 200k. Had several drops of cold sweat when the stupid car started to move towards Quetzal's car from the left, wanting to overtake the bus infront BUT forgetting to check that there's a car beside it. DUH! Saw that the driver was also shocked later when he realized that he almost nearly drove into my side of the car head-on. He wasnt looking at all, then my hands were on the passenger window, Quetzal moved away and then the guy noticed and shifted back, away from immenent collision.

Besides that, everything else was normal except for the Jokes about the impending trip to Macau for gambling. Kena suaned for dress code, due to the poshness of the casino, then more jokes about 'betting' away friends to strangers.

Also had a good laugh about next Friday's drive-in and the Roosters having to do a 'nibbling' discussion before details can be finalized. As FH would put it, "We have to sit down and cock cock about it like chickens we are." Think I better go and change more ringgit soon, the x-rate is higher, RM$2.385 instead of RM$2.75 just last week, though nowhere as high as RM$2.40, its still better.

By the time Quetzal dropped me off, its almost 1am. I reached home in one piece, luckily nothing else happened. It was another incredibly warm and stuffy night, that I took out the guitar and practiced the new stuff with a fan blowing at me. Until much much later then I went to sleep with the fan blowing the whole night.
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I was very tired physically but due to the hot weather, didnt sleep very well and wake up rather early, 8-9am. I wanted to sleep more but its just too bright and hot. Wanted to continue sleeping later on but its still too warm to be comfortable. Lazed around literally infront of the fan, watched South Park Season 12. Then wanted to head out but sisters not able to. One is forbidden due to heat stroke, other wanted to head out but seeing the other couldnt make it, decided to go to sleep instead. I didnt sleep at all all the way through the afternoon. It was an uneventful, warm and boring afternoon. Felt very sian.

Later we headed out to eat dinner around 8pm. Yingel and I headed to Ginza to walk around a bit and 'blow aircon'. Ended up buying groccery instead. The coolness evaporated once we stepped out to the hot, unmoving, stale night air. We reached home and took a 2nd shower. I even changed out of my clothes, put on snake powder to get as much relief from the heat.

Went to practiced more guitar, lazed, stoned. Finally boredom caused me to go online. I still have the TA book pending but the heatiness is seriously affecting my ability to sit still to read something. Watched Naruto online, read the manga, updated Excel file. That's about all.

Man I want my weekends to last much much longer than this.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Work's a bitch

Its tough not getting enough sleep for the past 2 nights.

Reasons? The overly active mind plus the hot weather.

Dunno why but Wed night, my mind was in hypergear thinking about stocks before I slept. In fact dragged up to past 1.30pm before I switched off the lights, put on the fan and then slept. Only to have to wake up much earlier for work.

Last night, work flared up in my mind and try as I might, the swimming session didnt clear it. I practiced guitar a bit but still work is there. Fine, I took out the PSP and played Patapon 2, pataed until wee hours of 2.30am before I finally was tired enough to be knocked out. Only to wake up at 9am, automatically, in time for the stock market. Just opened up Poems, see live prices, then read stuff online.

Kind of groggy now, stoned though I had eaten brunch liao. Work's a bitch that I wanna kick out of the door. Grrrrrrr... Just 忍 a bit more first. Though if there is such thing as an instant fortune, its the first thing to go.

Thank God Its Friday! TGIF!!!
Seriously need to recharge this weekend. Think the first order of things is to sleep more over the weekends and laze around in bed. Body is feeling really fatiqued at the moment.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Stoned

That's how I feel currently, after finished a long day at work.

Heading out for Jap test, meant more stoned.

During dinner with Tab, was discussing aspects of budgeting and financial planning in regards to her intending to save up for a flat plus wedding etc. The main topic was about creating a detailed budget.

Lemme revisit budgeting, which was a fundamental and crucial first step I had embarked upon once I started working since Temp days. Given that I have actual experience in this, maybe listen and try it out for yourself.
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101 of Budgeting by Hellbound

The financial maxim of Money and savings. "开源节流" => earn more or spend less.

The steps that I had taken, followed by an explanation of the uses, applications of the steps. Of course carrying out is a must, otherwise what's the use of planning?

1)Record all expenditure in a day, with some details for every amount recorded eg lunch, CD, book, concert, dinner, Friday drinking.

Rationale: To get a realistic idea of where all your money are going, to what categories of expenses, you need concrete data, not just aga aga. Not if you want to be able to reduce your spending and thereby without getting extra income, effectively increase your savings.

2) Looking through 1-3 months of your recorded amounts. Only then at the end of 1 month each, tallied up the amounts into Sub-categories by lumping together the relevent amounts from the details of the entries.

