My investing journey so far | How having a plan & goals improved my investing returns

I started my investing journey in 2017 and at that time when I started, I honestly had no plans and no goals for it. I just knew I wanted to grow my money, coupled with the free flow of never ending information on investing types, methods and even get rich schemes, it was difficult to sieve out crucial information that now forms the basis of how I am investing my money.

I am considered a risk-averse person and I don't want to worry every night about the value of my investments although my portfolio now takes on lots of risk e.g. Tesla as my biggest stock holding which is very volatile and having a substantial amount in cryptocurrencies. I guess over the years, I have grown to take on more risks because I know that age is a huge factor that allows me to take on more risk and because I gradually earned more compared to the time in 2017 when I just started.

Beginning of investing journey

I really liked the idea of dollar cost averaging since I started but I started on the "wrong" product or rather, an ETF that did not give me the returns I wanted. I started using POSB Invest Saver when I started because there was no need for CDP account which the set up was kinda confusing for me. After I started that, I wanted to also have exposure to individual SG stocks especially REITs, so I researched and decided to open the DBS Vickers Account which also helped me opened my CDP account through the linkage.

From that moment on, it was like a shopping spree, I would spend small amount about $1000 to buy a stock and begin buying different stocks based on their business or dividend yield. Some of the counters that I bought in small amount that didn't give me returns and instead made a loss for me were Design Studio and Amara. I would continue to do this until I realise.......exactly what am I aiming for?

Of course, this all might sound like I was doing the wrong thing from the start but I learned a lot from it and it shaped how I would invest in the future. I was very much not looking into the business model when I started investing but instead focus on dividend yield and this was something that was so wrong.

Decided to just buy the index as I was not beating it and also to focus more on growth stocks

So after about about 2 years, yes in 2019, I took pretty long to find out the wrong direction I was going, I decided to divert my funds towards a World Index ETF that invests in both foreign and U.S. stocks including covering both well-established and still-developing markets. This was through Vanguard Total World Stock ETF using FSMone and most recently, switched to Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (Accumulating) using Interactive Brokers. I also started setting goals for myself both short and long term. Of course, goals can change or adjust but having a goal really makes the difference and if you exceed it, you know that you are definitely on the right track.

Read more: It takes time to build your portfolio | Journey to $100,000

I think after I started earning a monthly salary, working full-time and knew how hard money is earned, haha, I wanted to make sure my investment is profitable as I am trading time for money. And besides allocating my funds mainly to Index ETF, I focused more on growth stocks like Tesla, Palantir and most recently AMD. After the ETF funds, I don't have a lot left so of course, my main allocation is towards index ETF.

Stocks portfolio steadily increased and able to take on more risk e.g. venture into cryptocurrencies

I like allocating a fixed amount aside every month as it forms a routine and really just takes out the deliberating whether it is a good time to buy, also I am able to see the increase of my portfolio overall, although of course, markets have been on an uptrend so numbers definitely looks good. As I build up my ETF holdings, I also can venture into riskier investments like cryptocurrencies. My age is also part of the factor why I am venturing into it as I am relatively young, not saying that age is a factor in the products that you can invest but being young means that I am in the process of building up my capital and not preserving my capital so I like to put a small portion of my money into cryptocurrencies although I am still rather risk-averse in terms that I only invest in Ether, Bitcoin and Cardano. I am still exploring cryptocurrencies as the information is too much at times. But I like putting a portion of my money in it as I love the idea it brings a solution/alternative to so many things and allows the world to be more interconnected.

Read more: Crypto Portfolio Update | Hodlnaut iOS app, BTC giveaway + Affiliate Program

Having a plan really makes a difference although I wished I had a plan earlier on, I learned a lot from my mistakes and as long as I am able to keep to what I am currently doing, I believe in the long term, I WILL BE RICH HAHAHAHAHA! Kidding, but here's just some advice and reflections of mine, hope you guys enjoy today's video and don't forget to subscribe and give a thumbs up!

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