My Two Ray-Ban Sunglasses

I bought two pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses recently (shown above), one a Wayfarer and the other, an Aviator. Together, they cost me about almost SGD 800 and I purchased them from the reputable Paris Miki. 

I was initially hesitant wearing them because it made me look too pretentious. But after a few times wearing them during lunch, I found them useful in protecting me from the glare of the sun. I think the next step for me would be to source for corrective eye surgery (otherwise known as LASIK) for just my right eye, which has slight astigmatism.

Portfolio Review 2013: Portfolio - 8.4% vs STI +/- 0%

The Straits Times Index remained almost unchanged from a year ago but my portfolio lost about SGD 16,000 in value during the 12 month period, or 8.4%. This would be narrowed to a loss 5.1% in portfolio value of If I were to add back the distributions from Elite KSB but exclude ordinary dividends. All in, my loss for the year was 2.1% and it makes the second time I under performed against the benchmark index.

Worst Performer: Majority of the stocks in my portfolio sank in the red but this dubious distinction goes to Elite KSB. The price went down to its net asset value price after the company redistributed most of the cash in its coffers. 

Best Performer: Etika International was the best performer, carrying some momentum from the previous year.

2013 was a year that I had been less active in monitoring my portfolio aside from the lead up to the purchase of more Petra stock. My inactivity was due to a very poor stock market as well as too many demands on my time. In a bull market, people tend to be more active in seeing the paper gains. For the coming year, I will have to make a decision whether to pump more capital in the stock market. I already have some US share ownership through the company plan and it has been working well, since it can be considered "free". This assessment will be in a coming post. For 2014, I will include the value of Petra Foods stock that was acquired in July. This had been omitted for convenience sake. 

2013 Action Item versus Deliverables

My Vietnam Trip to Ho Chi Minh City (13-16 December 2013)

I went to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam with my girlfriend and friend over the recent weekend, coming back on the Monday evening. I flew in by Tiger and booked my hotel through agoda.com. A brief summary, with photos taken from the internet is as follows.

Friday 13 December 2013

I had web-checked in so I did not have to arrive at the airport that early. Nevertheless, I took my luggage to work heading straight to Changi Terminal 2 after a staggered half-day to catch my 1715 flight. 

The flight to Vietnam took about two hours and I reached the Tan Son Nhat Airport. My previous trip to Vietnam was slightly ruined because we got ripped off by the cab driver. He charged us 400,000 dong for a 250,000 dong trip (10,000 dong ~ USD 0.50). Determined not to get cheated this time, we ordered a cab from the Mai Linh Group but it still cost us 300,000 dong. The journey took about 1 hour plus due to traffic surge. Otherwise, it would have been a 30 minutes journey.

Smoother sailing?

I managed to get my MBA course for the coming school term and the new timetable offered a few more evening classes. However, I am still required to attend 12 seminars and 3 skills workshop and this would mean burning 7.5 more days of leave at least. The bright side is that I can afford to to use some leave in December to go for a holiday in Vietnam. 

On the investment front, Elite KSB distributed 6.6 cents per share as part of a capital reduction exercise. Today, it announced a trading halt and I think the company is either going to announce that somebody is taking it over, or that it is going to delist. Let us hope that the share price will jump up slightly.

A difficult 2013

2013 has been a difficult year for me. A good month was spent for military training gifted with the knowledge that there will be more to come. School (my masters programme) has been very underwhelming while I am overwhelmed at the work front. There is little expectations of a good increment. The upside is that my portfolio including free cash and dividends is up 7%.

Due to the lack of big blue chip stocks, my portfolio on a month-on-month basis has moved somewhat differently from the STI. There have been things that I said I would do, such as selling Noble Group and Wilmar, but I guess leaving under performing stocks in the portfolio gives me some room to grow for next year.

With two more months left, My focus will be building up my savings for emergencies as well as marriage. The stock market has yet to softened and this has left me few chances to buy in. Added to the fact, I have been preoccupied with so many things that I have nothing in mind. That is another story altogether.