This month, January 2015, marks my

• 8 years in Singapore, working as an OFW and in Coke, initially starting with SG Bottler then moving to CPS SG
• 5 years in CPS SG
• 3 years of doing investment

As I look back (accompanied by sentimental background music), my first 5 years in SG and in my previous working life in the Philippines I was a spender burying myself in credit card debts for consumables.  The only investment I had in the past was savings and checking accounts and a car.

During that time, I didn’t have any investment and I still considered car and jewelry as assets but now I know better.  Thanks to Robert Kiyosaki.  In my own words, according to him, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket.

Officially, according to Wikipedia, Kiyosaki defines the term “assets” as things that generate cash inflow, such as stock dividends, rental income from properties, or income from businesses, and the term “liabilities” as things that devour cash, such as houses, cars, and so on.  (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki)

In 2012, greatly influenced by Bo Sanchez’s book “My Maid Invests in the Stock Market…  And Why You Should Too!” and by IMG’s Financial Literacy Seminar that I attended, I started investing initially in stocks and a few weeks later I also invested in Mutual Funds.

Now, I realized that, although Mutual Funds have higher management fees (or sales load) versus stocks, I am happier investing in Mutual Funds.  You may be wondering why especially after Salve Duplito’s controversial SalveSays episode “Do actively managed funds beat the index?” (Refer to the link: https://anc.yahoo.com/video/actively-managed-funds-beat-index-063838625.html)

I really appreciate what she has done because hopefully it will be a wake-up call for Mutual Fund Companies to lower their management fees.

But below captures a stocks investing perspective from a simpleton like me:

I am following the SAM stocks published by Bo to Truly Rich Club Members.  But I am also trying my hand to do my own analysis and buy based on that analysis.  It gives me a different thrill like driving a fast car or going on a bungee jump especially when I see the double digit gain.

Through time I have learned the ins and outs of COL Financial’s Investment Guide to see in one page the BBP, FV, Rating, etc.  They have stopped publishing this for the past few months and you can only see the Technical Guide so now I am at a lost on how to continue doing stock investing on my own.   But today, I saw that they published again the Investment Guide and I do hope that it will continue to be published.

The problem is I just don’t have the time or the patience to read charts, study financial statements, keep abreast of the latest news re the company I want to invest in, study undervalued stocks and when is the best time to buy that particular stock.  It just takes too much time and brain power.  So, I have defaulted back again to rely and depend on TRC’s Stock Advice.

I attended before seminars on technical analysis and I have come to accept that it’s not for me.  I feel that my time is better used in working or blogging or attending seminars or reading books.

Don’t get me wrong.  The stocks I bought on my own initiative actually have double digit gains but I dare not sell them as it would cause me more problem (what stock to buy next and when).  On second thought, it maybe because I entered the stock market at the right time, before the bull run.

My other thought is that I just don’t want to follow the recommendations from different forums, no offense although I think it is valuable as an input, at the end of the day I want to do due diligence and still do my own research as it is my hard earned money.

My learning is that for this year my focus priority is ranked as follows:
1) Mutual Fund
2) Real Estate
3) Stocks

What about you?  What are your priorities this year?

Happy 8^th Anniversary to me as an OFW and employee of the Happiness Factory.  Hopefully next time I will be sharing with you a different type of anniversary 🙂