Why I choose to only lump up the amounts at the end of 1 month instead of just broadly indentifying sub-categories eg Food straight away? Its because I want a finer details of my expenditure pattern. I want to identify Food for normal meals which are inevitable and Food for weekend outings, money for public transport, money spent on Taxi rides. Occasional expenditure versus monthly expenditure. Basically money spent on neccessities versus money spent on specific indulgences. I want to separate out them from the start to have more strategies to deal with them.

3) By looking at the sub-categories derived from Step 2. I can now see exactly how much money goes into Normal meals, Outside meals for weekends, Hp,internet bills, hobbies eg books, cds, Drinking sessions, Shopping which can be further sub-divided into shoes, tops, bottoms, working clothes, casual clothes, bags and many more.

Where to get this finer details? They all come from your details in your monthly daily expenditure record. Why do I need to do this Ma Fan thing? Just aga aga I know I spend on clothes $300 can liao. BUT if you want to really identify areas that you can reduce, I would advise having finer details of categories. SO THAT you dont have to say things like I cant shop for this month, or I have to stay home for this entire month. It could just be, I need to cut down on my shoes alone, the rest can maintain and eventually you save more. Its that powerful IF you really get through to this stage.

Another aspect is that NOT only can you derive a figure for your general expenditure, your specific expenditure in each sub categories, you can also see the number of times you carry out a particular purchase. Eg Oh I didnt know I buy 6 tops this month, go to movies 6 times, bought 7 pairs of shoes. You maybe surprised by the number of purchases per month for certain sub-categories.

4) Now is the time for analyzing your expenditure pattern which is now finely divided into sub-categories representing your true expenditure pattern which is specific to you (my expenditure would include external courses fees but friends may have differing sub-categories eg car maintainence, car petrol, car parking)

i) What is your total expenditure in a month, including and excluding once-off items eg Holiday, which can also be budgeted into.

ii) How much do you exactly save in this month, putting in your nett pay, less of all your actual purchases for the month? Are you happy with this figure? If you are, game over, no need to continue. If not, then go onto next question.

iii) Which is your top 3 sub categories? And how much is it relative to your income?

iv) In this 2-3 categories, which ones are necessities, which means usually very very hard to reduce without affecting your standard of living and material comfort. Which ones are more of indulgences? You may have more than 3 indulgences. If that is the case, then identify which 1-2 are seriously over limit. A gauge is the total amount spent for it.

v) Set out to reduce the total amount spent for that 1-2 indulgences by smaller amounts initially eg reduce $350 spent on working clothes to $300. But $50 is not much you say, but remember savings is cumulative. Its not only $50 a month extra saved, its $600 a year. Why such small reduction? BECAUSE it is punishing and difficult psychologically to suddenly stop buying things especially indulgences, just like smoking. What is effective is to slowly reduce a bit, so that you can still buy, still have indulgences, but over some time, effectively reduce that total amount.

vi) With the figures decided, now you can do simple averaging and obtain figures like Target amount for spending eg $50 a day max, Shopping is 4 tims a month instead of 3 times, each time budget about $70 instead of uncontrollable bursts of spending, if I already bought 4 pairs of shoes, immediately no more buying of shoes, Weekend outings maximum is $100 per weekend etc

There are then many many more strategies and figures can be derived for the sub-categories.

The very very important last step is to actually CARRY OUT the planned reduction for the identified sub-categories. It requies you to make a conscious decision during purhase to remember certain limits, amount YOU have set to achieve and try as much as possible to stick to.

Hopefully by the next month, through your continued record of your purchases, you can (1) see if you have effectively reduced that amount in that indulgences, (2) see if you had instead spent more in other areas, (3) see if you have been effective in raising your saving amount. And then continue to review and monitor a bit until you are satisified with your new saving amount. By then, it becomes so ingrained, you will make unconscious decisions to save more and every month have surplus and a high surplus.

These are based upon my own experience at least for the earlier years of working, which was how I set about building up my reserve and investment capital eventually by last year.
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Later on I had moved onto other ways of tracking monthly expenditure and savings which I can share if you are interested.

But even I am now currently doing this monthly long, daily record of expenditure. I have just started for 3 days. Cos I want to have a clear idea of where are my money going and see if I can PUSH up my saving rate to a much higher level. Why? Cos I somewhat wanna quit so I wanna make the next few months savings much higher to build up the reserve faster. I was rather lax in the last year or so.

For friends who do not know how to carry out Step 2. After you have finished writing up a 1 month long daily expenditure list with details, can pass to me, I can help you sub-divide into categories, identify indulgences for you etc provided you write more details of each purchase first.

