A brief review of my investment activities in 2020

The global pandemic due to Covid-19 has caused unprecedented social and economic turmoil. The crash of US and global stock markets has generated excellent opportunities for savvy investors.

Though I have had a little experience with the Chinese stock market in 1990s, the experience was utterly unpleasant. For a long while I have hold rather negative views towards the stock market, and have never invested anything in it ever since.

The pandemic changed everything, as most people had to stay at home and find some past-time things to do during the lockdown. Attracted by the very low stock prices in the market, I started to put my money in since end March, after returning from US and during self-quarantine.

My first experience of stock investment has been with NZX, from where I've gained reasonable profits (like doubled my investment portfolio during a 9-month timeframe). Then from Jun 2020 I've started to invest in the US stock market, which is substantially more interesting, but more risky than the NZ market because I started to play a ‘dangerous’ stock derivative called Option. There are no mechanisms in the stock market that are more similar to casino than the use of Option, yet it is amazingly rich in its strategy and possibilities. I've lost tons of money in shorting EV stocks but gained invaluable insights in pricing, timing and tempo in operations. I've also played with ETF/ETN, leveraged or unleveraged, and have had some solid understandings of them.

During the nine months of my investment experience as a newbie, I've learned heaps of things from both positive and negative money returns. The overall conclusion is that, if one respects the randomness and rationale of the stock market, be patient and willing to take long-term positions, he/she will certainly receive amazing awards from the stock market.

For the first time in my life, I start to believe that I can be rich, with income from financial investment far exceeding my salary. And actually there are no secrets:

- Be patient, and be resilient;

- Use the principle and philosophy of value investment similar to that of Buffett, Munger;

- Do not invest anything that I don't understand, and don't follow the so-called stock recommendations other than those stocks that I've learned hard lessons from;

- Do not rush into a position in a highly volatile stock, but observing it from afar;

- Have a balanced life. A full-time job is an amazing thing to forget about the stock market, which ironically help to gain a better profit from it.