Breakdown of My (SUPER HIGH RISK) Investment Portfolio
Obligatory disclaimer: This article is for SHARING purposes only! NOTHING in here is a recommendation, so don’t say ‘Oh Suraya say must do like that’ HELLO I NEVER SAY THAT
When Mr Stingy posted his How I Invest My Own Money article, where he gave the complete breakdown of his investment portfolio, I knew I wanted to write out my own version as well.
Investment portfolios are like a reflection of our personalities. It exposes our risk appetite and maybe some traits as well (see: (Stereo)types of Malaysian Investors: Who You Are Based on What You Invest In).
In this case, I realised that while some of our investments do overlap with each other, the percentage breakdown is completely different.
So, I’ll be sharing the breakdown of my investment portfolio. Like Aaron, I also don’t feel like disclosing the total amount, just the percentage of each investment type.
Everything is accurate as of time of writing (July 2020). Let’s hope that the eventual market downturn will be kind to us *laughs nervously*.
Breakdown of My Investment Portfolio, %, & Risk Level
Here are all my investments, sorted by highest to lowest, as calculated and screenshot-ed from Excel sheet:
In chart format,
Okay, time to address the elephant in the room – Suraya, WHY IS YOUR RISK SO DAMN HIGH?
I get it. If you add it up, my high-risk investments make up 63.5% of my total investment value. As a comparison, Aaron’s portfolio is nearer to ~80:20 safe:risky ratio.
And the reason for that is… well, the value of my crypto holding grew exponentially. I started collecting cryptocurrencies from December 2015, especially bitcoin. One bitcoin was around RM1600 then. It’s around RM40,000 each now.
IF the prices remained at 2015/16 prices, my crypto holdings would just make up 10%-ish of my overall investment portfolio.
But yeah, as it stands, it is what it is. Over half of my overall investment portfolio is in crypto. And now you might ask,
‘Why don’t you sell your bitcoin? To reduce the risk of your investment portfolio’
That’s a GREAT recommendation. At least two licenced financial advisors told me the same thing. But I’ll tell you why I won’t, at least not in the near future, in a multi-part answer:
- I did. Over the years, I’ve sold off some of the crypto gains to channel into other investments. If I didn’t, the percentage would’ve been even higher
- I’ve gotten used to it. I’m aware I have this weird cognitive dissonance situation thing going on, but honestly having a large percentage of crypto feels BOTH safe and risky for me, for different reasons
- I’m confident in my ability to earn. If (touch wood touch wood TOUCH EFFING WOOD) I lose access to all my crypto, or it gets stolen or whatever, obviously that would suck but I can earn it back. Or attempt to.
- I’m not a trader. Traders look for opportunities to make a quick buck during the volatile swings. I’m more interested in the long-term potential
But… NGL I am nervous about the estate planning side of it. If anything happens to me, all that value will be locked up forever. If any of you cryptoheads are reading this, please leave your suggestions in the comments section. How do YOU plan to pass it down?
My other investments
My other investments are (comparatively) less exciting. I have a huge preference for investments that:
- Can be automated. Related: 10 Places to Automate Your Investments in Malaysia
- Are practical. I self-contribute to EPF and PRS accounts every year because can claim as tax relief. If I could purchase unit trust from EPF account, I might have done that too.
- Are convenient. Almost all of them can be managed online. Many are fintech options, like HelloGold (for gold), BEST Invest, Funding Societies etc
- Are Syariah-compliant and/or ESG/sustainable investing. Related: 10 Types of Islamic Investments in Malaysia (that Everyone Can Get)
(all referral links at linktr.ee/surayaror) (please read all my investment-related articles first)
Personal conclusion
Is my investment portfolio good? Is it bad? I don’t know, but I can say that I’m (1) happy with my net worth overall and (2) can sleep at night, even with the risks. The latter is important especially for me – as a woman, my natural tendency is to play it safe.
