'Now I know who my real friends are'

[CityFarmer]

Target to have 10% return (feasible?), and will adjust accordingly in due course.

10% annual realised returns is not difficult to achieve as there's a already a base of 6% for dividends and you just need another 4% via active management (eg. switching). The bigger problem is the unrealised part, especially during a bad market year.

For eg. in 2008, my realised returns was 10.01% (Profits = 3.16% + Div = 6.86%). But, with STI = -49.41%, I was sitting on unrealised losses = -48.92%. Nett = -38.9%, scary? It's times like these that you get to see how well you'd selected your stocks and whether you have the stomach to be doing investing.

So, why invest?

Come 2009, STI = +64.49%!
Somehow, even though STI was still at a lower level than end-07, my total assets had surpassed my end-07 level.

Come 2010, STI = +10.09%
2010 was my dream year. One of my stock rx a G.O. and fortunately, I had accumulated a meaningful amount (I learnt from my previous G.O. 'lessons' where I made only tiny amount of $$ that don't make any significant impact on my total Net Worth).

2011 was another bad year with STI = -17.04%
I'd posted somewhere in another thread that I ended the year Nett -ve but within the 1st Q of 2012, I'd again surprisingly rebounded back and even now, am still Nett +ve wrt to end-'10.

So, one of the joys of DIY investing is the 'luck' of enjoying huge gains from G.O., Cyclicals, Turnarounds and Growth Stocks when you get it right and you happened to have accumulated a meaningful amount. At other times, you get to enjoy the upward rides of STI. In between, you'll realise that you can't survive on luck alone during STI downward rides ; you'll also get to know your stomach a lot better..

Fully aware of the volatility involved. Thanks a lot for the advices given and the sharing of the experiences.

I am a firm believer of the "天助自助者" (God help those who are helping themselves). Luck will come along if we have tried hard enough in the right way.

[corydorus]

By the way i am not going to try lol. Just to understand what you all thinks. I got my answer !! Relationship is so fragile ...