Question: Wilfred, I have been investing for many years already. I believe my approach is not speculative but through a proper asset allocation and buy-hold. However, I have been disappointed with my investments. I started in January 1999 after the Asia Financial Crisis which I believe was a good entry point because I was buying during the crisis. My portfolio did quite well within a few years only to suffered heavy losses due to the technology bubble. After the technology bubble burst, my portfolio appreciated by 100% for 5 years only to be decimated by the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 in which the market lost nearly 50%. As a result, I was down by -30% relative to where I started in 1999. I gave up and sold all my investments. As I looked back, I was horrified to discover that the market appreciated by another 100%. I have decided ......
Most investors don’t practise “buy and hold” strategy correctly for their stock investments. Fundamentally, this approach doesn’t mean you buy on the cheap and wait for the counters to rise in value miraculously. You need to set a target price for both the buying and selling. In addition, you also need to monitor developments in the economy and company. By this, I don’t mean you check the stock prices daily, that would be unhealthy. What I mean is to be always updated on any developments that may affect the counter prices. This is not easy and also time consuming, especially if you have too many counters to monitor, so don’t over diversify.