Caveat Emptor

  Quantitative measures Beta = 0.86, VaR = 10.81%, Expected Shortfall = 17.34% Overall - Time = 28.89%, Xirr = 6.43% End of year portfolio Beating the STI ETF benchmark is not difficult this year. The STI ETF consist of old economy stocks that are most affected by Covid 19, which are greatly affected by the slowdown in global trade flows,  global tourism as well as lock-downs in Singapore as well as other countries. Although market commentators like to extrapolate from the US market and preach about the <newfound truth> that <the stock market is not the economy>, I noted that this narrative does not really scale well to other stock markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and other countries.   As I do not base my portfolio decisions on macroeconomic forecasts, market sentiment, or forward-looking / nearsighted / farsighted market narratives, my best interpretation of the situation is that the US stock market simply voted to be optimistic at this mom...

  Thoughts about Value Investing and the changing investment landscape After the Covid vaccines are announced, the flavor of the month is about sector rotation strategies into different areas. Personally, I am aware that technology stocks are trading at a elevated multiple in US and HK/CN and the upside may be limited. There is a real risk of missing out greater potential returns in other sectors like EV, financials, asset plays, pharmaceuticals etc. However, I still believe that the companies in my portfolio will still perform well with regards to their financials. Nonetheless, they may surface to become a growth trap if the growth rates fail to live up to expectations, or the stock price may fail to move as they are already incorporated in the rich valuations. As my portfolio is a mix of strong businesses in growth stocks, asset plays (Buildings), financials and ETFs, in the event that the value stocks do seek a resurgence, I will not miss it completely. In the speculative landsc...