The Hedgehog Portfolio Hits S$200k!

IMPORTANT: Please read the disclaimer before continuing.

Have you ever felt so defeated because you thought that having a huge amount of capital was necessary to make returns in the stock market?

As a young 19 years old kid, I was in your shoes and the feeling sucked. Then, a realisation struck me. Why should I feel this way? Why do I have to put myself down at all? Doesn’t everyone start from somewhere?

“If you don’t start, you are forever at point zero.”, I told myself.

That rude awakening got me to start investing. I had no clue. I had no finance degree. I went online, read a couple of investment guides and got started anyway.

I spent time understanding what made companies more valuable. I realised the act of following people could net me some gains but eventually, I had to learn how to fish by myself.

I figured out that trading was not going to make me huge capital appreciation as well. I dropped all of that and focused on growth investing.

Fast forward.

With a lot of help and my initial capital from my previous clothing business, I grew my portfolio to half a million by the age of 23.

As I looked back into my journey, it would not be possible without my mentors and my painful mistakes. It made me resilient and aware of my blind spots.

(RE: My Biggest Investment Mistakes)

If you’re struggling right now, you are on the right path. Remember to seek help because you will grow much faster.

Back in July 2019, I had an interesting conversation with one of you. You told me it was impossible for someone with $5,000 to grow their money. I was feeling frustrated because I was convinced that investing is for anyone.

It is for you, it is for your brother, it is for your sister. It is for your friends and parents.

It is for ANYONE! ANYONE!

Surely, I did not possess any special talent or skillset. Maybe I just had a stronger commitment towards myself. If you have a strong purpose or “WHY”, you could do it too.

I did not buy into the idea that someone with lesser capital would find more difficulty making 20% returns per year. In fact, it would be easier because you are able to buy into positions quickly.

If you have $250, you are able to buy a share of Facebook faster than someone who has $1 million. It might take him minutes for his buy order to be completed.

How did I prove it? On July 2019, I started a smaller account on Interactive Brokers. Also, I wanted to challenge myself whether I could grow a new account from scratch.

It took me some courage because it meant I could not rely on my past gains from my ThinkOrSwim account.

On 1 August 2019, with some capital injection, my new portfolio value was S$44,000.

On 20 September 2019, the portfolio grew to $66,480.

I added my commentary about this portfolio for you. It is in in the Youtube videos.

(RELATED: My First Hedgehog Portfolio Post)

Among my stock positions, I held a micro-cap company called HemaCare. I spotted this company using my GIM framework. Unfortunately, Charles River acquired HemaCare at US$ 25.40. I sold all my shares to Charles River and recognised close to 100% of profits on my HemaCare position.

As of 31 December 2019, this pushed my portfolio value to a record high of S$122,700.

I was pretty hopeful because the portfolio grew from a mere $44k to $122.7k in 5 months!

Everything looked on track. My confidence came from the time I spent analysing the companies in my portfolio.

As all of you know, COVID-19 hit us quite badly. Stock prices started to fall and many investors’ portfolios were wrecked badly.

I wasn’t spared at all.

My portfolio started to fall off the cliff after hitting 100% gains in February 2020.

Upon some reflections on my current positions, I acted very quickly.

I removed the weak ones and added more on the stronger ones.

The recent gains in the stock market took me by surprise because some of my positions recovered very strongly. I was hoping to buy more of those shares.

This pushed my portfolio to an all-time high of S$200k! My Year-to-Date (YTD) return is 64% currently!

If I used a different measurement of past 12 months instead, the return is 148%.

Truth to be told, I’m pretty sure my portfolio value would fluctuate in the coming weeks.

My assurance comes from the companies I have in this portfolio. It is not from placing short term trades or forecasting market directions over the next few weeks.

A bigger target is being set for the rest of the year, so I look forward to updating everyone whenever time allows me to do so!

On a separate note, what about my main portfolio on ThinkOrSwim? While its gains are doing okay, they are nowhere near my Interactive Broker’s.

I am managing more money on my main account.

I came to this conclusion that it is better to manage a smaller portfolio because I could make decisions easier. With more money, you need to have more diversification.

It becomes harder over time.

This is good news for you if you are managing a smaller portfolio. You are in the best position to grow your money at a rate faster than investors with a bigger portfolio!

Don’t focus on the size, focus on the rate of growth.

Once you have the certainty of the rate of growth, then focus on adding as much capital as possible!

See, whether you are starting out with $3,000 or $10,000, it does not matter!

That should be the least of your concerns. What’s important is to get KNOWLEDGE.

What do I mean? Once you have the knowledge, as your capital scales bigger, you are going to be very comfortable. Without knowledge, you are going to have a tough time managing a big portfolio.

Some of you may be curious how much money I placed into my Interactive Broker account.

In total, I injected S$80,844.

I truly believe investing is for anyone who wants to learn. It’s more than just finance knowledge. It’s whether you are someone who is willing to learn new concepts, overcome obstacles with a champion’s mindset… or you’re someone who gives up easily.

If you’re reading up to here and you still have the patience to read further… I will share something separate from my IB portfolio.

I often like to talk to new investors or young investors. I often see shadows of my younger days in the conversations I had with them. It compelled me to help them in whatever way I can. I believe the future lies in young people.

Going to end this post with something multi-millionaire and Youtuber Logan Paul shared:

Do you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?

When I was a kid, I never fit in. I knew I wasn’t destined to follow the crowd. I craved adventure, success and happiness. See… my ideas were big but my reality was small.  

People would call me crazy, but who are the crazy ones? He who thinks he can or he who never tries? So I tried and tried and tried again, and this became my truth. My failures made me smarter and my shortcomings made me stronger. And if I am the prototype, you are the product because we are living proof that the only thing that can stop you is you, so don’t.

The future always belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Don’t stop believing in yourself! Ok, that’s it for this post, folks.

I’m on Instagram just in case you want to reach out to me. Say hello if you have not!

PS: I am giving away a free PDF of financial ratios, subscribe (click here) to my blog to receive it automatically!