A Kick-Ass Quarter In The Midst Of Multiple Crises

This year seems to be whizzing by, ricocheting between enormous challenges swirling in the world right now. It is bouncing with pent-up energy after 2 years of hibernation, trying not to pop any bubbles. If the 1st quarter is any indiction, the pace will likely intensify with a slew of upcoming elections in several countries and increased US Fed activities.

Pandemic Effect

The pandemic has slowed down the tempo of my life dramatically the past 2 years. This year however, just seemed to have bolted from the word ‘Go’ on 1st  January and been running on steroids since. Barely out of the woods from the Covid pandemic, we have had to deal with assaults on many fronts: war, energy crisis, inflation, financial markets turmoil, threat of a recession, threat of nuclear escalation. And not to mention, dealing with the debris and scars left by a 2-year-old virus that is intent on living in our midst, with its many split personalities.

I feel like a back-bencher on the sideline for the longest time and suddenly being fielded into an intense match, with hardly any warm up. After 2 years of enforced calm, this recent spate of activities is actually welcome, it feels that life is back in full swing. Things are flowing and moving once again!

A Quarter in Recap

A sneak-peek of my activities in the quarter that just ended:

Real Estate

• Sold 2 properties in the US as they have reached our exit criteria. The US property market is red hot and at all-time high in more than a decade, since the colossal sub-prime mortgage crisis. It was  quite a feat co-ordinating the sale while on-the-road, made possible only because I had  digitised my life by moving all files into cloud storage soon after I stopped work.

• Bought 2 properties in Spain: 1 for rental and the other for own stay. Despite my bias against investing in property catering to the holiday segment, Marbella’s winsome characters won me over. We attended no less than 2 dozen property viewings in Spain and Portugal, shortlisted as suitable places for our 2nd home. No complain here as this was the fun part 🙂

Stocks

• Restructured and rebalanced an existing stock portfolio to tighten its quality by selling unprofitable counters and doubling down on fundamentally stronger counters. 

• Instituted a portfolio under a new strategy by buying the final 2 stocks that were previously overvalued and were in my watch list.  

Collectibles

• Expanded my collectibles as part of diversification into non-market related asset class, and for better store of money against inflation. From past experiences and depending on the type of collectibles, they can easily out-perform traditional asset classes such as real estate and stocks. 

Personal

• Travelled 2.5 months through the south of Europe in search of our 2nd home to replace a forsaken plan in Malaysia. This long trip more than compensated for the 2 years of travel restriction during the pandemic. It was lovely being able to travel once again: see new places, meet new people and enjoy new experiences.

Many of these accomplishments are part of the goals I have set for myself this year:

• Divest US real estate: checked. 
• Increase equity-to-real estate ratio: checked.
• Visit 1 new city:  checked, visited 10 new cities in total.
• Make 1 new friend (as opposed to acquaintance): checked.

1 of the new friends is a Taiwanese lady who used to live in Singapore (what a small world indeed!) when her husband was posted there. Since retirement, they relocated to Marbella for its weather, lifestyle (being avid golfers) and to be near their son who lives in London.

During our kindred chat in Mandarin, we talked about golf, memories of Singapore, her recommendations of good residential developments in Marbella and of course, food. No bona-fide conversation between 2 Asians is ever complete without mention of food 🙂

 

Not All Things Nice

Of course, it has not been just a bed of roses. We also had to deal with other less pleasant matters.

Our only shop tenant – a husband and wife team – decided to call it quits after more than 10 years operating a candy shop. They represent the faces of economic victims of the pandemic, hit especially hard by the 2nd lockdown in the Netherlands from 19 December 2021 to 26 February 2022. Small businesses are not built to withstand such harsh measures, 2 Christmases in a row. 

2 other tenants also served notice to end their leases, having decided to buy their own property, spurred on by the (still) low interest rate and rising inflation. 

On the war front, we did our small part by contributing to 2 private initiatives started by Ukrainian friends, 1 for territorial defence against Russian troops and the other to help Ukrainians evacuate to safety.

To Do Or Not To Do?

In a year filled with such an avalanche of crises – all happening at the same time – it is easy to be stupefied and feel insecure to make changes or take big actions. Our mortgage broker in Spain shared that a few clients pulled out of their property transaction when the war erupted, citing uncertainly and concern about a market crash. 

The way I see it, there will never be a good time to make a career switch, take a sabbatical to earn that certification, start investing or to plan for retirement. The bigger the undertaking, the greater the resistance, both externally and internally. 

It may be worth noting that WhatsApp was founded in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-2009, when economic and commercial sentiment was at rock bottom. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft during the oil crisis and collapse of the stock markets in 1975. Similarly, Apple was launched a year later in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, becoming a cult brand and the 1st company to reach US$1 trillion and then US$2 trillion in market cap.

The human mind is wired to avoid risk and loaded with cognitive biases, often times leading us to self-sabotage. Added to this is a deep-rooted status quo bias that favours letting things and situations remain as-is because that is easier, takes less effort and feels safer. 

Like everyone else, I am affected and concerned by everything that is happening. But I’m also aware that being afraid and doing nothing holds me back. In order to reach my goals, I have to move forward. As long as the  goals and plans are well thought through, I should have the confidence and determination to execute.

It is impossible to isolate oneself from risk, for life itself is about risk.  That’s how I’ve psyched myself up: to let go of things I cannot control, focus on those I can instead. And it is with this thought that I am launching into the 2nd quarter.

The real risk is doing nothing    ~ Denis Waitley

 

Join me?

Savvy Maverick

(Main image: Carlos Aranda,Unsplash)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are drawn from my own experience and do not constitute financial advise in any way whatsoever. Nothing published here constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content be relied upon for any investment activities. It is strongly recommended that independent and thorough research is undertaken before making any financial decisions, including consulting a qualified professional.