A Brand New Start

Since buying my first shares in the stock market in year 2006, I realize that the result is quite terrible.

Though so far I still make a small profit out of stock market, it is still a failure and unacceptable as I underperform the general stock indices to a huge margin. I have wasted a lot of OPPORTUNITY & TIME.

I dissect my failure and find some reasons behind it:

• lack of experience
• lack of knowledge
• lack of concentration
• lack of patience
• lack of guidance

Every beginner starts from little experience and knowledge, thus it is the same for everyone. What is different is how each of us react to mistakes and make a change. 

From the experience gathered so far, here are my DOs and DON'Ts in stock market investing.

DOs:

• have an investment plan or strategy
• gain more knowledge continuously
• look for more good stocks continuously
• be patient
• be disciplined

DON'Ts:

• buy without research
• sell the good performing stock too early for small gain
• keep the loosing stock due to reluctance to realize loss

Since end of last year, I have sold most of my profit-making stocks as I needed cash. So, my portfolio was left with a few loss-making stocks and only one profit-making stock. Before May this year, knowing something went seriously wrong, I have sold all these bad apples and just left a good one behind.

For me, it is not easy to sell these hopeless stocks that have been kept for quite some time at once. As a result, my rather "impressive" realized gain from stock market is suddenly eaten away by a big chunk.

So I have started a new page on my stock market investment journey from June 2013. I roughly screened through almost all the listed companies and selected a handful of them carefully to kick start my new look portfolio.

I will share my stocks portfolio in this blog, as I think it is a way to make me more disciplined and responsible for my own action. It will also ensure that I watch my portfolio closely and stick to my own strategies as I will be scrutinized silently. 

So far some of the stocks do well, some are doing so-so and some are making loss. Mistakes will still be made. Anyway, I will be better prepared this time.

With better experience, better knowledge, setting clear strategies & realistic goal, it is time for a brand new start in stock market investment.