Hopefully some aspects can be put to use and help you on your path to saving more for your home, investment, build up reserve and eventually investment.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Happy Happy Me

Yar its funny, one day I am blogging about being unsatisfied and sian, the next day, I am blogging about being happy, in simple terms.
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Today I reached my first SGD$10k realized profit from trading in stocks, the combined total so far from SG cash portfolio and Msia cash portfolio gains. So basically I am looking at the cash portfolios only. My CPF portfolio is adopting the Warren Buffet way. YEAH!!!!! One small target reached. The next few targets are at $15k, $20k, $25k and even $30k if possible.

(Err those expecting a treat, my book closure is at the end of the year, so until then first cos I wanna reinvest the gains)

I would like to credit the positive gains to

1)good stock selection
-possible through reading up on Share Investment Book ($6) available at any news stand or 7-11 (where my sister works at)
- SGX website for news and dividend, rights information

2) Actively monitoring of share prices to get some idea of the price range, value of the stocks.
Eg if it was previously $6, but then droppped to $2 and its a good company with strong assets and biz. Its undervalued. Buy-in. Compared to a share that prices has fallen since its listed all the way. Dont buy.

3) Making up Buy-in and Selling target prices from these information.

4) Acting on the information and make actual decisions and carry out.

5) The continued actively monitoring, refining decisions and targets depending on market conditions.

It is a continous process. I have been only using the above methods 1-5 to make decisions about stocks. I realized I needed TA as well as some Fundamental analysis ' to make even better Buy-In and Sell decisions to 'Time' the market based on trends, companies earnings ie financial results and the economic climate. Need more Macro-economics knowledge also.
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Been pushing myself to read up the Technical Analysis book and finally I got past the middle of the book. Usually I stopped at Chapter 7 Volume. But now I have almost finished Chapter 10 about Oscillators.

The surprising thing today is that I login to Poems and looked at the Historic chart. Then I noticed that there is a Moving Average line. Then I looked and saw that there is an option to add the TA tools eg 2 Moving Average lines, Oscillators by just clicking. It adds to the historic chart. POOF, I can understand what those tools are and how to use them! Suddenly I can interpret the signals for 'Buy-In' and 'Sell' timing. Woah I feel so EMPOWERED.

Though it should be mentioned, that these tools are still secondary compared to charting the TREND of the prices, which is the PRIMARY focus. Then use these secondary tools to CONFIRM the trend. Not use these secondary tools to make buy-in/sell decisions alone with no regards to Trend. Cos there could be false signals given eg Whipsaws, false upwaves
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I didnt based my decision to sell today on that moving average thingy. It was too early and I had to go to work early so I just keyed in my next higher target price, thinking to try my luck. Didnt expect it to go through around 4pm. So I may expect to see price of that counter go even higher than what I've sold it for today. But for this initial stage I am alright with not using TA for buy/sell decisions cos I havent gotten the complete picture, nor have I started observing the market with these tools to build a whole complete picture, though I have to get started eventually.
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Regarding hitting an initial target, I didnt immediately feel euphoric cos I only saw my hp at the end of the day. I had signed up for the sms service using reward points accumulated to be informed IF my trade transactions went through. Then when I saw the sms, I realized that I had hit the first target. Was busy updating my monitoring files, calculating returns and thinking of when to re-invest, which counters to go for or wait. Which counters to divest? Which counters to put in more? Which counters to remake decisions. Its a whole lot more of decisions to make after every trade.

Yet I enjoyed this ALOT. Its real-time, its "playing for keeps", its an alternative income source, its decision-making with consequences. It has real tangible rewards and losses. Its not gambling cos there are strategies. Its not blind luck cos homework has to be done. Its fun!

Monday, April 13, 2009

早起的鸟儿有虫吃

The early bird catches the early worm.

Yep at least this is true for the stock market.

After at least 6 months of trading. I've noticed that share prices tend to go up quite early in the morning. Meaning, from 9am onwards to 9.50am region, good prices can be reached within the narrow band of 1hour from the start of trading. In fact there are times when I've missed the good prices and then during the rest of the morning and afternoon up to the end of the trading day, prices either remain or at times dont reach back to some of the higher prices experienced at the start.

Today the market is still up. Made a sell transaction after I login and saw the prices near 9am. It had hit into the target prices I had set and written down in the book. Decided to sell off Two lots to realize more profits so can hold out for the next higher price at the next target price. In fact this was the only 'feel-good' thing that kinda made my day.

Recently I have been selling off stocks. The ones I am selling off are the 'profitable' ones. There are those on hand that are just reaching break-even prices but not much price movement. I am looking out for BUY-IN opportunities, since selling off the ones meant I have capital back on hand. Just wish opportunities can come quickly. Sometimes impatient for price movements. Missed a GREAT opportunity the last time from over-investment. Will try to remember that lesson and not make the same mistake.
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Started work on a negative note. Kept asking myself why was I doing that... Another 2 months to freedom and decision-time. For now I havent made other plans nor preparations beside the stock market, eg resume, skills to acquire, courses to look at, other employment options.

