A Personal Assessment: How has It Been So Far?

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Today I woke up early to have some what others call "walking photography" because I brought with me my Canon T3i(yes I finally got the camera click here and here to read my story with this camera). A short walk to the nearest bakery to buy a bread for breakfast and also to make some experiment on urban photography.

It got me thinking. How long have I been in the stock market?

Well I remembered opening my first stock brokerage account with COL Financial(formerly Citiseconline.com)  on 2009 and made my very first buy on March 2010 which I remember was JFC(yeah I really don't remember it now with all those stocks I tested buying and selling). 

Starting with the minimum for a non-EIP account of 25,000 pesos and finally stop adding at 275,000(again I don't remember how much I really put in my COL account this is just an estimate) and now have about 310,000 pesos(that is net of paper loss of 16,000 pesos) that brings me to a net increase of 18.5% for 2 years of time to time trading(Yes I really don't buy and sell on a day to day basis only when I am able to check my account and when there is a very good opportunity). 

I am not bragging about how much I have put in stocks(believe me that amount is small compared to somebody else). But my point is my investment in stocks is better than putting my money in a savings or time deposit account because mine earned about 9% per annum while if you put it in a time deposit it would have only given you 2-2.5% per annum for that same amount.

So far what have I learned or what have changed me?

Well the first thing I learned is to expand my psychological wallet. 

Again not to brag but the 275,000 pesos I put in, that amount seems big but now it seems it is just money for me. As time goes I have truly expanded my psychological wallet. A lot of people will be uncomfortable having tat amount of money in their bank account or savings hidden somewhere in their house and they panic. So they either spend it by keeping themselves think that they deserve to buy this or that... turning that hard earned money into consumer goods that won't last long(A 50 inch flat TV is only exciting for the first few months making you "can't wait to go home to watch with my TV" to "nah there is no good TV show tonight".)

Or they panic and they go out and seek investment that they don't really make enough due diligence thus ending losing the money in scams saying that they can double that money in 2 years or a guaranteed return of 15% per month.

Besides expanding my psychological wallet I am able to sleep comfortable even if my portfolio has a paper loss(that is why I included the paper loss of 16,000 pesos in my computation to arrive at 18.5 % return on my investment). 

When I started stock investing in the back of my mind I already know about paper loss which are not real loss unless you sell your stocks at a loss. But who can blame you? Its natural that when you see a negative in your stock portfolio you will surely panic and in the end do stupid trades losing more. 

Now its okay having a paper loss of 16,000 pesos(yes there was one time I have about nearly 20,000 pesos paper loss and yes I did panic). The most important lesson there is you should find ways to capitalize or take advantage of such situation. If you believe that the stock that has a paper loss will surely get back it is good to cost average further or if not plan and strategize how much are you willing to take as a loss in order to recoup the loss by buying a better stock(this is what we call cutting-losses).

I have a long way in order to achieve my goals having millions in my stock portfolio giving me passive income on a day to day basis and enough capital to start my dream businesses but it is not bad to dream.

source: http://e-devotion.blogspot.com

How about you, how has it been  so far? Would like to hear your story in this exciting world of stock investment. 

Share  your story in the comment box.