Posted by Oldmantea > 2018-02-09 16:28 | Report Abuse

well written

Posted by More2It > 2018-02-09 16:36 | Report Abuse

v. good point. It's also a time for us to reflect on how best we could have manage the funds set aside for investment, in particular the role of cash reserve in our investment fund.

If we are fully invested, then we would not have spare cash, to take advantage of the cheap sale on offer now.

Wonder what is the experts view on this, as 2018 looks to b a v. volatile year for investors.

Posted by bursagoinglong > 2018-02-10 01:16 | Report Abuse

Hi More2It, the experts' guess is as good as yours i.e. they don't know. Don't rely too much on expert. I used to but now I just take their advice with a pinch of salt.

As for your predicament with spare cash, you should shape your portfolio to take advantage of market drops by diversifying into other liquid assets which have no/little correlation with the movement of stock markets i.e bonds. That way, you can liquidate bonds to invest in equity when equity is beaten down.

When the market is on the rise -sell off equities to rebalance your portfolio. This is an approach adopted by Tony Robbins and Ray Dalio. It however, requires a more hands-on approach to investing.

Another method is by using margin on low volatility stocks i.e blue chip, especially when a blue chip stock is beaten down by market drops. Riskier but it does have its merits.

Good luck!

Posted by More2It > 2018-02-10 22:32 | Report Abuse

@bursagoinglong
thks !
What do u think of the idea to keep a fixed portion of investment funds in cash/cash equivalents this year,( eg. 30-50%) as BURSA is expected to b volatile this year ? so, as to b able to take advanatage of unexpected bargains like now.

or u dont mind b 100% invested,as long it is good stocks ?

thks in advance

Posted by bursagoinglong > 2018-02-12 11:33 | Report Abuse

Last year, I remembered that experts also believed that the market would be volatile etc. Despite all of the negative news, the market proved them wrong. Last year was the best year for equities (Malaysian perspective) in the last 2-3 years.

I won't keep too much of cash. Stay invested at all time - like 90-95% of your wealth but do not apportion all of them in equities. I keep only 5-10% in cash, most of the time. Diversify you wealth into other asset classes. You won't make incredible gains but you won't lose much if things go south.

Staying invested is recommended because the market only makes a/some bullish stride(s) for a number of days per year. The rest of the time, the market will be mostly sideways. For example, if you hadn't invested in January 2018, you would be at the sidelines when the market was bullish. Because no one can tell when the market is bullish, it is better to stay invested all the time. (Read Tony Robbins - Unshakable)

Cash can always be raised from the savings of your monthly income (salary or from business).