September 2025 Portfolio Update

I have been very quiet because my mother's leg had developed venous ulcers, or ulcers on the skin of her foot. It has not been getting better. This led to very emotional outburst from her which I have to endure daily. The vascular specialist has scheduled an ultrasound to check if the veins are indeed the problem. 

He has also cautioned us that she has to stop working. So at a ripe old age of 72, my mum is finally forced to take a temporary retirement.

These ulcers are depressing because you worry day and night that they get infected. It looks like a mess and unnerving to look at. My mum had been expressing suicidal rants from time to time.

I tried to pacify my mum by showing her the portfolio returns. But it did nothing. The day after we left the vascular specialist's room, and went for our coffee break, she didnt want to order a cup of kopi-c. I know why.

My mum and dad are not well educated, and both work blue collar all their lives. They have no idea what investing is, and only know how to save money. When they hit retirement age, the amount was nothing to be proud of. In fact, looking at the amount that FIRE achiever quite openly post (imo, a lot are humble-braggers), our savings paled in comparison.

There are poor people out there, and I know what it means to be poor.

I am by no means FIRE, but I think the returns is good enough to make money less of a worry when the family funds come together. 

But my mum's health has been pushing my mental well being lower each day. I don't know what else to do. Maybe not get sick so that I can support this family.

***

There is likely a problem with how stock.cafe calculate my YTD returns, so please disregard them.

YTD returns: 133%

STI returns: 17.91%

HK: 26.91%

S&P 500: 8.49%

I think many people looked at XIRR%. I think the XIRR I am having is more likely correct. Stock.cafe report that I am on 25%. I think at the end of this long road, 15% is likely what I get at most. I am not some Buffett material. In fact, compared to most, I am only a part timer doing investing.

Notable transactions:

Selling puts on Haidilao and Anta Sports

My wheel on Crocs got called away after a couple of weeks.

Increase in Kimly shares for my parent's portfolio. Kimly is another example of how the stock market priced no growers at prices where the private market will never. COVID, inflation (and even a post-corruption scandal) tells a story, we simple folks need our kopitiams.

Slight increase in Powermatic Data, largely CPF

Purchase in Goldlion Holdings. Modest intial sums.

I have sold a good amount of Alibaba at 125 earlier on due to call options selling. Unfortunately I am god-damn-lousy at selling stocks (it is about 170 HKD now).

I still have 1000 shares of synthetics that were purchased practically at almost no cost-- I sold puts and bought calls, and when the price went to 145 the first time round, I covered my puts. The calls were almost FOC. The ROI on this option was about 150% based on the cost of the calls alone.

I sold my entire Aoxin Q&M position after the surge, which took place merely weeks after I bought them. It was fools' gold as the price went back down handily after I sold.

Looking at the latest Cordlife suspension, I should feel very blessed that I am totally out of it months ago. I guess selling these cheap stocks are always a matter of luck...

Thank you everyone for reading. Please pray for my mum as I don't know what to do. Life is gray.

-end