One Year Anniversary Investing in US Markets

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2nd November 2022 marks the 1st anniversary of the opening of the Interactive Broker account for me to invest in US markets.  As such I hope to write this post to record this personal milestone of my investing journey.  From November 2021 to November 2022, this year presents vast opportunities for investing.  However, as usual, I am always joining the game at the wrong time.  Too late in opening account to start buying (should have started 2 years ago in 2020), and too fast with ill-disciplined purchase, resulting in insufficient stamina to last through the game (started buying in December 2021 at market high, with insufficient cash to average down further now).  At that time in December 2021, I thought that some stocks that I am interested in had fallen by about 5%, so probably it is a good time for me to slowly nibble in.  What happens after that, I believe everyone knows.  If only I start nibbling into the market 6 months later, that would have been great.  Nonetheless, I know I am a bad market timer, so no point 'crying over spilt milk'.  The only comfort I can use on myself is I did not do lump-sum investing at late December 2021 (which is essentially the market high for this bear).

As seen above, I started from SGD 0.00 on 2nd November 2021.  Over the course of the year, I have injected approximately SGD 100K into the platform.  This indicates my portfolio is down by approximately 12% by 2nd November 2022.  If I had done lump-sum investing at the beginning, I believe my portfolio would be down by more than 25%.

As we enter November, the market doesn't look promising for the month.  Just in the first 2 trading days, S&P 500 has declined by approximately 4%.  With no pivoting by FED in sight, I believe the markets will still be under downward pressure.  As usual, how long more will the bear drag on for, how much more will the market plummet by, its all beyond us for now.  With no indication in sight, history tells us probably we may need to hang on for about 8 more months.  It all depends on how the inflation numbers work out in time to come.

This will just be a reflection for myself, to celebrate dipping my toes into the US market for 1 year, and not yet being defeated despite the bear.  Hopefully by the same time next year on the 2nd anniversary, the markets would have turned for the better, and my portfolio can improve from there on.  Meanwhile, Barista FIRE, here I come...!

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