2015 Investing Report Card

In my previous post, I mentioned that my "financial year" ends on 13 January 2016, since it was the date I started tracking 2015 investment returns. Now that the day had past and I finally handed in my Final Year Project report, I can finally sit down to type out this post!

2015 Annual Return: -10.412% (for year ended 13 Jan 2016, using Excel's XIRR function)

With a portfolio that is down more than 10%, it was definitely not a good year for me. The consolation is that using the same calculation metric, the 2015 return for STI ETF was actually -16.099%. 

Hence comparing my portfolio against the STI index, I had technically "beat the market" for the year of 2015. Since many books had mentioned professional fund managers have trouble beating the market, I take pride that I had achieved the feat in 2015. It was a tough year especially with China's economy not doing well and oil price being so depressed. As a graduating student, I can sense that Singapore's economy is not doing well at all. This is so because of the tight job market available for me. My wish for 2016 is for me to get a job and start my own monthly investment plan, putting a part of my salary in STI ETF. I do not mind that the stock market tanks because over the long term, buying in a bear market inflates your returns. Buy when others are fearful!!

Note: Recently, someone introduced me to Holding Period Return as a way to calculate portfolio return, instead of XIRR. I am still not sure which is more accurate. Hence for 2016, I will keep track of my investments using both methods and observe how far they deviate from each other.


Here are some of the fun facts about my portfolio performance in 2015:

• Dividends are probably the reason why my portfolio managed to outperform STI ETF - receiving $863.19. 

• Dividend yield for portfolio is 4.80%, Excluding stocks that did not give dividend, the yield goes up to 6.17%.

• I'm not a perfect investor. I trade sometimes (or technically, gamble). With 5 sets of Buy-Sell trades, I made a loss of $438.45. Portfolio return would have been better if my hand had not got itchy.

• Narrowly missed losing a whole lot more if I did not sell Ezra in time. Ezra closed at $0.0900 that same day.
  

• 2015 was also a bad year because none of the stocks I bought for investment purposes finished the green. Stocks included K-Reit, k1 Ventures and Straco. The only positive investment which I sold off was Apple Inc, which I bought in 2014 and sold in March 2015. 

2015 was an overall bad year while 2016 remains uncertain and volatile. Within the first 2 weeks, STI had already dropped 8.46% and the future of oil rigs giants KepCorp and SembCorp look threatened. Having started investing in 2011, I have not met any bear market or recession. No one can claim to be "experienced" if he/she have not gone through a financial crisis. Hence I am actually excited for 2016! Bull or bear, I will still be in the market, seeking my private returns.