2014 - Year of Profit Taking

2014 has been a slow year for me personally. I have made very little transactions but here are the profit/loss so far this year:

25-03-14	1211	BYD Company	HKD	+75.68%
20-05-14	G13	Genting SP	SGD	+1.17%
29-07-14	XOM	ExxonMobil	USD	+40.11%

Perhaps I am following too closely to Warren Buffetts rule no. 1 which is "Never Lose Money". Still i am happy with the profits.
However I must acknowledge the fact that, I could have done alot more with my holdings if i took losses on some counters, moving larger capital around to faster growing markets. This did not happen because I did not want to incurr unncessary transaction fees plus take a loss. 

XOM, I decided to close it off couple of days ago because S&P and US markets in general are nearing all time highs. Its time to get careful when other are greedy. XOM has reached by target price anyway @ US$104. (if you see my previous posts on XOM target price) So thats why it is time to lock in those profits. 

Genting was quite a loss of time for me. Unable to close off the trade at higher profits because of greed and promise of higher prices. Anyway decided to close that chapter without any loss, wasted 1 year behind that. 

It is true when they say "Time is Money", longer i am able to hold on to some counters, more chances of it bouncing back, then it is all about the timing and execution. Anyway 2014 has been a year of patience and profit taking rather than venturing into riskier options. 

Currently I am looking into Chinese stocks which are still below valuation. Particularly Bank of China (HK:3988). Watch out for that to bounce back to above HK 4.00 by end of this year.