(read earlier 2021 review and 2020 review to get context.)
If I have to summarize the year 2022, it is a year of anticipation and waiting on many key items. This year was tough to live thru as many impt segments of our lives required patience and time to wait it out.
First, the year started with us waiting for Covid restrictions to end and to actually catch covid. I finally caught it in Feb and took 2-3 weeks to fully recover with no longer term symptoms. Second was the wait for the painful legal completion of our home (long story) and its subsequent renovation works. Background is we finally managed to buy a new home that is suitable for a family our size + for Dad if he wants to live with us.
Third, portfolio & work also just treading water. Startups side going thru bad valuation downturn and possible recession so have to wait for sentiment to change and for them to grow more. Listed investments also same but we were lucky to liquidate a large chunk into cash to get approval for home loan back early in 2022. So by pure luck, we caught only a part of the market weakness and got out of almost all our USA and SE growth stock positions.
Family wise, 2 older kids also in holding mode as they are in first and second year of NS respectively. They’re now in NS limbo waiting for it to be over so that they can resume studies.
Of course, i understand that these things are part of life and we try to be positive and remember that each second is precious and to make the most of each day but it’s not easy with so many things in limbo.
One positive major highlight is the resumption of travel. Once some of family got Covid, Ning & I resumed travel and in 2022 clocked about 63 days of travel to Sydney, Phuket (twice), Bali, HCMC, KL, bintan, Cempadek island and northern Italy. Lots of sea and beach time.
In terms of philosophy on living, don’t think much has changed. To recap, i have centered myself on the 3 purposes below.
Purpose 1: House hunting and being there for family. Share and guide kids more. Maintain friendships.
We finally decided to get a bigger place that can fit our 4 sons without room sharing and also have a room for Dad in case he needs to stay with us. Quite a testing saga to do this purchase as property market was running hard in 2021 and 2022. So many unethical sellers… Anyway, long story short is we managed to find a lovely new place, took 5 mths to renovate and moved in mid dec. So one source of limbo is gone for 2023 onwards.
Best part for the entire year, we stayed with Dad at his home for the year as we had to sell our old home and new place was tenanted. Staying with dad turned out to be good fun and I missed him when we moved out. Now he has decided to stay with us a few days a week so let’s see how that works out.
Needless to say Ning went thru a similarly tough year but as usual she has a just suck it up and do it attitude. And she is much clearer and decisive on some things which helps us decide quickly and accurately on them.
NS boys we try to be as present for them as much as possible. All independent already and big one partying quite a bit. Next year will be a big change for all as he enters university. Number 2 surprised us all by entering the finals of a radio singing contest. Very exciting for us all to vote and attend and cheer. Number 3 also developed a lot as a student and as a sportsperson and we had fun attending his swim meets. No 4 still a small boy at 8 years old and is lots of fun to have around.
It’s tough guiding kids. Don’t want to be too prescriptive yet want to help them as much as is reasonable. We find gestalt style sharing works for older kids but sometimes also still need to be definitive esp on key items Ning and I agree on.
For friends, still same maintenance mode. Couple of dinners, double dates and a fun canoe trip with an old friend in ubin.
All in, I would say managed to keep present for loved ones in 2022. Being able to travel with them and wife helps for sure too.
I would rate an 8 out of 10 for the year.
Purpose 2 : Health in mind and body. Weight below 70kg.
Health stayed good as we built up routines to fetch son to camp and just do an early morning jog near camp. So we have been discovering lovely jogs near changi point and also along upper Thomson. Mind wise, mid and year end we faced significant stress. Partly caused by house moving and partly because investment climate has changed a lot and our asset allocation has also changed. I do think some time will help us get used to new returns expectations and consequent cash flow dynamics. More on that below.
I would rate a 7 out of 10 for the year. Weight was about 65-67kg throughout.
Purpose 3: Preserve & Grow Wealth - 10% annualized net on investments + Quality startup angel work for 100 startups + good volunteer
Hard to grow wealth in 2022 with stock, bond and crypto markets plunging. While we managed to largely avoid the downturn in growth tech and crypto that crashed 50-80%, we did get hit with our QQQ and China tech positions. For the year, that puts our equity/bond portfolio side down about 12%, painful but it’s not damning. Really proves the importance of diversification and investing for the long term. Having some SG banks and REITS help balance out the USA and China losses.
Interestingly, we are up slightly on private equity and up significantly on property this year. The latter is expected since URA PPI is up 8-10% this year alone. The former was aided by an exit and some distribution from VC funds which are offset by sizable write downs on paper gains on PE funds side. Remember I put Vc and startup at book unless realized. Will analyze the startup/VC side in another post early next year but we are already feeling there is a need to cut back until we see concrete startup returns next few years. So 50 startups will hit for sure, but 100 we probably want to see returns first so that can recycle capital.
All in, last 12 years has been dragged down to 8+% annualized if we mark to market. No complaints but I am mindful a big chunk is still unrealized gains from PE/startups. All in, this is the first year overall portfolio go into the red since the start of tracking in 2011.
Finally on the volunteering front, continued with PEP, IPOS, ITE, SWCDC, NRF and added on a new role on the board of SCHS. It’s the land owning entity of HwaChong and also owns the international school. I help out with strategy, investments and on the school mgmt committee for the intl school. It is currently the most involved of volunteering work as the school is not as well resourced and established with process and strategies like govt entities.
I would rate this purpose a 6.5/10 for the year. It would have been 5 due to invested cuz down is down. The mitigating factor is volunteer work, property and PE exits/write ups.
Overall 2022 has been an okay year for me. Many more challenges and stresses work wise than 2020, 2021 but as always a lot to be grateful and happy for too. I hope 2023 is a year where things are clearer on more fronts and less in limbo. Continue attention on family and health. Asset allocation done so hope to be largely correct and see the portfolio recover back into the black. And see more of our startups turn profitable and grow well with or without VC funding. Also, may have to drop one volunteer work as its getting to the point where I feel too stretched.
