--- title: Personal takeaways from the COVID-19 outbreak description: It's been more than a month since COVID-19 made waves across the world. STI opened to a 2.2% loss after the CNY break while the HSI fell 5.4% when the market reopened after their extended CNY break. image: https://finfree.joceyng.com/hubfs/FinFree/HSI%20chart.png --- [![finfree-large-transparent-1](https://finfree.joceyng.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FinFree/finfree-large-transparent-1.png?width=198&name=finfree-large-transparent-1.png)](https://finfree.joceyng.com) [Let's Talk](https://finfree.joceyng.com/contact)[subscribe](https://finfree.joceyng.com/personal-takeaways-covid-19#) read # Personal takeaways from the COVID-19 outbreak By Joce | Feb 14, 2020 ![](https://finfree.joceyng.com/hubfs/FinFree/HSI%20chart.png) - ** - ** - ** It's been more than a month since COVID-19 made waves across the world. ![STI wuhan drop](https://finfree.joceyng.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FinFree/STI%20wuhan%20drop.png?width=800&name=STI%20wuhan%20drop.png) STI opened to a 2.2% loss after the CNY break while the HSI fell 5.4% when the market reopened after Hong Kong's extended CNY break. ![HSI chart](https://finfree.joceyng.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FinFree/HSI%20chart.png?width=500&name=HSI%20chart.png) This is the first black swan event in my investing history (that I've paid attention to) and I wanted to share some of my personal takeaways here. Although news about the virus outbreak in China started trickling in before Chinese New Year, **I did not anticipate the impacts of the virus** **on stock markets** until the outbreak started affecting more and more countries. If I were more aware, I think I would have used my CNY break more wisely doing research into potential stocks and taken a wait-and-see approach to some of the stocks I was already planning to buy. For example, I could have delayed my purchase of MCT on 30 Jan at 2.33 and picked it up at a lower price 1-2 weeks later! When I realized that there was a buying opportunity, **my warchest was not well-prepared.** and I found myself wishing I had taken more gains from the market when some of my stocks were at their 52 week high. This wish for more liquidity also made it obvious to me that **I should have dealt with the laggards in my portfolio a long time ago, instead of continuing to take losses.** The two laggards in my portfolio are SingPost ([S08.SI](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=S08.SI)) and MM2 Asia ([1B0.SI](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=1B0.SI)). I bought SingPost in 2017 when it was near to its all-time highs; and MM2 in 2016/7 believing its "growth story" without doing my due diligence. I thoroughly regret not cutting my losses much earlier as the share price for both are currently down 40-50% from when I bought them. Because these laggards make up less than 1% of my portfolio, I did not give them too much thought and tried to delude myself think on the bright side that there is potential for upside in the long-term. So I kept holding on to these loss-making stocks even as their value kept dropping. This has taught me to **always have an exit thesis** - not just to cut losses if my investment thesis proves to be unsound, but also to know when to take gains. ### Stocks bought and sold in Q1 2020 I have divested SingPost at a loss and will be divesting my stake in MM2 (also at a loss) sometime next week, as soon as my FSM One trading account is linked to CDP! Separately, I added Ascott Residence Trust ([HMN.SI](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/quote/HMN.SI/)) and Mapletree Commercial Trust ([N2IU.SI](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/quote/n2iu.si?ltr=1)) to my dividend portfolio ([which I have discussed in an earlier post](https://finfree.joceyng.com/my-retirement-plan-part-3-portfolio)). I also deviated from my initial plan and added Alibaba ([9988.HK](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/9988.HK/)) to my growth portfolio. In total, I invested 12k in just the first 2 months of the year! If the rest of 2020 is as eventful as the past few weeks have been, I'm going to run out of money soon 😅 Tags: [Portfolio](https://finfree.joceyng.com/tag/portfolio) ### Related Articles** ## [2021 in Review](https://finfree.joceyng.com/2021-in-review) *( read )* Topics: [Portfolio](https://finfree.joceyng.com/tag/portfolio) ## [Looking back on 2020](https://finfree.joceyng.com/looking-back-on-2020) *( read )* Topics: [Portfolio](https://finfree.joceyng.com/tag/portfolio) ## [Fishing for dividends](https://finfree.joceyng.com/fishing-for-dividends) *( read )* Topics: [Portfolio](https://finfree.joceyng.com/tag/portfolio) ### Subscribe to The Chronicles of Marketing Newsletter **RESOURCES** [Download the CPF retirement funds calculator](https://finfree.joceyng.com/my-retirement-plan-part-1-cpf#cta) [Download the Accrued Interest calculator](https://finfree.joceyng.com/accrued-interest-calculator) [Download the Retirement Income calculator](https://finfree.joceyng.com/retirement-planning-for-my-parents)  ### SUBSCRIBE HERE FOR UPDATES! ### Blogs I follow [A Path to Forever Financial Freedom](https://www.3foreverfinancialfreedom.com/) [Data Science Investor](https://www.datascienceinvestor.com/) [Financial Horse](http://www.financialhorse.com) [My Sweet Retirement](https://mysweetretirement.com/)  [The Moss Piglet](https://themosspiglets.com/) [SG Investment Bloggers](http://www.sginvestbloggers.com/)  [The Finance.sg](http://thefinance.sg)  [Financially Independent Pharmacist](https://fipharmacistsg.wordpress.com/)  - [****](mailto:joceisfinfreegmail.com) - © 2019 All Rights Reserved