The only thing more concrete is the plan to study for upcoming Jap test, practice guitar, read Chpt 10 and finally after Wednesday, I can play my PSP, pataponing, play PS2 Kingdom Heart. That sounds good.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Exciting Long Weekend but feeling tired

Thursday

Headed out to town after meeting up with insurance agent to get my policies. I was early, too early, reached before 6pm. So I holed up at Occha, drinking warm green tea and writing out some Sell-Target prices and Buy-in Target prices for the stock counters I have. I also spent some time looking through my current positions and writing them up again in my faithful book. Think its easier to make decisions with some targets in place instead of relying on gut feeling which may lead to decisions based on emotions instead.

So basically what I did was to compute my break-even prices, list beside the 30% and 40% target to sell. It acts as a gauge and also a trigger for the sell decision. The Buy-in target prices were decided based on my tracking of the stock prices. I listed the lowest price observed so far plus some counters I had bought in at certain prices before. After that I decided on a Buy-in price. Then wrote them all down in the same page. So that when the market is active, I can just look at all these information at a glance and make a decision. Cos I am not at home the whole day, so certain orders, I have to key in the system and then leave for work. The only time I'll know if it goes through is when I get a sms that the order is done. So I cant do what my dad does, which is monitor it, when it reaches the prices then call in an order and get it executed at the current live price.

Then met up with the rest to eat pasta, pizza. After that walked around a bit and Quetzal drove me home. Thanks.

Friday

There is no guitar due it being a public holiday. My sister was heading out to get some bras from OG. Then the other was undecided to join in or not. So I just joined up and we all headed down to Bugis OG. At Bugis Junction, I introd them to Yellow Fellas, cos Geoky hadnt eaten lunch yet, I was getting hungry. We ordered 2 cones, one is salsa + wasabi mayo, the other is nacho cheese. They quite liked it. Then we headed to Illuma cos they wanted to see how its like. Oh it seems there is $6 tix everyday, no wonder such a huge throng of people buying tixs. We headed to Otaku house and I saw many other Cat's Paw but didnt get more, think I want more variety instead of one type hanging on every bag.

Then we headed to OG, and shortly after we bought the stuff. It started raining but we walked to near Dolby from near the Guan Ying temple in the rain. Its a whole new different experience altogether cos Yingel having her facial. Me and Geoky headed to Marina to buy an electric kettle which mom wanted and ate at Cartel, giant burger then we headed home.

I started reading through the Technical Analysis book again in hopes to finally finish it. I started from Chapter 4 with all the typical reversal patterns, continuation patterns, etc etc By the time I fell asleep, I was at Chapter 7, Volume.

Saturday

Woke up, practised guitar and continued reading through the TA book, chapter 7. By the time Quetzal came, I was reaching Chapter 10 Oscillators which is a rather confusing tool to me. Havent finished the chapter yet. There is still another 7 chapters to go. After Oscillators, are the charting chatpers, wave theory, and then money management. These are important chapters that ties everything up nicely. If you are wondering, the book is about 550 pages thick excluding appendices.

We headed to Jusco at Bukit Indra, near Nusajaya. Its surprisingly close to the 2nd link, in fact a very short drive. Inside Quetzal and Tab had a very good time shopping for ladies shoes. There are so many, about 6-7 shoe shops in a row, right next to each other. I did buy a very nice T-shirt, though its a guy's shirt but the picture is just too good to let by. It is fitting except a bit longer and a bit looser around the waist but that's good enough. Also managed to buy swimming caps for all 3 of us, my sisters and I. Each one a colour and think big enough to wear over our big heads. Cos I find my hair starts tangling up, think is due to swimming.

We were too tired after shopping only half the shops for 1.5 hours. There's an A&W and we headed there. Signz cant eat beef so ate a chicken roll instead. No corny dog or burger for me... Bubu. The root beer float is nice, curly fries too. I was wolfing down the fries, which is unlike me cos I was quite hungry. Think the mee siam in the morning wasnt enough. After that we continued walking a bit. Headed to the jusco supermarket cos I wanted to look for peeled coconut. Its an entire coconut peeled nicely in a container. When its chilled, you poke open the fruit and the juice comes out and you eat the meat with the juice. Lagi Shiok!

Ended up buying up 4 coconuts, 1 jellybeans, 3 mocchi, 1 mochi pastry in all. Then we continued shopping around. When we reached the game shop, its my turn to let them wait. I loaded in Patapon 2 (chinese) and Loco Roco 2. Wah Loco Roco is like 1.7Gb that I had to delete some mtvs from my psp to get it in. Plus I finally found KINGDOM HEART 2 Eng version and bought it, though I havent tried it on the PS2 set yet. I have been searching for it endlessly for more than 1.5 years. I had the japanese version but its too great a game to let it pass by without understanding the plot. Man, I am committing sucide, havent started studying for Japanese test and now I am distracting myself with games...

