yulongz's Xanga

2007 Review

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:50:03 GMT

Happy New Year to all of you out there!

I am pleased to announce that my personal stock portfolio had a spectacular performance of 192.5% in the year of 2007. I am also surprised that my portfolio had its best performance in the forth quarter when the worldwide market was (and still) being haunted by the sumprime probem.

Here is a table containing the performance of my portfolio in 2007 comparing to Hang Seng Index and S&P 500:

And here is how it looks like in graph:

Commentary will be coming up soon...

Resume

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:10:28 GMT

It has been a while since my last entry, I guess it is about time to resume writing.

Let me update a bit about my current situation. I moved back to Hong Kong in mid August and I am working as an a financial planner. I have worked at Convoy Financial Services Limited since October. I enjoy working with my coworkers and helping clients to fufill their financial goals.

Anyway, I will still write about finance stuff here (both personal finance and stock investment). In my next post, I will first conclude my stock portfolio performance for 2007 and preview what I am planning to do on it in 2008. Secondly, I will also introduce my two USD$1,000,000 mutual funds portfolios which were lauched in early December. Last but not least, I will do some update on my stock recommandation in Motley Fool CAPS.

That's all for now. I wish all of you will have a happy and prosperous 2008!

Goodbye N. Cal

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:13:49 GMT

Goodbye N. Cal,
for you are my home for the past 6 years.

Hello Tokyo,
for you are one of my favorite cities.

Hello Hong Kong,
for you are where I belong to.

2007 Second Quarter Performance

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:36:29 GMT

First of all, I would like to recap my 2007 Q1 performance: 11.25% for the portfolio vs -0.2% for S&P 500. This was a pretty good performance given the market was basically flat during the quarter.

Now, let's go over what happened to my investments in Q2.

The following graph compares the performance of my portfolio to S&P500:

Obviously, my investment out-performed the market in the second quarter and for the year so far. The basic drivers for this outstanding performance are the same as the first quarter: First Solar, Inc (FSLR) was up 71.68% during the quarter while Mastercard Inc (MA) rose 56.13%. With the help of these two amazing stocks and Chevron Corp. (CVX) 13.90% return, my portfolio looks quite outstanding.

On the other hand, I lost 21.62% on The Knot Inc. (KNOT) which I eventually have to sell it to stop-lost. I bought GameStop Corp. (GME) instead because of the booming sells of next generation game consoles and attractive margin of selling new and used games. Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) was another under-performed stocks that I own. Toyota was down 1.78% for the quarter. Overall, I am still very bullish on the stocks that I hold for the second half of 2007 and expect them to perform well.

The StockTrak portfolio that I completed with other Santa Clara University MBA students was over on June 22. I am pleased to say that I rank number 1 among the SCU elites. This portfolio value's increased 22.19% and a total of 33.91% in the 5 months period. The StockTrak portfolio had a lower return than my real investment because it investment horizon is only 5 months and it was more diversify. But again, First Solar, Mastercard, and GameStop are the major factors of the performance. Please click here to see the top 15 ranking.

I also started using Motely Fool CAPS to make stocks recommandations and also compare my performance with other users since late March. I am doing OK there. I manage to have rating of 80s (the rating is a percentile rank, a rating of 85 means I perform better than 85% of CAPS users) with a 55% accuracy. I am wishing to have a 70% accuracy and rating of 90s within the coming quarter. Please click here to check out which stocks I like.

From Stamford to Stanford, Chelsea is still a winner!

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:55:38 GMT

On July 14, I went to Stanford University to watch the friendly game between Chelsea and Club America. This game is one of Chelsea's three games in the States in order to prepare themselves for the 2007-08 season. Their opponent in this game is one of the top club in Mexico.

Players entered Stanford Stadium

Players lined up

Chelsea's starting eleven

Terry, Sidwell, Shevchenko, J COle, Robben

Petr Cech still in his head gear

Joe Cole readied to kick off the game

Frank Lampard

Chelsea won 2:1, John Terry was the man of the match

The game was fantastic. Although it was quite obvious that Chelsea was not at their best (this was the first game after their summer vacation), it was still very entertaining to watch. Joe Cole amazed me the most with his spectacular footwork and speed (he is one of my favourite players in Winning Eleven and the England squad). John Terry's defense skill is for sure one of the best in the world. Lampard and Shevchenko was still in holiday mood. Well, Club America scored 3 mins after the game started.

