Gone Fishing

I haven’t been writing much these days. My previous post was dated 27 April 2024.

Family

My family went to Taiwan (Taipei & Tai Chung) during the June school break. Hence, it was really 100% family time with my wife and kids. I managed to destress, took my mind off work for that period, and recharged. I also spent a lot less time on social media, WhatsApp messaging, and work emails.

Guess it is just being present in the moment.

My daughter loved the cutesy stationery and toys, while my son, wife, and I found the Nike shoes really cheap in Tai Chung and bought a pair each. I liked the balance of more laid-back suburb walks in Tai Chung and the city beats of Taipei. Putting my WISE card to good use. If you like to apply for one, please use my referral link to sign up for one.

In a way, I have ‘gone fishing’.

Work

It was really hectic at work, as two colleagues resigned in May and June, leaving our section with just me and another young newbie colleague with our immediate superior. It was hard picking up from where they left off and new replacements will not be on board soon. And even if they are on board, they will also need time/months to integrate.

Investing

I would say the month of May was kind of ‘chaotic’ for me. During the period of May and June, markets are in general climbing. The S&P500 is close to its all-time high.

While the STI and Hang Seng did not do as well.

Portfolio value-wise, it was ok. Not as great since I have a diversified portfolio of US-listed, Singapore-listed, and HK-listed growth and dividend counters. My US-listed & Hong Kong-listed growth stocks powered up, while my SG and HK dividend counters kind of went sideways or dropped. Nevertheless, there was a slight improvement.

During the late April to May period, Hang Seng charged upward as investors’ sentiments turned bullish with many thinking that the worst was over.

Outlook ‘significantly brighter’ for Hong Kong stocks, as US$5 trillion market attracts global investors rotating out of US, Japanese shares (read here)

Hong Kong Stocks Are on Their Longest Winning Streak Since 2018 (read here)

While the US markets are also bullish, the rally in Hang Seng was rather acute in comparison. Some of my call options of Tencent stocks were exercised. And since I have a couple of naked call options on Tencents, I decided to close these as well, resulting in losses.

So while my overall portfolio gained, I missed out on some of the rallies in my Tencent stocks and a hit in my naked call options. In the short term, the biggest loss did not come from my losses from options but from missing a significant chunk of the rally in Tencent stock price. The former pales in comparison. Of course, in the great scheme of things, it is just one counter in my portfolio.

Passive Income

a) Dividend income

The months of May and June are typically months whereby I get more dividend income, and for this year, it was rather good more than $5k for each month.

b) Options monthly premiums

As mentioned earlier, for May, there was a net loss from my options due to my closing some of my naked Tencent call options.

During this period, I have also been mulling this options income strategy, and as you can see below, while my options premium in April 2024 was very high (close to $1k), I have since cut down in June. I have sold put options for Tencent stocks while minimizing any naked options (call or put) to my other stocks.

In addition, since I am rather busy at work after my June break and tired at night, I did not do as much selling of options.

Stacking them up.

Fishing (for stocks)

During this period, with my enlarged war chest of cash, it was basically a strategy of ‘sit and wait it out’ while putting out price alerts for some of the quality stocks that I have been eyeing. Hoping that in due time when prices do drop, I can purchase them. I used StocksCafe for my price alerts.

If you do not have an account with StocksCafe and intend to get one, you can use my referral code: apenquotes. Just click here. Upon signing up using the referral code, you will get to enjoy being a Trial Global Friend of StocksCafe and test out all features for free for one month!

I like to read up on what great investors have been adding to and check up on more of these stocks. If I understand their businesses and fundamentals I will put price alerts, typically at even lower prices from which they have purchased them. However, in general, during this period, great investors are doing more selling than buying, as the US markets have been continuously hitting new highs.

If I am to use an analogy…I would liken this ‘investing’ period to fishing.

Imagine you have a can full of worms, a boat, and a fishing pole.

If you only have one line and one hook. The odds of getting a fish are rather low.

We can increase the odds by having multiple hooks on one line. Or even better, by having more than one fishing pole with multiple hooks. Hence, in stock investing, I put out more price alerts on more stock counters which I am eyeing for.

However, at the end of the day, when it comes to fishing, the real pros of fishing are the birds. Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing technique in which fishermen use trained cormorants to catch fish in rivers.

We can tap into the expertise of cormorants to catch fish.

Likewise, when it comes to investing, I can check up on what great investors are investing in to bait my catch. Monish Prabai likes to call it ‘cloning’.

So yes, during this period, it may feel like ‘watching the paint dry on the wall’. Nevertheless, I see many bargains in the HK dividend counters (not necessarily limited to REITs or property counters), and would probably scoop up once I get my next pay-cheque.

All in good time.

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett.

Thank you for reading.

StocksCafe

FYI I find StocksCafe useful for the tracking of my own portfolio, and I especially like to use it to track my portfolio stock dividend/bond interest payouts (projected and due). You can use my referral code: apenquotes. Just click here. Upon signing up using the referral code, you will get to enjoy being a Trial Global Friend of StocksCafe and test out all features for free for one month!

Please follow me at StocksCafe, via my StocksCafe profile page.

BigFundr

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Dobin

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Webull

Tiger Brokers

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FSMOne.com

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Wise Card

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Shopee

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Gemini

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