After the shopping's done, we headed for massage. Quetzal and I went for Thai body massage, Tab went for foot massage. Its not bad cos its done by authentic thai ladies. Though compared to Thailand prices, its slightly more expensive but still much cheaper compared to Sg prices of massages. My neck wasnt crackling after the massage. I didnt have alot of crackling sounds. Quetzal had many many crackling sounds. Scary but she was giggling so guess she's fine. I really like the warm lavander eye bag they put over the eyes during the massage. Its relaxing though I didnt snooze. The hot towel face massage is also good. Overall, I dont mind going back once a month or so I guess?

We went for last minute shopping cos Tab's hair band broke. She got a cute acryllic cat hair band (I showed it to her), Quetzal got the same cat band too. I bought a guitar necklace. Yay! Then we headed back after 10.30pm and reached Sg shortly after 11pm. Its a good trip, very 'fruitful' (cos of the coconut) Spent a total of RM$280, lesser than expected. Hmm... lol but I need to re-bank in the RM I drew for Tab and Quetzal. They paid me in SGD but I have to put it back in RM the next round. Point to remember, need to change more RM and bank in for next JB trip.

Sunday

Didnt do reading of TA book today cos I was distracted by Patapon 2. Its fun to play it, with new features, though reading the words in Chinese is a new experience.

Today treated family to 天旺, which opened in Ginza. Its a treat for the pb I got. I would suggest a place and tell them when and then we go eat something beyond the usual food we eat. Its a chinese restaurant. Only found out that its a Hong kong style chinese restaurant later. Ordered rice with Tie Ban Toufu, Dong Bo Rou, Fish head, Thousand island cod fish, Wasabi prawns, Baby Kai Lan. Its quite delicious though pricey. But nevermind, its not like we eat like this everyday. After lunch we walked around a bit and headed home.

I was so tired, guess going out everyday since thursday has taken its toll. But didnt sleep straight away. I watched 2hrs of tv. Then slept for 20mins, bathed, headed out to buy 4D and drank coffee. Think I am becoming addicted to coffee. A strange thing since I only drink 1 pack on weekdays when I have to work. Usually I dont drink on holidays and weekends. But guess its been so many days of not drinking, think body craves for it. Didnt drink on Fri, Sat. Headed home, tried to sleep again, went online to check and read stuff and ate dinner.

This entry has taken quite long... started around 8.30pm plus, in between, I was eating, logging in to other websites. Think tonight finish the TA chapter 10, then tom start studying for Jap test. No pataponing until after Jap test. Swimming postponed to Thurs and Sat/Sun instead to make full use of after work timing to study. Think I wont be studying before work, that time is for monitoring live stock prices. Hope to be able to hit more than 50% of the target before June. Its to keep on track.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Chisai 4D win

Eh, Candle's been smsing me to ask if I had tio any 4D cos she did tio for the Guan Ying qian numbers. After putting off checking for a few days, I went online to check, since I was checking up on Macau, tix and hotel prices.

I won $40 + $10 for $6 of i-bet. The bigger amount was due to getting the same numbers as the 3rd prize and a consolation prize. So divided by the permutations, tada $50. Its better than nothing, and its my first i-bet win. Previous times dont win i-bet. So now awaiting the Toto numbers, monday's draw no one won first prize. Snowballed to 1.5m.

Tom is my Toto and 4D buying days. I'll just buy my usual numbers until get inspiration. The prize money can just slightly cover with a bit of extra for the whole week's bet.

Wonders if it has anything to do with the '招财' cat paw that I have hanging on my bag. But it was bought after we bought the numbers when we went to Illuma. Maybe I should go hang it on all my bags. Carry out the bag earlier tomorrow to buy Toto and 4D then come home and change over to work bag. Hmm.... I need more of such lucky money key chains hanging around my bags, all my bags, that is like at least another 4 more for my 2 work bag, my 2 pirated bags that I carry and inerchange at times.

Jap test is round the corner and all I can think of is sleeping... Must do something about being so tired after work... Make my money work even harder. Stock market, rebound and go high high asap.

Can there be more to this?

I look forward to the Autumn seasons soon. It better come asap cos just one day at work yesterday left me drained, physically and mentally. Not cos I was thinking about crap and worrying myself but due to the crap at work...
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Yesterday the market went higher, prices going up high but since I still have capital, decided to refrain. Then today prices fall, wiping out past 2 days of paper gains. It could still be an uptrend but depends on the support line. Though I havent exactly drawn charts to monitor the trend. It could be a pull-back, which means waves of ups and downs but so long as it is still an uptrend, eventually prices will head up. But if the trend is down, then prices might fall further.