Ten of the eleven players were changed in the beginning of the second half. Terry was the only player who played 90 mins. The new signed Malouda debuted in this game and scored his first goal for Chelsea. Chelsea was controlling the game in second half and John Terry headed the second goal from Malouda's corner kick.

Watching a football game live is a much better experience than watching on TV. The players are a lot closer than I expect. I can clearly see how Joe Cole flicked the ball or how the players interact with each other. Television broadcast can only give me a bird-eye view with little detail of the movements of the players. I am glad that I managed to watch this game live before I head back to Hong Kong. I doubt I can get tickets for Chelsea (or other teams from England) if they play in Hong Kong since football is such a popular sport there. And in United States, no one really watch and care about it (except for the Beckham-mania).

7.7.7

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:54:01 GMT

I know this entry is stupid, but I still want to write this.

This afternoon, I went to Office Depot to buy some boxes for packing. So I picked up 2 boxes and walked to the cashier. The cashier was amused by what he saw on his screen: $7.77. The 2 boxes + tax added up to $7.77 and I bought them on 7/7/2007. So he gave me the receipt and said, "this must be your lucky day, it is all 7! you should take this and go to a casino to gamble!" With all that, what is the big deal?

777 is the jackpot combination for slot machine and also a sure win combination for blackjack. And 7 is like the 8 of chinese culture in the western civilization. It means luck (as you can see in those winning combination in casinos). I also came up with a piece of news (click here) that couples are rushed to wed in this "lucky day".

So, 777 is special after all. OK! End of my silliness.

Update 7/17: I just checked my credit score, and it is 777!

我是電視廣告迷﹗

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 06:39:01 GMT

你是電視廣告迷﹗

你有84分，你對七、八、九十年代的廣告瞭如指掌！

能得到這樣的分數，你簡直是一個標準的電視廣告迷！你對七、八、九十年代之間所播放的廣告都十分留心。嚴重一點說，每當電視開啟了以後，你可能每一分一秒都是目不轉睛地看著，就算連電視廣告也不放過。在年幼時，你說不定暗地裡曾經和朋友重演過某些廣告的情節吧？

老餅廣告測試

18 Years After 8964..

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 11:56:28 GMT

Stock 101: Get Your Fat Cash Working!

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:24:25 GMT

The reason for you to start investing your money is straight forward: Inflation.

Inflation implies price level of goods and services increase as time goes by; hence the purchasing power for each dollar decreases year by year. Inflation exists in every economy around the world. United States has an average inflation rate of 2.58% for the past decade. For example, a Big Mac cost $2.42 in 1997 and it cost $3.22 in 2007, and increase of 33% in 10 years. Put it in another way, your $1 today will worth only 97 cents next year or 77 cents 10 years later. This sounds depressing.

In order to sustain or improve purchasing power (consequently your living standard), you should have investment of some sort. There are several investment vehicles available in the market that can generate a reasonable return with limited risk. These vehicles include treasury bonds issued by the U.S. government, bank saving accounts (money market, online saving, certificate of deposit) etc. The interest rate ranges between 2% and 5% on these financial products. They are perfect for people who do not want to bear any risk at all but to keep up with the inflation rate.

Of course, we are not satisfied with merely sustaining our purchasing power; we want to improve our living standard. We want to get rich. There are other options for people who are willing to bear more risk in order to have a chance to have a higher return. There is an endless list of vehicles that you can choose from, corporate bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, real estate or even antiques. These investment options have different risk profiles and different up-side (and down-side) potential. Investors should choose vehicles that are suitable for them in terms of their risk tolerance level.

The bottom line is, do not let inflation hinder your financial well-being. So, get your fat cash working!

Support Ah Sing!

Thu, 31 May 2007 13:12:10 GMT

My old pal Ah Sing is going to Holland!

Everybody who know him (or not knowing him) should support him and leave him a message at
HERE