2011 Good Year for Investing?

With the new year celebrations just over, it seems that the stock markets have had a breath of new life. Overall stock portfolio is up and I do hope that this bull run continues. Even with global uncertainties in America and Europe, it seems that people are still pretty optimistic about the future.

What else can we expect from 2011? Here are how things are playing out in my head.

Scenario 1 - Europe and America sink due to debt concerns. Asia's domestic demand not sufficient and developed enough to propel the rest of the world economy. Economy starts to slump by mid or end 2011 due to some silly event.

Scenario 2- whole world recovers and we see another bull run for 2 to 3 years and people who were thinking that Scenario 1 will take place end up cursing their luck for the missed opportunities of the best bull run in Asia.

So which scenario do you think will take place? Let's do a poll!

Losing Sleep Over "New" Financial Crisis?

Anyone losing sleep over the "new" financial crisis that seems to be impacting the stock markets in recent weeks?

I am amazed at how I hardly feel anything nowadays when it comes to stock markets going down south.

Yes, my stock portfolio gets affected but it doesn't affect my daily life as I don't check the prices of my stocks everyday.

Perhaps it is because I have been through a few up and down markets so I am a little bit less emotional now even when my portfolio does take a hit whenever bad news come along.

Liquidated My Stocks and Rights

I decided to liquidate my stocks in Pengrowth Energy Trust and also my rights for KepLand.

Reasons being this:

1. The amount of shares I own in Pengrowth Energy Trust was only a mere 100. The price had risen to give me a returns of greater than 25%. Also, the dividends that I received were not substantial enough to warrant UOB Kay Hian from deducting $5 for postage and handling fees.

2. KepLand had recently declared dividends of $0.08 per share. To subscribe to the rights, I would have to pay slightly over $1. This would set me back by $1000 which is not too good for my current cash flow. On top of this, Pac Andes has also recently announced that it will issue rights too. This is a scary thought....are all the companies I own starting to issue rights now to gain more money to boost up their books? What happened to all the passive income I am supposed to get from dividends?

Therefore, I liquidated my 100 shares of Pengrowth Energy Trust and my 900 nil paid rights of KepLand.

Total amount I will get from the sale of both should amount to $1800

Stock Portfolio Down by 50%. Feeling Weak in My Stomach

My Stock Portfolio is down 50%. I am totally weak in my stomach when I opened my UOB Kay Hian today to take a look at my portfolio. This global financial crisis has virtually wiped away all my gains over the past few years. I fear that the worse is still to come.

Nevertheless, to drive up my passive income, I have have decided to buy 1000 x First REIT @ $0.425 and 2000 x K1 Ventures @$0.205.

Cash is really King in this kind of stock market now. And I have been thinking about quitting my job. I keep thinking what if i had liquidated all my stock holdings earlier this year. I would have been able to use all my current paper loss to pay off my car loan! Aargh..

This is a painful lesson for me....I was too rash in making certain financial decisions...
But guess I still have 30 over more years infront of me. Compared to those retirees who bought the Lehman bonds, I am much better off. And I seriously thank God for that. I cannot imagine retiring and then losing all my retirement money due to bad investments. I really really cannot imagine. .. it is a totally scary thought. For the retirees, it is like lsoing all their 30 years of savings and hard work..... all gone down the drain just because of 1 single financial decision.

Passive Income is the way to go in these bad times.