I looked at the Dow Jones, it didnt go down too much, wonders why is the sg stock prices falling. Could be jittery investors or something. Oh well, lemme continue to monitor and hope to sell off more soon. Even buy-in will take a while cos prices have risen quite a bit, so there is alot of room to fall and wait out.
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Went swimming yesterday as part of the twice a week routine. Felt tired even after first few laps. Think is the lack of food part. Plus dunno why, there are often more adults than lanes resulting in 1/2 lane conditions. I did persist through and finished the usual 12 laps in 45mins. Then headed off to change and reach home, ate Hor Fan at the coffeeshop cos too hungry. Reached home, ate some rice too. Dunno if this overeating will lead to weight gain, havent measured today. Nvm, today I refrain from eating anything else extra.

Reached home, update share prices, then already very tired then. Went to bed near 11pm and really fell asleep with the lights still on. I had wanted to rest my eyes and then practice some guitar before sleeping. Later I found myself sleeping on the floor cos the cold floor was tempting. Woke around 3am to switch off lights and snuggle in bed. Though got woken up very early by crazy loud bird again... Still feeling stoned now.

Monday, April 06, 2009

The Interpreted Answers

Went to the sinseh for visitation and get the Guan Ying qians interpretted.

Hmm it seems by just reading the English interpretation is not enough. Must look at the front of the qian, and the various Chinese writings. The answers are there.

Qian 1: It seems I can quit but have to wait until Autumn and Winter season where my luck is very very powerful, aka after June, most likely into Aug but try not to hit into the Hungry Ghost Festival. So after it. Cos things can go smoothly then.

Qian 2: It is a fundamental question about whether you want it. If you want, you will have, if you dont want, there is nothing. But have to give and take in the relationship.

Qian 3: Can go back to help but it is not good for yourself. Put in lots of effort, no fame, no recognition, no gains for yourself.

Hmmm... now that changes lots of things. Some planning and preparation on my part needs to be undertaken. I hope to keep myself focused on them and make the preparations for change.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

The Answers

To the question of quitting this June,

Answer: Dont, stay on

To the question of marriage and settling down in 5 years.

Answer: Lotus in firey pond (candle's previous qian) err think no hope

To the question of going back to help brother, keep an eye.

Answer: Mind your own biz.

Okay... I need to find things to keep me occupied and lower stress to last until end of this year. Then go there to qiu qian again with regards to quitting.

Incidentally many times didnt get to start the qian cos Guan Ying didnt give me a positive go-ahead until many tries of asking. Even then, the qian that drop out also many times then can get the 'correct' one.

Later going to see sinseh, and he will continue interpreting the qian answers.
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Wow, yesterday was really a long and fruitful Saturday. Did a number of things. Including getting mistakened by cleaner who thought I diritied the floor eating the Yellow Fella fries and gave me a dirty look while she cleaned up. For the record, there's wolf-berries on the floor, NOT salsa topping which was incidentally red also on my fries. I decided not to let her misunderstanding ruin my day. Just put it aside as an amusing incident.

Met up with Candle where we proceeded to go the Guan Ying temple. We did our qian and got our answers, though, I would really have like to QUIT. But better follow the advice. Then we headed to buy 4D and Toto using the numbers gotten. Next we headed to the Illuma, a new shopping building which, resembles a box with lots of cheap pentagons and stars being 'sticked' on. We headed in cos there was human traffic, hence it must be open already.

Its quite big, with 6 floors. There is a very new arcade with new games and stuff, a movie theatre, Mahatten fish, some other restaurants, but no food court yet. About 30% of the stores were occupied and opened for biz. We ate at this HK restaurant/cafe having 20% discount. Had 海龙王炒饭 and Candle ordered Claypot rice and siew mai. The verdict, the fried rice and claypot are good. Siew mai, not so. Then we walked around, and went to Otaku and Comic connection. I bought 4 key chains, one of which is a Cat's claw with the words '招财' on it to replace my Chibi Cai Shen which droppped(Anyone sees any Cai Shen keychain, please help me buy. Thanks) Oh it lights up when a mobile phone is in use not just anytime. LoL.

We walked in and out of some fashion shops, the offerings are different from Far East but didnt buy others. Then we made our way back to Bugis where Candle bought Uzumaki icecream. I was too full to eat any. We headed to Orchard by bus and headed to Shaw Lido to stone and wait for Tab who was still MIA. Before she arrived, we were discussing about stocks, the qians, animes and others. After some time, all of us headed to Borders to make use of the coupon, 30% discount, further 10% with my membership card which is with Tab....

