July 2020 Monthly Update

It’s that time of the month where I reflect on how last month went regarding investments, business, and personal goals.

This month business has been going well and seeing more customers re-order as they really enjoy drinking my SuperGreen TONIK – if you haven’t already please do check out my review.

In terms of investing, I have done a little bit but after losing money recently (trying to be clever and shorting the market) I have been hesitant about jumping back in.

So, let’s kick off with how my investments have been doing in July 2020.

Investment Portfolio Update

There have been some great gains this month with Gold and Bitcoin prices up 10-15%. In terms of stocks, there have been some fluctuations seeing a decrease in some stocks but fairly consistent for recent purchases (see below).

I thought it would be useful to see at a glance the asset allocation and relative percentage of each in my portfolio.

Of course, the percentage of each asset will vary due to the price fluctuations, for example, Bitcoin and Gold have seen amazing gains this month and so show a greater allocation there.

SaxoSelect Go Trading Account

I have mapped out my strategy for the shares that I own, why, and how long I wish to hold them for.

So far, I had avoided buying any Tech stocks and although I missed out on the massive gains since April I decided to buy Microsoft shares.

A friend asked me shortly after buying why Microsoft?

I sort of discounted them ever since I used to own Microsoft tech and used to be a full-time programmer working online coding in Microsoft technology stack – I really do not miss being a coder!

You can check out Motley Fools’ bullish article on Microsoft, they show their strong results and encouraging long-term growth. Although they do urge caution as the growth will notably slow due to the size of their business.

The only other share purchase was Keppel Infrastructure Trust for their reliable dividend yield of 5%.

I am keen to invest in some other high paying dividend stocks, and one other that I have my eye on is Mapletree Logistics Trust with their attractive 4-5% dividend.

I was keen to invest in Silver as well this month, although I did kick myself as I was considering purchasing a few months ago but didn’t.

A friend of mine Reza who previously worked in finance in Hong Kong, recommended I look at iShares Silver Trust. So, I took a position with SLV with the aim of capitalizing on the bull run on precious metals.

Cryptocurrencies

I was keen to grab a few more bitcoins this month but my buy order wasn’t triggered, why?

Because Bitcoin is heading for the moon!

Joking aside, we’re seeing cryptocurrency seeing some nice gains this month, with my holding increasing 5-10% (depending on the day).

Art of FX – Steady Growth

Last month saw a really nice gain in the FX account, with gains of 1.8% in just one month. This is great to see as this year has seen some really low months with just 0.5% gains.

To put this in perspective this still works out at 6% pa, and whilst not huge is still respectable.

When this investment first started in 2018 the average monthly increase was 1.3%.

Since investing in May 2018 my account is up 35%, happy days.

Gold – On the up

Gold has reached all-time highs this month when it hit $1,960 per ounce. This surpassed the previous high of $1,900 back in 2011.

Just goes to show investors are losing confidence in the market, even with the raging stock markets.

Looking at the gold investments I am up 50% since I started buying and holding gold bullion a few years ago.

I choose to use BullionStar a bullion vault storage company based in Singapore. You can even visit your bullion if you so wish!

Goal Progress for July 2020

On a personal level, I feel I have gone backward a little. Less focused on my health and well-being and directed more at my business.

In fact, I have to own up and admit that this month I have been lazy and less focused as usual.

The real struggle for me, and for most people, is consistency.

For example, I had a good 4 or 5 days of getting amazing sleep, which for me was consistently over 7 hours per day and scoring over 80 on my Oura ring. Only to be followed by 3 or 4 days of getting 5 to 6 hours sleep and sleep scores in the low 70’s.

Trying to understand why I believe it’s that I simply don’t prioritize these things – basically, I don’t want it enough, otherwise, I would do it!

The only thing I consistently practice is intermittent fasting and OMAD, which works well for keeping in control of my food intake.

This reminds me, I passed the one-year mark this month from when I quit drinking alcohol back in July 2019.

I really don’t miss drinking alcohol, certainly not the hangovers. The downside is that I am less inclined to go out socializing with a few friends and so do this a lot less.

So, I am not just bashing my lack of consistency, since starting this blog there have been very positive changes made.

July 2020 Summary

My supplement has been flying off the shelves this month, and I am super happy with the progress so far.

We released some really great-looking SuperGreen TONIK shaker bottles to make carrying your greens supplement on the go much easier for customers.

The feedback has been great – you have to agree they look pretty cool!

I have been kindly given a few courses by friends and been going through them recently. One, in particular, I am enjoying it as I learn so much more about writing copy. This is from Kevin Meng, who I interviewed this year about working as a freelance copywriter.

In terms of day-to-day life, I am really happy to be living in Malaysia.

It’s with a heavy heart that I look at what’s happening in my home country, the UK. The state of the UK economy in the near future looks bleak, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been awful and reflecting in the huge number of infection cases. I can’t help but blame the 180-degree changes in government policy.

In any case, I rarely go into politics.

In Malaysia, you see an impact on the number of cases (8,943 infections and 124 deaths) due to the response by most of the country in wearing masks and respecting the government’s stay-at-home policy during the Movement Control Order (MCO).

Let’s hope people start acting with more than self-interest in the common months and progress on the vaccine continues.

So, I wish everyone all the best!