I took profit for these 2 counters

President Donald Trump has done it again, through his latest speech, it had resulted in DOW JONES hitting new high and thus rallying along the rest of the world indices including STI and blue chips. 

STI ETF

STI has a good run since last year, it has given me more than 5% gain (excluding the dividends). From the TA indicators, it is in the over-bought zone, I thought it will be better to take some profit first. I still keep some shares as it gives me quite decent dividend yield. An interesting thing I observed in the chart below, in Apr 2011 and May 2015, there was a huge surge in volume and few weeks later, the STI index corrected. Last week, we saw the same huge volume surge, will it happen in the next few weeks? 

DBS Bank
I have also profit take and sold off my DBS holdings, it has been the star performer for me in 2017. The decision to sell for this counter is more maths than anything else. The average dividend over 10 years is 0.614cents. Based on 30 times, anything more than $18 is considered not cheap(last week it rallied above $19). The stock price may still go up further, nobody knows. But I will leave that last part to those with a strong heart.

In 2017 and beyond, we are expecting the market to be volatile and there will be many uncertainties, guess at some point we should take some profit off the table. After all, we invest because we want to make our money work, and if we dont take profit, we are not doing justice to our $$. Just my own views.

My First buy in 2017

These 2 stocks have been on my radar for some time, and I was waiting for market to present an opportunity for me to buy them. Last week, there were some heartbeat from these 2 stocks and I made my first buy for 2017.

The first counter which I bought was Mapletree GCC trust. I am wary of the interest rate increase this year which many people spoke about, and that this will affect stocks like Reits and Trusts. The problem with this is that when many people are talking about it, most of the time it didnt happen :). I wanted to have some exposure outside Singapore, and this counter I thought fits well. 

Fundamentally, it's still below the book value, debt is still within the managed range and the dividend is good. There were many articles on China facing a slow down, I guess I will leave this to the economists. 

From TA, it has tested few support levels and last week, it has broken the neckline resistance of 0.97c. It is still below the 200d MA, which is the next major resistance. I guess I am ok, just wait and collect dividend first. :)

The 2nd counter which I bought was YZJ. Shipping has been unloved by many for the longest time now, fundamentally, its still below the book value and paying a decent dividend. 

Lastly, the above is my no means recommendation of any sort, it's just a record for me to validate against my method in years to come.

I have been retrenched ...

In the recent months, there have been more news about corporate laying off staffs due to the worsening of the global economy. Most of us won't feel it unless it happens to you or someone you know. Few weeks ago, I received a phone call from 2 ex-colleagues, and both of them had been retrenched as the unit closed it's Singapore operation. However, they should be able to tide over this difficult period as they have been prudent and without major debts, apart from daily family expenses.(which the payout should be able to last for sometime). Nevertheless, I feel for them as few years back, I was layoff due to organisation restructuring.  In the new year, there will be more job lost coming as Singapore has many MNCs, and once the revenue target is not met, the axe will come. Not a good way to start the new year, but this is fact of life.

In this post, I would like to penned down few thoughts to prepare us for the coming New Year 2017, which will be filled with lots of uncertainties.

Savings and Investment

Basic principle of savings still apply, one should always save a percentage of your salary, in preparation for raining days. And one day, the rain will come, it is always good to be prepared. Once you have a reasonable amount of savings, one should look at how to grow the money. There are reasonable number of blogs out there on investment, which I shan't discuss here.

Debts

Economic cycle is getting shorter, and since the GFC, many organisations have been looking at ways to improve their operating margins, and laying off staffs is always the first tool to use. It is a fact of life now, nothing is constant, thus we need to prepare ourselves. It will be a stressful situation where he/she is jobless, and still servicing huge amount of debts. These debts come in the form of housing and car loans, which is the major debt for most of us.

Health

When one is still healthy and employed, and if you are the breadwinner, you should have enough insurance coverage. This is to ensure that if your health takes a turn during your jobless period, at least, you have some coverage to tide over.

Networking

Networking during your career is important, and is like point 1 above, you build trusts, and this is like savings account, it builds up over time. When I lost my job, I was lucky to know few close folks whom I have known for many years, and manage to get 2 jobs offer within 3 months period. I am really thankful for those friends whom have lend me a hand, and also lady luck, who has been very kind to me all these years. Last week I have to tap into this saving account and referred one of my friend to another who has a position open in his company. Hope this turns out well.

It is not all that gloomy if you are prepared, let's have a enjoyable 2017!!!

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