At first didnt know that even for discounted items, can use the coupons, so looked around for full-priced items but I didnt have 3 books. Later when Quetzal came, she also decided to buy a book. She needed some help to look for financial related books and frankly I dont really know much about, cos the few I read were loaned from the library. The rest is from Technical Analysis book and reading SGX news and announcements, Shares Investment plus read Annual Reports.

I went over to look at the Financial section, took up 3-5 books ranging from Commodity trading, Forex, Futures, Stocks, Current debt problem and Finanical Problem in US explanation, looked through the content page, find a sub-section and read through to see if they really offer insight.

OMG! Some are so condensed until its nothing much relevant esp those that supposedly is trying to explain the Current Financial Crisis. It starts with some crap about current crisis, the stereo-typed/generalization of the causes, then heads off to give a History of all the fianancial crises from the past to the present. I didnt even reach the end, cos there isnt much.

Even worse are those supposed teaching you how to invest, in FX, Futures, Stocks, Commodities. Some are as simple as just giving you Textbook answers and definition. 'What is a hedgeing?' It is locking in the prices of the commodity at a fixed price cos XYZ needs it in the future say, 6months time and wants to protect his supply.... I could get those by borrowing from the library.

Others would start off saying you need to save. Save a portion then use it to invest. Then talk about the investor mindset and the general thing about falling for the greed trap, excuberance etc. That's about it.

OMFG! At least for the 6 or so titles, I dont see much of Strategies. Buy-in strategies, Criterias and Forumlas to select companies, assess the results, trading strategies, selling strategies. These are just more of the same repackaged points from books I had read earlier from borrowing from the library. I was so thoroughly disgusted. I think there are such books out there, but you seriously need to look through such books before buying. Btw, I should go read the other half of Technical Analysis, and the book by the 'Zhen Yuan Chang' to find out more concete Stategies.

Then I remembered my sister telling me that Warren Buffet actually has a book that the forumla and criterias he used for stock selection are listed. That my sister actually used those to select her portfolio of stocks. But I cant remember the title, cos I didnt read that book. Quetzal came with a book about Warren Buffet which I saw before on my sister's shelf. But I dunno its contents, dunno if its the book. Later looking through, thank god Borders allows browsing, its more of an autobiography. I called my sister to provide the title of that book as well as the book written by Warren Buffet's master. Then Quetzal bought the correct copy of ' Buffetology', not the 'New Buffetology'. Hopefully it will help her in the journey of investing. So Tab is heading down with more printed coupons to buy the remaining discounted books at a further discount.

We took a long while Borders and headed to eat at NYDC. After that was too tired to continue. I went back, practiced some guitar and knocked out. It is refreshing to have a longer Saturday, achievable by heading out much ealier, cos it makes the day longer, one can see the sun more, before its night.

Meeting around 5pm or so seriously makes the day shorter cos most likely is lazing around at home before heading out. Weekday timing cos of work is understandable BUT for the precious weekend, its better to stretch it from the early afternoon than to stretch into the wee hours of the Sunday. Better for the body?

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Asking the Question

In another 10 more minutes, I'll be heading out to Quan Ying Temple to 'qiu qian' for a few questions, mainly and firstly is work-related.

Yesterday, I had mentioned in the earlier post that I had 'divested' from one of the counters, reason being I had too many counters. For cash portfolio, I had shares from 8 counters. Then as mentioned earlier, by spreading capital over too many counters, it results in fewer lots of shares in the main counter. Also took a bet on 2 counters, hoping to make a fast buck but instead got tied up. Hence the whole 'over-invested' period that resulted in HUGE opportunities forgone due to lack of capital.

Now market has shot up in 2 days running. Thursday I didnt sell, still waiting for prices to rise. Friday morning, I login to start 'divesting', though still at a gain of 16% gains. As mentioned, I havent finished selling off in 2 batches, then prices dipped before lunch. So having work, I keyed in 2 orders, to sell remaing batch of that counter, as well as sell off 1st batch of CapLand shares. Given that it had gone up quite a bit and gains has reached 28%.

This sale was influenced by my Dad. He practices selling off in batches, firstly to start realizing profits. His rationale is with money in the pocket, you have even more holding power to wait it out. Also if you hold all in the hand and keep waiting, waiting, its very hard to make the 'sell' decision. This is a strategy he mentioned, he read in a book by this famous guy "Zheng Yuan Cang", a famous taiwan self made multi-millionaire from trading shares using strategies. He published books about his strategies much like Warren Buffet. So my dad follows his style, much like my sister Yingel who follows Warren Buffet style.

