I started buying unit trust with EPF money in June 2009. Yesterday was my second time withdrawing money from EPF to buy unit trust. According to the guidelines, a contributor can withdraw once every 3 months from EPF to invest into approved unit trust funds.

This time, I was recommended by the unit trust agent to buy the Public Islamic Equity Fund. The sales charge is 3%. According to the agent, this 3% is capped by EPF. I wonder if I could get a lower sales charge if I buy directly over the counter without going through the agency or agents.

It will be interesting to see if this managed fund can outperform my index fund (UOB-OSK KLCI Tracker).

My next withdrawal should be after the Chinese New Year, perhaps sometime around March 2010.

Today I attended my very first AGM. I got to experience first hand how it feels like being a shareholder. It’s a very good exposure for me. I was given some door gifts. We were served light refreshments before and after the AGM.

By my count, there were no more than 30 shareholders plus proxies who attended the AGM. Not many questions were asked during the AGM. And the resolutions were passed fairly quickly. The management did give some good answers to the questions asked. But overall, the quality of the questions asked were somewhat poor. I wish next year there will be a shareholder activist in the AGM.

After the AGM, I had the chance to talked to a few other shareholders and the Directors. The time spent talking with the Directors were great. I was able to learn more about the company in less than one hour than I had in the last few weeks searching for information about the company.

The KLCI shed 1.6% today. Haven’t seen such a huge drop for a while. Shanghai shed almost 6%. Has fear and panic crept back into the market? Reminds me of “the cycle of market emotions” I’ve read about in the July 2009 newsletter by HSBC.

What goes up, must come down. What goes down, must come up.

Be like Warren Buffett. Be greedy when people become fearful. And sell when people become greedy. This is the smart way to invest. Making buy sell decisions based on logic.

But instead of this common sense way, people usually get caught up in the market emotions. When everybody is greedy, they become greedy as welland usually end up buying overpriced assets. When everybody panic and sell, they become panicky too and sell at a distressed price, usually undervalued.

In summary, we have to look at the market and see what everybody else are doing. And sometimes it may be more profitable to bet against the herd.

Today, I have reached my first hundred thousand networth. This is of course excluding my retirement fund EPF which I have no control over.

My stock portfolio grew to RM90,890 and I have another RM10,900 in my futures trading account. I’ve invested a total of RM97,000. I have reinvested all my dividends. My investment portfolio value of RM101,790 represents a gain of 4.9% since November 2008 when I first started investing in stocks.

It took me about 3 years for me to reach where I am today. I can still remember the times when I had to tighten my belt to pay off my credit card debt. Then I had set my goals to achieve a networth of RM100,000 by 2010. I have achieved this goal in August 2009, four months before 2010. I have achieved a significant milestone in my life.

Words cannot describe how I feel. It’s a mix of feelings, happiness, relief, some sadness, and lots of hope. I feel happy because I’m on track towards my goal. I feel relief that some expectations I have put on myself have been lifted. I feel some sadness, when I reminisce about my past 3 years and the sacrifices I had to make. But it’s all worth it.  My hope is overflowing because I have proven to myself that my goals are achievable. And my dreams are one step closer to becoming reality.

People say the first hundred thousand is the hardest. The next hundred thousand is much easier. And so will the many hundreds of thousands to come. And I can feel it in my bones that I can achieve the next hundred thousand before end of 2010, even if my take-home-pay plus bonuses for the next 17 months is only RM90,000. Still, I have no doubt that I can achieve my goal. My burning desire and the conviction to achieve my goal will guide and show me new opportunities to financial freedom.

I look forward to my next one hundred thousand.

I’m going to list down some observations of the stock market crash of 2008. Hopefully next time I’ll make better decisions.

1. Don’t catch falling knives. Wait for the market to bottom first. It’s better to miss the bottom, than getting hurt trying to catch the bottom.

2. Buy blue chips, fundamental counters. Don’t buy second liners, speculative counters. It’s easier to get burned with speculative counters than with fundamental counters.

3. Should transfer money from EPF to mutual funds sooner than later.

4. Buy stocks and hold. Excessive trading leads to high transaction costs, eating into gains.

5. Set a target price, and let Mr Market come to you. Don’t go chasing Mr Market.

6. Consider leveraging up. Make use of Share Margin Financing to borrow and buy shares.