The First Huge Mistake I Made In 2024

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At the start of 2024, I written in my post that I am going to do some trading for my shares in US Growth Portfolio.  Fast-forward one month later, I already regretted this decision.  From December 2023 till January 2024, I have sold part of my shares in Apple, Microsoft, Google, JP Morgan, Palantir and VOO ETF, returning about USD 33K back into the brokerage account.  As investors and traders would know, in January, the DOW, S&P 500 reached new highs, and NASDAQ is near the highs too.  This meant that after I sold my shares, their prices continue to climb, and within a month, I am already questioning myself why did I make such a decision to sell instead of holding on to ride through. 

Under my earlier post, anonymous commented:

"US growth Stock picking and timing the market may not be substantiable in the long run. ETFs like QQQ, SPY or other sector ETFs may yield better results and not subjected to individual company risk in the longer horizon."

True enough, timing the market is not sustainable, as the market can remain irrational longer than one can remain solvent.  For now, I have 2 options.  Get back into the market, or wait for retracement or correction.  For now, I can only wait for correction to happen because it is probably unwise to re-enter the market now when market is at all time high (or near all time highs for individual shares, with the exception of Tesla) based on risk-reward probabilities.  The main consolation for me now, is that cash is not totally worthless, as the cash in my IBKR account (except the first USD 10K) is eligible for 4.83% interest.  

In another video I watched by Adam Khoo, probably what I can do in future when my shares have risen and accumulated good profits, is to continue to hold on to the shares, and instead of selling any shares, I can either sell cash-secured puts or covered calls to generate some income (but I have to be aware not to get into any naked sell puts).  As I have returned to dipping my toes back into options trading (slowly, still noobish), this is a possible way for me to slowly grow my US Growth Portfolio without the need to time the market, because timing the market never works for me.

So yup, lesson learnt.  Now I can only hope for a 10-20% correction for me to get back into the market, and at the meantime, enjoy the 4.83% that my cash can earn for now (while it last).  Hereby wishing all investors and traders, Happy Lunar New Year!  May everyone HUAT in the year of the Dragon!  Barista FIRE, here I come...!

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