Saturday, February 28, 2015

Financial Review - February, 2015

February was another good solid month for my investments.

Net worth increased.  Asian equities appreciated slightly slightly offset be a small fall in commodities and FX movements were slightly favourable. Expenses were high as I expensed half the cost of renovating a flat.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong/China equity portfolio increased . There were no transactions this month;

2. my AU/NZ equities appreciated. There were no transactions this month;

3.my equity ETFs appreciated (India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China) in line with the local markets. There were no new purchases;

4. my commodities fell slightly. Silver is my only position;

5. all tenants are paying on time. One property is vacant and is currently undergoing renovation;

6. currency movements were positive with gains in the NZD and the AUD being flat;

7. my position in bonds remains small;

8. expenses were high due to expensing half of the renovation costs of a vacant rental flat and university fees being paid;

9.there were no transfers to Mrs Traineeinvestor this month.

My cash position fell. I currently hold 34.1 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents. February is the lowest month of the year as far as cash inflows are concerned.

For February, my net worth increased by 1.21%. The year to date increase is 1.61%.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi, I am a frequent reader of your blog and in the past I have enjoyed your thoughts and comments about your investments and life goals. I think you are articulate and sound very reasonable when discussing these things.

I just wanted to ask you what do you think of the Hong Kong equities market for the immediate future. Are there any of your positions that you are thinking of adding to or selling in this uncertain climate where retail sales and visitation are dropping along with political strife?

J-D said...

Hi,

When your novel is published, will we know what the title is?

traineeinvestor said...

@ Anonymous - I try not to make predictions about the future. If many "experts" get it wrong with depressing frequency, I have to assume that I will too (and I certainly have made plenty of sub-optimal decisions). Instead, I try to identify value and just buy based on what looks like a reasonable set of expectations over the longer term.

As far as HK is concerned, I think the market is neither grossly overpriced nor excessively cheap. I keep looking for things to buy and sell and will post as an when I do.

As far as uncertainty is concerned, I like it. It's when there is no uncertainty and everybody is happy that I start to worry.

@ J-D I have about 3-4 more chapters to write and then a long (6 months?) editing process before I can think about trying to find a publisher (failing which self-publish). Since this blog is supposed to be anonymous, I probably won't put the details up here.

Cheers
traineeinvestor