Not bad, think if things go smoothly, maybe on track to hitting my investment target. But previous dilemna still exist. Still got paper profits, still quite significant but I am reluctant to sell off so quickly. Some havent hit my investment target, others I want to hang on and see how. The main difference now is that I have freed up capital trapped by the counter, plus the gains from the sale. So now I have the capital to look out for opportunities for re-investment. Even if this uptrend doesnt persist, I am able to buy-in in a down market. If it goes higher, then I can sell off. Not a bad position to be in.

So far with the exception of a loss of $69, the rest of the sell transactions have been at a gain. Hopefully these flows can cumulatively lead to target of $25k. Dividend season is coming in the upcoming May/June period. That could also add to gains, for dividend-bearing counters that have little gains. Cant wait to see how things play out. Think this is very much more exciting than work. The challenge, the decisions and judgement as well as the rewards.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Divestment decision made easier

My divestment decision of one of the stocks is made easier by looking at the Annual Report. This particular counter, I am getting a 16.5% gain and had wanted to sell it off. Then these few days, I've been receiving many annual reports from quite a number of companies.

Last nite, looked at the report for that company, saw that they are proposing a Share Buy-back which is good for share prices BUT they are also proposing a Dividend Reinvestment Scheme which may result in share dilution cos shares are issued instead of dividend. Given that I am not getting so much dividend that they can give it to me in 1 full lot of share, so most likely is odd lots. Which requires capital inflow.Dunno what to do with odd lots, either have to sell it off, or have to buy more shares to make these odd lots into full 1000 share lots.

So today, login to sell off the share. Managed to sell off 3 lots, I put the other 2 lots at 1 cent higher then suddenly prices went down 6 cents. Finished putting in the order to sell. Now just watching. Lemme look out for other sell opportunities.
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This rise in share prices is welcomed cos this is already the 6th month of active managing my own share portfolio though I only started selling in January. So far I have made a bit of gains, starting in Jan, every month though 1-2 sell transactions.

Work sucks and I am seriously feeling lost about the 'staying on' decision, so earning bigger gains in the stock market would boost my confidence as well as reassure me that if I am unemployed, I can still have a source of income, now set at $20-25k target. Though not earning that much yet, it feels good to be able to sell off at a gain every month. Its like something gradually working towards the goal. At least this takes my attention and focus it more constructively.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

To Sell or Not to Sell, what will it be?

Think need to re-examine my trigger to sell plus selling strategy.

Today the sg market strongly rebounded. Suddenly I am sitting on quite a large paper profit. Then suddenly I am unsure if I should start selling cos still havent reached my target price.

Again I am faced with decisions...

-Start selling now to pocket the gains in case market falls next week.

-Wait a bit more to target, have patience, hope to sell off even higher at target price to reap bigger profits.


The thing about this paper profit, is that to realize them, I have to sell off most of my stocks on hand. Then not invested anymore. But it is a rather big gain... Argh my head hurts from calculating all the scenarios and trying to make decisions.

Today I am unable to login cos was out very very early. Only saw this development after I login when I returned home from swimming. Tom I will monitor the 'live' prices and make some decisions on the spot.
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DIVESTING Strategy

Incidentally been thinking of 'divesting' certain stock counters. Cos I thought they were undervalued and went in hopeing for a quick buck. In the end, its only one counter that had such quick gain. The rest, locked up the capital. Resulted in less of Volume effect in my main counters.

Now comes the dilemna, how much gains before I divest these counters?

-Should I wait for it to reach target prices then divest?

-Should I divest it at a lower target price to recover capital for re-investment purposes asap?

-What if it hasnt reached even the lowered target price, should I just sell off for some gains, then reinvest?


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Its been a damn long, exhausting week. If I am alone feeling tired, maybe its just me. But if it is very rampant amongst collegues, then I guess its not just an individual problem. Its a systemic one.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

到底是为了什么 What is all of this for?

This will mainly be a Chinese post cos I was thinking of these on the way to work and Chinese expresses them better. Signz. Going to Guan Ying temple to qiu qian for guidance. Getting lost in...

这一生,我到底在追求什么? =〉自由。

想要达到什么? =〉梦想。

想要得到什么 =〉做个有时间学习,与家人和朋友多相处的时间。

想做什么? =〉做自己。

这么忙碌是为了什么? =〉为了钱。

值得吗? => 不值得。

活得充实吗? =〉不充实因为我是在工作以外找到充实。

快乐与开心吗? =〉都是在工作以外才开心。

有活着得感觉吗? =〉只有在工作完了以后的时间,才活过来。

有满足感或成就近感吗? =〉不,只感到在荒废自己的青春,所以很迷失。

现在的我能做什么来改便这个局面呢?

觉得很累了,很想休息,歇一下一直在奔跑的自己。放下一直在绷紧的心思。放下一切所烦恼的事物,好好地做自己。过个完完全全无忧无虑的一年,再来打算。好想就立刻这么做。