(Note: studies actually concluded that women’s tendency for low-risk investing is actually the better investing style. But the fear does potentially make us lose out on more profitable, high-risk investments) (In reverse, usually men have to learn how to reduce their risk)
However, once I beat my fear of embracing riskier types of investments AND made sure I have a good amount in low-risk investments, I find that I couldn’t get enough of high-risk investments. I enjoy doing them in the safest way possible. For example:
- All accounts are set to incredibly complex passwords and 2FA where possible (read: How to Digitally Protect Your Money; A Checklist on Digital Security in Malaysia
- Not planning to dip into investments, everything except money in the bank account is for long-term
- I have a mental ‘stop loss’ – will sell if it ever dips below a certain amount
- For mutual funds and unit trusts, I’ve diversified in multiple regions, both in and outside Malaysia
- For p2p lending, I automated it to make small but many investments, to reduce the impact of loan defaults if and when it happens
- (and perhaps most importantly) Never stop learning skills that allow me to earn (more) money so market recessions will have minimal, if any, impact on me. The idea is, if it goes down, I’ll simply earn more to make up for it
Anyway, this concludes my investment portfolio breakdown article. How does yours look like? Are you happy with the way you allocate your resources? Let me know in the comments section!
Once you get used to crypto, other investments feel safe. Its about 10% of my portfolio.
I got into crypto not as early as you but before the market crazy, I managed to sell at the ATH. But bought back to early during the drop thinking it was a short term thing.
Then i ventured into alt coins, which was a big mistake where i lost alot holding some more popular coins then. Currently still loosing some money in crypto but i was prepared to lose all since the beginning. Only regret is i didt top up after the ATL and let my crypto ideal on exchange with lending options.
The swings and volatility in share market is considered risky to most people. It feels like a safe investment to me because of crypto. Most of my portfolio is in share market, so like you my risk is high, very high.
yup,true.once upon a time.. i sell my 2 bitcoin(earn it by mining)..exchange it with 100g gold..”arrahnu” it to pay my housing loan deposit..
You’re not the only person I know who used crypto gainz to purchase property 🙂 Congrats, happy for you!
Hey Wind,
Thanks for sharing your experience, and admission of being partial (desensitized?) to high-risk investments
What do you do to keep yourself in check? I’m always trying to be mindful of my ego. What if I’m berlagak pandai only? Only time will tell :/
Salam and Hi.
Would like to share about my investment with you since i like to read your article few months ago. Hehe
Just to let you know that i’m really happy with where i allocate my resources so far.
These are the types of my investment.
1. Asb
2. Asnb 2
3. Unit trust
4. Small Business
I’m still at the young age and still learning to do and give the best for my investment.
Soon i would like to give a try with trading. Pray for me. Thank you. Keep writting and i’ll be one of your readers
Salam and hi back Aslam,
Thanks for reading my articles, and sharing your investments 🙂
All the best with your trading journey. Which one are you going with – forex, warrants, derivatives, crypto?
Hi Suraya, thanks for sharing your investment breakdown. I think you can build more in your unit trust portion. Not saying that you should buy more u it trust but I have a way to lock multiple profits in a year in an equity fund. We start off with one fund and then move on to different funds and earn monthly distribution along the way. I hope to share more info to you in person. No obligations but I have been using this method to create pockets of profits in the midst of volatility. Thanks for reading this far. Speak soon.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the opinion. Tbh I’m not interested – the way you described sounds more like trading and ‘gaming’ and THAT is way more high risk to me that crypto can ever be
Wow I really applaud you being able to continuing HODL onto the crypto throughout 2019-2020 where things were bleak and crypto was flat. I hope your patience is paying off dividends literally!!
Hye, Suraya. May I know, what is your opinion on IPO?
Hi Ninie,
Its regulated industry so I don’t see any problem with it, just have to know the techniques and best practices. Coincidentally I just attended a workshop on this, and exploring it myself 🙂
What about properties? How do you factor those in thus chart?
Home you stay in = not included in investment portfolio (added in net worth)
Investment property (tenant) = as I understand it yes can add
REITs = absolutely can add