A New Year - 2015

2014 was a year of surprises and hardships, a year of happiness and sadness. With 2014 officially over, I will review it thoroughly in this post. There were tears, smiles and laughters and I have gained a new realization about myself as well as the people around me. So much has happened, and I managed to push myself towards greater heights, gaining new knowledge, capital as well as hitting some hard to hit goals, both personal and professional.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone, both readers as well as my real life friends and family. I have managed to hit a superb 4.9 semester GPA, bringing me closer to first class. My current CGPA stands at 4.45/5.00, a mere 0.05 away. I am really glad that all my hard work, consultations as well as active discussions with friends and professors finally paid off. I am now aiming for a perfect score next semester. I hope I can get into the Deans List for AY2014. 

With regards to my health, I managed to lose some weight, not much but around 3kg. I hope to implement some healthy habits into my lifestyle this coming year and try to exercise more regularly. Some of the resolutions that I set with regards to fitness have been too stringent and might have dampened my spirit many times. However, I will just aim for one thing this year with regards to fitness, and that is to consistently outdo myself when my mind tells my body to procrastinate. 

On the topic of professional development, it is really fascinating. I managed to have one of the best summer internship experience ever, and it has cultivated and built in me so many useful skills ranging from communication to analysis as well as networking skills. I am now still actively scouting for appropriate summer offers as I did not manage to score any first round interview at most of the bulge bracket banks I applied for except one, which I failed as I was too nervous. However, I was able to know what I want to do in the future, and this is unlikely to be something that will change in the near term.

About my family, my daughter is growing up so fast and she is finally going to Playgroup. I am so proud of her. I am watching her grow everyday and her growth spurs me on even more, to take more tuitions, invest more cautiously and venture out of my own comfort zone more often. My wife has also helped me push myself even harder. I would like to thank them and my mother for her relentless support as well. Watching her work so hard each day is a daily ringing bell for me.

I started an entrepreneurial venture last year as well but it is still in the development phase. I can foresee potential in my idea but the development is taking too long and since I am not a technical person, there is really very little that I can do to pull the timeline for launch closer. The only thing I can do is to nag and continue to nag at my developer. 

One thing that sort of bothered me in 2014 was that I did not manage to catch up with people I want to catch up with as often as I wanted to as I was too involved with work and taking care of my family. This is unlikely to change in 2015 but I just wish that some free time will open up here and there from time to time.  

On the point of my investment returns, I fall short of a few thousand dollars to push my portfolio to my intended size. However, I was able to continue to have pretty impressive returns and a big part of it is due to diligence and a little bit to luck. I continue to adopt the value investing approach and will continue to scoop up discounts from time to time. I recently exited a few REITs, and entered some oil and gas companies as the valuation was too good to pass, especially with so much fear due to the crash in oil price.

2015 will be a year full of challenges... I expect it to be even tougher due to rising costs for my daughter's education and will do whatever it takes to make more money. I also have to balance my studies, both university as well as professional. I am learning VBA and Macros on the side in order to get ready for my eventual entrance into the jungle (corporate world)... Until my next post, good night!