Summary of personal investment lessons in 2023

All personal sharing about my 2023 investment portfolio

2023 is officially over. Below are my personal conclusions about my stock portfolio over the past year. I hope that looking back and drawing lessons will not only be useful for me, but also share something interesting with you.

1. Personal Finance

   Last year, I had many personal things that happened, both intentional and unexpected. I invested more in my health (hired a personal trainer to go to the gym, and worked out so much that it was equivalent to 10 years of not working out!). As a result, my health improved significantly, I became more confident, and in return, this cost accounted for a significant amount of my personal expenses in 2023. In addition, I also traveled to Europe (my first trip to this continent), had an unfortunate accident near the end of the year, had respiratory problems, etc., and most importantly, learned how to use a credit card - it was my first time using this card and I overspent unnecessarily. As a result, my savings for investment flowed into spending money - I sometimes had to stay in negative cash outflow! For me, learning how to spend reasonably and scientifically became more urgent than whether my personal investment portfolio outperformed or not last year.

   

   Relaxing coffee by the lake in the Netherlands

   

   Coffee again, but this time in Belgium :)

2. Personal Portfolio

   In 2023, my portfolio will only revolve around these codes: VEA TLG OCH MCM REE CTR . The above personal financial problem forced me to sell a significant amount of VEA and TLG. To summarize my 2023 portfolio, if I don't look at the cash flow in and out, I will only gain about 2-3% compared to the Vnindex increasing by 12%. This is a year of underperformance for me, and I consider it a lesson in allocating weights to industries/companies, as well as the ability to evaluate the macro, industries/companies in particular.

   + VEA: is my personal savings investment (instead of depositing in the bank). In 2023, if including dividend cash flow, VEA outperforms annual savings interest rates (around 10-11% vs. 6-7%). VEA will continue to be my personal favorite defensive stock in the near future.

   + TLG: underperform all year, because this is a difficult year for both exports and domestic consumption. Personally, I think 2024 will be brighter for TLG, and it will continue to be my cautious investment in the coming time.

   + OCH: first time in the portfolio, is an Upcom stock, weak liquidity. These are the risks I may encounter when buying OCH, however, potential payoff. The only thing I care about in the coming time is the ability of the board of directors to be transparent in information, communicate well with shareholders about the direction of capital allocation for current business segments. I will monitor further and decide to buy more or sell when I have more information.

   + MCM: I think this investment goes along with the macro of the dairy industry, the ability to recover and increase consumption for pasteurized and organic milk and the ability to expand MCM's current capacity to 60%. However, the problem is time, the current timing does not see that. Comparing opportunity costs, I think it is not outstanding, so I do not hold it at the moment.

   + REE: attractive valuation, I will buy more and hold, in the context of the energy industry shifting to ESG trend, although the industry macro is uncertain and unclear, but the demand is very large (Demand » Supply). The industry trend is mergers, companies with clear track records and M&A investment experience, combined with financial discipline, healthy balance sheet are big pluses in my REE investment thesis.

   + CTR: this is the biggest lesson, called my omission mistake in 2023. Faced with Vietnam's unclear 5G investment trend, the multi-industry business situation - encroaching on the civil construction sector and narrowing infrastructure investment (wind power, solar power) due to unclear policies, I sold all CTR, forgetting that the trend of infrastructure investment, 4G BTS stations still has great potential, and the company's business situation is not as bad as I thought. This trend will continue, however, the current CTR valuation is beyond my ability (expensive), so I will continue to monitor the future trend and buy it back if there is still an opportunity.

   2023 ends with many promises of transformation in 2024. Wishing you all a successful 2024, accumulating many new and interesting investment experiences!