Christmas Tree Lessons

As the festive season is near, I took out sparkling candle tea lights that had the shapes of ice crystals to setup as a Christmas Tree.  I did it last year and this year the same as well.  So what's the difference?  Well, the only difference from last year is the position of blu tacks.  I used to stick them at the base of the ice crystals and I found it to be ineffective as the ice crystals kept falling almost once a week.  Then, this time round, I decided to do it differently.  Applying a more innovative idea which was to paste blu tacks on the edge of the ice crystals! Yes, it did work and hold firmly to the wall.  I was happy for a while and then I realized that I had to mould small sizes of blu tacks of 9 edges of 40 ice crystals!!!!  T_T.  Effort was no joke and it took me about 2 hours to complete.  As I was moulding and pasting the adhesive, I reflected my investment since mid-year 2013, and I thought that my investment skills and strategies are still at the infant stage and I believe more to go.  I attribute this to my current portfolio position.  Approximately 10% of my portfolio has on Marco Polo Marine (MPM) and Yongnam (YNM).  Lately, both have generated negative capital gains of approximately 35% and 26% for each respectively due to bad business environment such as increase in competition for projects and as well as drastic drop in oil prices.  The losses are quite substantial and I took those positions when I followed blindly without taking initiatives in looking into their annual reports; it's akin herding effect!  I can only blame myself and this aspect is the very emotional aspect of me which I hate myself.  I wanted to document this so that when I reflect for my other acquisition of equities; was the entire thinking process more like a impulse buying or was it really an in-depth analysis.  The losses created some false hope that the prices will rebound again.  However, the other aspect of me questioned myself fundamentally whether the company can sustain in the next 5 years, and it is time to go back to their annual reports for some answers.  In terms of sustainability of these two firms in the next 5 years is possible because key management are still in place.  This forms the qualitative assessment.  Perhaps, for the next few days, I might want to re-look at these two areas again before 2014 ends.  At least, this is something I can answer to myself and perhaps put some closure to it.  My research should bear fruits just like I put in effort to build this X'mas Tree.

Merry X'mas and Stay Healthy, Everyone!  Health is Wealth! =)