Do we need to monitor the stock market so closely?

Hectic but fruitful life after a new entrant

Ever since my girl was born and my confinement lady left, life have been very hectic, tiring and sometimes frustrating. Eventually, when she learnt to smile at us, its had been one of the happiest moment of my life and instantly felt all this was worth it :). Looking back, my last post was more than 3 months ago and I haven't really got the time to meddle with my portfolio or look up company reports ever since.

Missed opportunities?

As my girl grow up, nearing her fourth month on earth (not counting the time she spent evolving in my wife's womb), she finally seems to be able to adjust to our earthly culture and give me some peace to do my stuff without constantly crying and requiring us to decipher what she want. So finally I an able to find time to stock take on my portfolio, read up a little on my companies and what had gone on in the last 3 months. Surprisingly (at least to me), I neither didn't miss much of the action nor any really great opportunities. As far as fundamentals go, the reporting seasons only occur once every 3 months and the last one was just concluded. Looking at the results and outlook stated in the financial reports of my companies and those I'm interested in, none really warrant much action and there isn't really much changes in their stock price for me to bang wall on missed opportunities.

Investment style for the busy

I recall speaking to friends or colleagues on investing. Many who believe in the need to invest would rather outsource the task via funds, citing the reason of being too busy to monitor the stock market. Looking at my current situation and looking back, I can confidently reiterate that self driven investment doesn't really need to take up alot of one's time.

Exploiting economic cycles

For the ultra-busy who have nothing much to spare other than to breathe, they can easily exploit economic recessions the likes of 1983, 1997, 2001/02 and 2008/09 to pick up decent blue chips are cut throat discounts. All they need to do is understand the business of these blue chips and are confident they will survive the economic crisis. Once the storm blow over, they will be siting on huge paper profit.

Exploiting business changes

For those who can afford a little more time, they only need to check SGX every 3 months during reporting seasons for updates. There will still be some meat left to exploit business turnarounds (which will take a few quarters for the company to return to solid performance) or new lucrative business ventures (which will also take several quarters before these new directions pay off handsomely in terms of better profits).

Conclusion

Looking forward, I will not have the time to invest or blog as much as I like to, but I can be sure I will still be able to realise my goals for my investment.