Purposeful Life - 2021 in review

I had hoped that 2021 would be a year where life got back more to normal. But instead it just felt like a re-run of 2020. Quite tough year actually as I felt very stuck. In fact this year made it very clear that doing well at work or portfolio has a weakened  link to happiness for me. The link was super strong when I was in early 30s for sure. 

Being an internal scorecard person who enjoys experiencing old and new things, being restricted in movement, socialization and travel hit hard this year.

Turned 46 this year and when I reread last years review post, glad to know the 3 purposes i wrote down and the values associated did not change. Though I must say purpose 3 doing very well numerically but not resulting in more fulfillment is worth paying attention to.

Purpose 1 - Help and be there for family. Extend to friends if i can.

Purpose 2 - Be as healthy as I can

Purpose 3 - Be a good custodian of wealth and knowledge. help grow startup ecosystem via angel investing & AngelCentral.  Contribute to broader society as volunteer.

Quite a lot happened on all 3 fronts.

Purpose 1 :  Good relations with Family & Friend & contribute to their lives

Goals: High level of family/wife/friend time. Share more learnings with kids.

Oldest son enlisted in April. 2nd son had A levels, 3rd son entered Sec 1 and 4th son entered P1. All major life events for kids. So this year, wife & I had hands full ensuring all 4 get the right attention and help when they needed it. Its very hard to do it all well. We tried to have family bonding time by singing Karaoke at home, having staycations during March and Dec holidays and family dinners daily where we discuss topics or share our day. But as the kids get older, they become adults and we just have to hope we did enough right for them to be happy, fulfilled and useful people. 

Dad turned 80 in Dec and the great news is that i am now staying with him for a couple of months this year while waiting for new place. Got a new place as we need a larger space for 4 fast growing kids and we ourselves need more space. Definitely consequence of Covid. It has been fun watching Dad go about his daily life these few weeks. A good role model on aging actively. 

As for Ning, we are closer than ever with so much more time to spend together. We celebrated our 20 year anniversary so busy with moving house that all our plans of a photoshoot or travel or even staycation took a back seat. Hopefully can make it up in 2022. I must say finding a life partner that grows alongside you is super critical to happiness and achievement. I am very happy to have found one and I hope she feels the same way about me too.

As for friends, time with them really fell this year with all the restrictions happening. A lot of meetings for forum/peer groups happened on zoom, old school friends met opportunistically whenever we could meet in groups of 5 or 8. Even managed to attend a wedding for a relative. But these in person social events were far and few between. 

So while i can say i managed to continue on family bonding, friendships took a big backseat this year. Hope to remedy that this year with more socializing when allowed.

Purposes 2  : Be Healthy Mind and Body

GOALS: Keep lean, weight below 70kg. Control mood better through exercise and mindfulness.

Managed to keep to a regular exercise routine of 4-5 times a week. Weight hover 68-70kg. Mostly jogging, yoga with more swimming compared to 2020. In fact, i found myself heading out to the beach almost weekly at one stage. And i would spend a good 3-4 hrs there just chilling and swimming. Singapore has one or two nice beaches still with decently clear waters on some days. Interestingly, the beaches are mostly empty though Dempsey is always full during this WFH period. Don’t make sense to me but I am not complaining.

Purpose 3 :Portfolio mgmt & Work role in Society

Goals: min 10% long term annual growth on investable net worth.  hit 100 startups for angel investment doing well as a portfolio. Quality volunteer in any such work I take up.

Portfolio Work

Its very strange that COVID has resulted in one of the best years portfolio wise. Portfolio overall went up by a record high teens return with PE fueling most of the gains followed by the public equity markets. The market is fueled by huge liquidity and low interest rates. I am not sure how long this party can last but my gut says its reaching the end soon. There is already a clear rotation in the public markets where loss making growth is being sold down in favour of financials and value stocks. China tech is our sole detractor this year losing a good chunk due to the crackdown on BABA and like. We are holding but not adding. We are also mindful that PE gains esp startup gains can be ephemeral and may disappear overnight. So we always keep them at book value.

I am still very much focused on compounding over the years at a good rate. One good practice is that Ning & I sit down monthly to discuss portfolio like a business and we make decisions jointly that are split up for execution. This formalization of activity reduces stupid decisions when investing and also fosters accountability. We are also mindful that the more systematic we get, the easier it will be to involve more family members down the road. 

The other confirmation/takeaway i have is that the capitalistic system is really very unfair and it reminds me that those who benefit really must try to do more to be generous and fair minded to everyone. This global pandemic has greatly enriched people who invest in stocks and private equity. Since 2018 to now, an investor in S&P500 would have almost doubled their money! So while some workers have to rely on govt help to tide through the pandemic, many others have made much more money just by owning shares. From this angle, China's push for common prosperity as a resource allocation philosophy is not wrong at all. 

Startup/AngelCentral Work 

Angel portfolio side now at 41 startups in total. We invested in 6 more startups this year and a few of our startups had large uprounds. Likewise, the very tech heavy VC and PE funds we invested in also had large writeups. Combined, our PE side was up 20+% on mark to market basis. The only exception remains the L Capital Fund which has continued to write down. Really the saying that a dog will stay a dog holds true in this case. We also had a startup in the travel space that continues to be badly hit by COVID. See analysis of startup portfolio for 2021.

On AngelCentral side, under Ning leadership, we continued to grow and carried on with our mission of building effective angels in ASEAN. As an angel club, we funded another 5-6M into various startups and successfully helped them form 6 new syndicates. What is heartening is that we also see other syndicates and angel groups being formed. While on one level it is competition, on another level it bodes well for our ecosystem to have more activity and validates that what we do is useful. 

Volunteer Work

Continued volunteering with ITE, PEP and SWCDC. I don't believe in constantly seeking new titles and roles to do. I believe real value get created when one sticks to a commitment and role. Having said that, I may find a new commitment this year to do more for. Also need to catch up on charity giving since we want to give away 2% of profits/income made over time. 

 

In Summary, my goal for 2022 is much more of the good stuff of 2021, but with an added dimension of going back to traveling. Aim is to have a short trip in 1Q. hope it works out! Not promising no thanks to omicron rise…