Ever since I revealed publicly about hitting the much-coveted millionaire milestone I had set for myself again in 2014, a lot of you could have reached out to ask concerning the breakdown of my funding portfolio.
In case you’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 the right way to funds and save.
I wrote my first article right here to share with my pals about how I managed to save lots of $20,000 as a contemporary grad who had began working full-time, which then unexpectedly went viral. That was in an period when most contemporary grads had 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. Nevertheless, I knew nothing about investing then, so I began studying – by means 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.
In case you'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. throughout 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 good points and a progress in passive earnings (my dividend earnings collected annually has crossed 5-digits, which additionally means my yield-on-cost is now at double-digits). I prefer to reinvest these dividends for much more progress.
In 2016, I diversified into US and Hong Kong shares.
As I realized extra about investing, I realised that the listed shares we’ve got right here in Singapore are however a drop within the huge ocean. If I wished worldwide progress and publicity, there have been far larger companies within the US and Hong Kong that had been making an impression throughout world markets.
My enterprise into the US markets have paid off properly. A lot of the corporations I invested in had been scooped up at a big low cost through the years, together with Meta, Shopify and Masimo, simply to call a couple of. I can’t be sharing the undervalued gems I discovered this 12 months as that’s a secret reserved just for my nearer pals 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 12 months.
Consequently, 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 possibly can see within the chart beneath.
In 2017, I added crypto into my portfolio.
I keep in mind being excited once I learnt about how crypto and blockchain expertise works, and I may see how within the close to foreseeable future, it might positively play an even bigger position in our funds. Nevertheless, investing in crypto throughout that interval the place everybody was calling crypto a rip-off wasn’t simple (and I, too, needed to take care of numerous hate feedback and criticisms from skeptics and even a number of monetary bloggers who disagreed with me venturing into crypto property). Nonetheless, I tuned out the noise and acquired the majority of my cryptocurrencies then as a result of I really believed in the way forward for this new asset class.
Nevertheless, because it was fairly excessive threat and unstable, I capped my publicity to only 20% of my total portfolio. I don’t play MEME cash or NFTs, and I don’t commerce crypto futures or derivatives both.
After all, this 12 months turned out to be a watershed 12 months for crypto, with the SEC approving crypto ETFs and governments lastly giving Bitcoin their stamp of approval (principally due to Donald Trump). As Bitcoin surged previous the $100,000 mark, my portfolio has additionally gone up. After all, alongside the best way, I made a number of losses (anybody remembers USDT?) from crypto initiatives that unexpectedly failed, however general, crypto has nonetheless given me a 4-5X acquire on my capital which is simply mind-boggling.
I've a couple of pals who began out in crypto throughout the identical time as me, however made an even bigger transfer in liquidating all their different property (equities, bonds) to place all of it into crypto. They turned multi-millionaires ("whales") a lot sooner than me - over the past crypto bull cycle in 2020 - and have since cashed out on a few of the cash to purchase property. Do I remorse it? After all 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 prospect to show again time (and with out hindsight bias), I'd have nonetheless made the identical determination as a result of I had to consider my household and youngsters. Typically, it pays to start out investing early when you have no commitments to maintain but.
In 2024, my funding portfolio crossed 1 million {dollars}.
Final 12 months, due to the bullish efficiency of the inventory and crypto markets, in addition to the consequences of long-term compounded progress, my funding portfolio has surged previous the $1 million greenback mark this 12 months.
Truthfully, I didn’t see this coming, and this realisation solely hit me this month once I was doing my yearly evaluation of my funds to replicate on how (properly or badly) I’ve performed this 12 months. 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 12 months alone) so I believed I’d must push the timeline additional again. Who would have identified that the markets would come roaring again the best way it did in these latest 2 years?
A few 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 traders had 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 possibly can see from my choice, my funding method has at all times been to search out fantastic corporations and purchase them after they’re undervalued – that is very a lot influenced by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, whose writings and annual AGM sharings significantly impressed me in my youthful years. Even in crypto, I apply the identical investing philosophy – though the dangers are positively larger there since extra crypto initiatives 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 discover ways to do them, however have concluded that such high-risk trades don’t go well with me as a result of I merely can not sleep properly at night time for so long as the place is open. I’ve additionally dabbled in choices and futures prior to now, however have come to grasp through the years that these approaches are actually ill-suited to me given my character and schedule. As an alternative, I very a lot want to review the basics of corporations and doing market analysis vs. taking a look at 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 not face up to the volatility (aka Elon Musk).
The $1M doesn't embrace my 2 properties (1 in Singapore, 1 abroad) or CPF property as these are much less liquid investments.
In case you’ve caught round for the final 10 years and watched my funding progress story occur, I hope this evokes you that it’s doable to change into a millionaire whenever you persistently save and make investments your solution 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 numerous sponsored gigs not like different full-time KOLs (to the purpose the place I’m infamous among the many businesses for being “choosy” and turning down numerous gigs, together with alternatives by XM, and many others – properly, that’s a label I’m glad to simply accept), this aspect hustle known as writing (or content material creation?) has nonetheless given me a good earnings 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 somewhat than educating individuals on managing their funds higher, haha.
In case you’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 method subsequent 12 months when my e-book is out in bookstores later this 12 months. Please do assist 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 higher issues to return in 2025.
With love,
Finances Babe
